Dance of Dawn & Mystery Reflection

Hi Christina,

As always I'll come in late (the time difference) and have looked at this image and the mods from another perspective, partially covered already.

Firstly, I like the image very much.

The original not only captures the swan interestingly but also emphasises the full scene of which the swan is part of. Having cropped to emphasise the swan not only have you lost the magic of the entire scene but for me the now more prominent not quite perfect exposure/sharpness/detail of the swan downgrades this image.

As for the reflections of the ducks head and beak, just imagine water ripples, the sloping sides each acting as mirrors at slightly different angles.

Grahame

I agree with Donald. Of course it depends on what you consider most important in conveying what you saw, but I think showing more of the environment as you have in the first photo has a much better mood to it. I'm willing to accept having the bird in the middle to get that. I moved the photo around and could not come up with any crop that I thought was as appealing. And I think the tree on the left that's been cropped out added some depth to the photo. It's beautifully lit and well done as it is.

Hi Christina!

I'll not offer an opinion on a crop choice!

But I'll darn sure tell you how much I like this shot!

The backlighting is absolutely gorgeous and is causing the most beautiful highlights.

Very well done.

Hi Christina,

If I may offer my humble opinion, I think the first version in the above image is more appealing too. It retains more of the water and the mist which I feel are very important elements of this image. With that being said, I think all of the versions of this image are brilliant. You captured this swan perfectly!

Don

Hi Grahame,

With respect to your visits, it is always better late than never!

Thank you.

Good to know, and I can see this in the cropped versions. I am going to redo both the edits from scratch as in looking at the histogram in LR in the processed image I introduced some clipping in the red channel likely making the swan whiter which works better in the original size. Anyhow I will try and even if it doesn't work out I will have learned something that will stand me in good stead for my next back-lit image.

The Mystery Duck... thank you! Just when I was thinking I had discovered something new.

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Originally Posted by Stagecoach

Hi Christina,

As always I'll come in late (the time difference) and have looked at this image and the mods from another perspective, partially covered already.

Firstly, I like the image very much.

The original not only captures the swan interestingly but also emphasises the full scene of which the swan is part of. Having cropped to emphasise the swan not only have you lost the magic of the entire scene but for me the now more prominent not quite perfect exposure/sharpness/detail of the swan downgrades this image.

As for the reflections of the ducks head and beak, just imagine water ripples, the sloping sides each acting as mirrors at slightly different angles.

Grahame

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Terri, Terry and Don - thank you!

I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts on the composition. Truly appreciated.

Terri... Very helpful to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you.

Dance of Dawn......

are we discovering the abstruse Christina..................................

Thank you to all.

I redid the edits suggested by Manfred, Geoff and Mike. This time working from the original file and trying to tone down the exposure bring back more detail in the Swan as noted by Grahame.

In my previous edits I clipped the swan just a little bit by increasing the whites, and using the curves tool to increase the highlights and darken the shadows, which brought out all the little droplets of water, so this time I worked around the swan.

Increased the temperature of the WB a wee bit
Decreased Exp by .12
Increased whites by 2 & Decreased blacks by 19
Curves - Decreased the highlights and lifted the shadows just a wee bit (the opposite of what I did in the first edit)
Dodged the swans head and neck by +15 as it seemed a little dark
Selectively sharpened the swan (+15) and added clarity (+10)
Sharpened the swan by 15 at a radius of .5

Then I exported the files to Adobe Photoshop CC and applied an un-sharp mask of .3 radius at 40% on the swan only... After I resized the image to 1200 pixels I applied an un-sharp mask of .4 radius at 50% to the swan only.

Thank you to everyone for your help and advice on this image. Truly appreciated!

Fully immersed and trying to find my way out... ;)

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Originally Posted by nimitzbenedicto

Dance of Dawn......

are we discovering the abstruse Christina..................................

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2nd version for me Christina. Beautiful light, beautifully captured. Can't disagree with the crop suggestions above but for the most part how you do it personal choice.

Very beautiful capture. Nice and soft.

Irene

Thank you John and Irene!

And also to everyone who helped me with this image. I know where this swan and its partner reside so I hope to have the opportunity to try this type of image again.

Hey, Christina. Plenty of advice in the thread already so I will simply compliment you on how much better you are handling lighting compared to a few months ago. Regarding the reflections, yes it is simply the small waves in the water causing the difference from frame to frame. For a perfect mirror effect the surface of the water must be perfectly flat. Any movement at all causes distortions. Much like the fat/skinny mirrors at the carnival.

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Originally Posted by NorthernFocus

For a perfect mirror effect the surface of the water must be perfectly flat. Any movement at all causes distortions. Much like the fat/skinny mirrors at the carnival.

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Ahhhhh. I finally get it. The so-called open beak in the reflection is not that at all. Instead, it's two reflections of the closed beak.

Not wanting to feel left out...crop???, Donald makes sense and I can't at all argue with his viewpoint.
Ya want a reflection...ya gotta have calm water, no other way unless...you mirror the image in PS CC.

Even though I like the image, I'm not that enthusiastic about your PP, but hey...that's just me. :D

Dear Christina,

I dunno. I have enjoyed every single direction you have taken this image, from your first posting, to the last.

Marie

Dan,

Thank you. It is encouraging to hear that you think I'm handling the light better. Thank you also for explaining the water reflections. Good to know for future images of reflections.

Chauncey,

If you have time, I would love to hear how you would process the image of the swan, in the simplest manner possible. This is why I posted it, to learn. My first thought was that if I could somehow darken the background of the image so that the branches in the background were darker,(less obvious) in a low key type of image but keeping all the light and water droplets. I tried an adjustment layer using levels to do so but I couldn't figure out how to do it and gave up.

Marie,

Thank you. It's been an exercise in creating a vision, cropping and post processing.

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Originally Posted by Marie Hass

Dear Christina,

I dunno. I have enjoyed every single direction you have taken this image, from your first posting, to the last.

Marie

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Me too - I think you now have at least two keepers................