Snow on the James

[Peter Farrell]

http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq128/peterf/SnowontheJames.jpg

A rare Williamsburg, VA snow fall. This was taken along the Colonial Parkway/James River on 3/03/09.
Sony A700, Sigma 24-70 f2.8 @ 24mm, f9.5, 1/500, iso 200

[Garry Gibson]

Man, I really like this. I used to live in the area and snow in December is really rare.
The leaning evergreen and the rays of sun really make it special, my only wish is that
the one branch hanging down right in the center wasn't there, but it is really nitpicking.

Again nice shot!

[Robert Amoruso]

Peter,

I do like the quietness of this scene. I agree with Gary on the intruding branch on the right. I tried a crop to get rid of much of it and feel that not having it would have been the way to go. I also tried warming the image's overall color temperature to a point of getting the water gold, really liked it like that.

I think that moving left, including more of the left tree and eliminating the right tree might have been worth investigating.

Thanks for posting.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Peter,
It would be interesting to see this at a f-stop around f16 to see if the sun would have made a big sunburst. I agree that the tree branches are a bit distracting so either including a bit more or eliminating them entirely would have been the way to go. Colors look right on but see if you can eek out some more detail in the sun area as this will help improve the image overall.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Peter, Beautiful light with nice detail throughout. I'm definately in favor of the elimination of the branches on the right and top. The water has a soft, pleasing look along with a strong tree anchor on the left. You put together a workable composition that many would overlook...

[David Thomasson]

The composition and quality of light are to kill for. Beautiful. ;)

If you're comfortable messing with mother nature a little, in addition to taking out the top-right branches as others have mentioned, I would add
a touch more of that peachy glow to the foreground snow, and enhance the contrast of the snow on the dark evergreens in the foreground to
bring out those textures a little more. (Even with none of these changes, it will make an awesome print.)

animated gif ...

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7190/james2.gif

[Dave Mills]

Nice job on the repost David. Features I especially like is the lightening of the bushes and the snow...

[David Thomasson]

Nice job on the repost David. Features I especially like is the lightening of the bushes and the snow...

Thanks, I agree about the snow and the bushes. But I'm less bothered by the limbs on the right than others seem to be. I think I'd be just as happy if the large limb didn't merge with the frame, but rather had a bit of air between it and the frame.

[Peter Farrell]

The composition and quality of light are to kill for. Beautiful. ;)

If you're comfortable messing with mother nature a little, in addition to taking out the top-right branches as others have mentioned, I would add
a touch more of that peachy glow to the foreground snow, and enhance the contrast of the snow on the dark evergreens in the foreground to
bring out those textures a little more. (Even with none of these changes, it will make an awesome print.)

animated gif ...

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/7190/james2.gif


Man, I am out of my league! An animated gif???? Thanks a lot for doing this and thanks to everyone else for the comments. I am really learning a lot from posting on this web site and will subscribe soon. I should give more explanation with my posts. It was still snowing slightly whenI took this photo and the clouds were moving to the left of this frame. the light was changing constantly. I took a few images from this view point and none were as dramatic as this one. I like how you lightened the snow. I guess I am use to the branches (top Middle and Right) so they do not bother me that much. If I were to remove them I think I would remove them all, except for the tree to get more clear view of the sky. I have printed and mounted a 24x36 of this image and it hangs above my computer table. In the large print I think the branches have less of a detrimental effect.
David, how did you remove the branches? Did you just clone? I process with PS Elements 5. (soon to be ver 8)
Thanks again,
Peter

[David Thomasson]

I guess I am use to the branches (top Middle and Right) so they do not bother me that much.

The more I look at it, the less the branches bother me.


David, how did you remove the branches? Did you just clone? I process with PS Elements 5. (soon to be ver 8)I used the clone tool first, then a regular paintbrush (soft edge) to paint in some indications of cloud shapes. Always do cloning and painting on blank layers, of course.

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Hi Peter, very nice image and hope to see more