Marsh ghost story

[Jerry van Dijk]

A little ghost story for Halloween: a long long time ago, much of Holland consisted of extensive marshes and bogs. Many travellers and outcasts that ventured into the marshes were never to be heard of again. The ghosts of their lost souls were believed to haunt the marshes and lure people to a drowning death. Survivors reported seeing floating white shapes and dancing white lights trying to confuse them and lure them further and further into the marsh.:eek3:

In our current era of computers and rocket science (not to mention digital cameras to capture anything out of the ordinary!) these ghost stories have long been reduced to old wives' tales, mistaking fog and marsh plants for supernatural manifestations. But seeing a field of Common Cottongrass in the twilight on a gloomy day on the marsh still gives me an eerie feeling. I can understand that the contrast between the bright fluffy white of the flowers and the dark marsh could spark one's imagination and lead to stories about dancing white lights.
I tried to capture the mood in this image.

Nikon D7000, Nikkor 80-400 @ 400mm, handheld, ISO-250, f/5.6, 1/1600 sec, -1.7 EV.
ACR/CS5, minor PP work with local exposure adjustments to preserve the details in the whites while maintaining the contrast.


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[Jerry van Dijk]

Woa! I'm just watching this on another (crappier) monitor, and the BG is much brighter than on my editing monitor, which ruins the mood of the whole image. How bright are you seeing this? It's supposed to look about a stop underexposed and at least two stops darker than the bright whites.

[Valerio Tarone]

Jerry,thank you for the story, I like it. But I think the image is 'poor',I mean it doesn't say too much.

[Ken Childs]

Jerry, I think you did a great job of creating the mood you were aiming for. The white fluff makes a perfect ghost! Did you arrange it that way or is this natural?

Because of your comments in pane #2, I downloaded this and took a look at the whites. Taking them down at all loses that ghostly glow so I think you should leave them as they are. The rest of the image looks slightly underexposed which is perfect for this type of image.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks for commenting!
Valerio: any suggestions for improvement?
Ken: given your comments, you appear to be seeing the image as I see it on my editing monitor. The fluff is purely natural. If I had to go to the plant and arrange it, I would have turned into a lost soul myself.... This plant is from the family of Cyperaceae (also known as sedges) and produces 3 or for indistinctive flowers. When the seeds ripen, however, the tiny leaves of the flower turn into this bright white fluff.

[Dennis Bishop]

I like this a lot, and I think it tells the story very well. It's a great representation of the ghost tale. The tones look just great on my monitor. The only thing I'd like to see different would be to have the ghost moved to the left side instead of the right. That's because it looks to me like it's moving to the right and that would give more room in the direction of motion.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Thanks Dennis! I think there is very little room to the right in the original (this is only a modest crop). I composed it like this because the white fluff is blown to the left by the wind, so it sort of follows the natural movement now. But I can see that the diagonals of the white fluff are guiding the eye from left to right, by which it would make sense to have more room to the right.

[Bob Miller]

Jerry...The tones look good to me and i believe you have achieved the mood you were seeking. You might consider toning down the whitish spot directly to the left of our ghost. Works for me!

[Valerio Tarone]

Jerry, you're right.< I understand you would the erioforons looks in gosth-like mood. I should prefer if you had shoot with a lesser aperture. in PP. it'certanly possible to defocus the BG as the many lines disturb a little bit. I use PP. only for crop, sat., levels, curves, sharpness, not other part. Thank you for sharing. I think you live close to a she friend of mines, area full of boglands, in Raalte. She works for the natural reserve. (I don't remember the name of the rserve).

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jerry. Cool ghost story. The ghostly whites of the cotton grass set against the dark background works for me - and looks fine on my monitor. :S3:

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Valerio, this is the widest aperture this lens allows at this focal distance. Raalte is a 2 hours drive from my home. Your friend probably works at the Sallandse Heuvelrug National Park, for Natuurmonumenten. It's a beautiful area that I have visited several times.

[Jonathan Ashton]

An interesting image an appropriate to the time of year, I like the exposure. I am familiar with the cotton grass, in early summer these boggy area are good for dragonflies.
I like the image as presented.

[Adrian David]

It really looks like a ghost! I like the mood of it and also the story....On my monitor looks good, on my iPad too...

[Faraaz Abdool]

Jerry - perfect mood to this shot! Together with the story it makes a perfect combination. The wispy whites blowing mysteriously along with the underexposed reeds gives us so much mystery. A work of art - how about a B&W version? I'm thinking high contrast B&W, hung large in an art gallery with the story in a glass case below...eerie huh?