Black Waters

[Steve S]

This has a slight sepia tint to add some warmth.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Steve,

I like the tint, but for me, the head and tail are just a little too similar to the background brightness in this conversion - that said, I'm not sure there's much you can do with it, I have binned, or not taken, shots just like this myself (typically with dark trees in shadow behind and 'reflecting' in the water) But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying you shouldn't have - it is a challenge and it almost works, especially on the head and beak/bill.

Cheers,

[Donald]

I acknowledge Dave's point, but don't see that as too problematic an issue.

The thing that's throwing me is the positioning of the bird in the frame. Or, rather, it's closeness to the top of the frame. I'm feeling a sort-of imbalance in the arrangement of the image.

We want to the whole reflection in the frame. So there needs to be the amount of water that there is in the lower half (i.e. below the bird). Therefore, there is not enough space above the bird.

Now, it may be that we can't have any more because that's where the bank of the river/pond starts and its inclusion would weaken the image. But I can't get rid of the feeling of wanting to push the bird further towards the bottom of the frame.

[Steve S]

Thanks for the input guys. Just going through some unedited shots and trying to make a few of them work. Donald, the original had the goose lower in the frame, and i cropped it to bring it closer