Walking by Wetlands

[Anita Bower]

I'm catching up with posts on this forum. Not sure why I've been absent lately. There have been some marvelous images posted.

I would appreciate honest feedback on this image of my sister walking near wetlands in Eugene, Oregon. Should I crop it? Is it too dark? Should I trash it?

I used several Topaz Adjust layers, and CEP layers. Smoothed water a bit. No textures.

[Dennis Bishop]

The effect you got with what I assume was a wide-angle lens is not only visually strong, but it leads the eye to your sister. However, her head is lost in the background, so I copied part of the blue hills on the left, moved that to the right, and masked part of it away. Then, I used a large sample size to get the sky color and painted over the trees. The extreme narrowing of the path gives a good sense of depth. I reinforced that with a gradient mask of a Curves layer that darkened the foreground and faded into the distance. Some slight blurring or a reduction in contrast in the background might also give more depth.

Here are my thoughts on your specific questions: I wouldn't crop it from the top or bottom because that would reduce the impact of the narrowing of the path. Maybe crop a bit from the left to put your sister in a stronger position based on divine proportions or rule-of-thirds. I don't think it's too dark, but if you do, you could use a gradient mask on a Curves layer to lighten the top part of the image. (I think I like the contrast within the water and between the water and the path better with the image being darker, but that's subjective.) Trash it??? No way.

158728

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, Dennis. You identified the problem exactly. Thanks for your excellent suggestion. I did the cloning a little differently, but along the same lines. I also darkened the hills on the left.

[Dennis Bishop]

Nicely done, Anita. I do like it better with the crop from the left.

[Hazel Grant]

Nicely done, both of you. Anita, like your re-do but think that it looks like a tree is growing out of your sister's head. Maybe a clone/delete of that. As Dennis said, "trash it"? No.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you both! Will continue working on it.

[Anita Bower]

Nicely done, both of you. Anita, like your re-do but think that it looks like a tree is growing out of your sister's head. Maybe a clone/delete of that. As Dennis said, "trash it"? No.
In the redo? I'm not seeing the tree.

[Dennis Bishop]

In the redo? I'm not seeing the tree.

When I viewed the original image, I saw what I think Hazel is referring to. It looked like part of the background to me, so I healed it away. However, given that it's in your re-post, I think your sister was wearing a hat that's similar in color to the background. If I'd originally seen your redone version instead of the original post, I probably would've read it as a hat.

[Anita Bower]

When I viewed the original image, I saw what I think Hazel is referring to. It looked like part of the background to me, so I healed it away. However, given that it's in your re-post, I think your sister was wearing a hat that's similar in color to the background. If I'd originally seen your redone version instead of the original post, I probably would've read it as a hat.
Many thanks! I appreciate your help with this image. :-)

[Judy Howle]

Very nice Anita! I like the tones and colors and the background of trees, water and sky is very striking to me.

[Anita Bower]

Very nice Anita! I like the tones and colors and the background of trees, water and sky is very striking to me.
Thanks, Judy

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Anita,

Greetings. I liked the OP from the thumbnail - the strong geometric composition. It can be seen in your more recent "Colerain Convergence" also from the thumbnail. The repost solves the bg problem for your sister but I like the OP crop for the additional depth and the completion of the hill on the left (the rule of thirds notwithstanding). There is a blurred part of the far right clump of trees (cloned ?) doesn't match the reflection and is out of place with the sharper silhouettes of the other trees.

Thanks for posting. I particularly like the composition.

Cheers,

-Michael-

[Anita Bower]

Anita,

Greetings. I liked the OP from the thumbnail - the strong geometric composition. It can be seen in your more recent "Colerain Convergence" also from the thumbnail. The repost solves the bg problem for your sister but I like the OP crop for the additional depth and the completion of the hill on the left (the rule of thirds notwithstanding). There is a blurred part of the far right clump of trees (cloned ?) doesn't match the reflection and is out of place with the sharper silhouettes of the other trees.

Thanks for posting. I particularly like the composition.

Cheers,

-Michael-
I see what you mean. Will make correction on the right. I went back and forth re. the crop. Thank you so much for your careful look at my work!