Fog n Ducks...

[Don Railton]

Hi Guys

The camera club I belong to had our end of year Christmas party and judging last Thursday. This image won 'best projected' for the year as judged by a pretty well known Australian Photog Tony Hewitt.. Pretty happy about that, so I thought I would share.. It was taken on the same foggy morning as the image of the pink & grey titled "the worker" in avian. I have one other from that day to post sometime as well.. but its an 'Avian' picture.

1D4 & 500F4, 5 series gitzo tripod and Wimberley II head..

1/2000 sec F4, ISO 2000

Full frame. ACR for RAW conversion and B&W done in Silver Effects. slight vignette added and I have re-positioned the ducks slightly.

Don

[Diane Miller]

Super! Congratulations!!!

[Warren Spreng]

Love the sequence of the different "layers" of land becoming more and more hidden by the fog.

[Diane Miller]

Duh --- I forgot to say how much I love the atmospheric perspective here, and the minimalist composition. The ducks balance the reeds very nicely. At first I thought the BG was clouds, then I recognized the shapes of ghostly trees -- looks like eucalyptus.

[Rachel Hollander]

Hi Don - Congrats and one of your best for me. Really moody and the conversion just works so well. It seems a bit grainy at this size. Is that from compression?

TFS,
Rachel

[Don Railton]

Thanks Warren..

[Don Railton]

Thank you Diane, and yes, the BG trees are indeed Eucalyptus... Pretty common in this part of the world..

[Don Railton]

And thanks Rachel...! The grain is apparent in the full sized image, i think it may have be a result of reflections within the fog... Sort of minute specular highlights maybe...anyway, I liked the effect but i dont remember the details of the B&W conversion. Pretty sure I dident "add grain" in silver effects..

DON

[David Cowling]

Congratulations Don. A simple image which says a lot. You have placed the ducks in exactly the right position. The image works very well in Monochrome.

[Valerio Tarone]

Don, congrat. you've captured a lovely mood! I agree with the above expressed c&C. The reed balance well. Good the Monochrome.

[Arthur Morris]

I love the mood here and I love the grain that adds to it. Please let me know what you think of this version.

In addition to the crop from the bottom and some Curves work can anyone spot the third change? It is minor but makes a huge difference for me. a

[Warren Spreng]

I love the mood here and I love the grain that adds to it. Please let me know what you think of this version.

In addition to the crop from the bottom and some Curves work can anyone spot the third change? It is minor but makes a huge difference for me. a

You cloned out a "clump" that I noticed in the front layer of reeds. I agree (if I'm right!) that it cleans up that little area.

[Arthur Morris]

Good eye for detail. My eye kept going right to that clump.... a

[Don Railton]

Thanks for the input Artie.. The clump never bothered me but its a cleaner image without, i agree. From memory I think the clump had feathers and quacked a bit actually. There is also another smaller clump in front of the more distant reeds.. I be straight and say i dont like the crop of the bottom, dont hate it either, but prefer the OP.. I dont mind the curves work but i need to review this again properly at home on a better monitor. .

merry Christmas to you all

DON

[Don Railton]

Yep, I'll give the curves work a pass as well. It has made the vignette a little more pronounced and I don't like then to be too obvious, but I am still happy with this..

DON

[dankearl]

Congrats, Don.
I don't know how much you moved the ducks, but I would have preferred them more in the lower left corner.....
I don't usually like grain, but this works pretty well...

[Daniel Cadieux]

This image has a very "vintage" feel to it that I like a lot. Old-school grainy rather than modern digital noisy. Super!

[Morkel Erasmus]

This is super moody and very minimalistic. Love it!

[Don Lacy]

Very nicely done Don I prefer the crop version that Artie posted but thats just me I can see why you prefer the OP.