Bend

Finally the weekend is here and an opportunity to do something different from my workdays! Here is one from late summer while visiting Bend, OR. I took this early in the morning from my friends pontoon boat on Deschutes river. The morning mist clinging on to the river was lit up with the sunlight as we came to a bend on the river and I wanted to capture the contrast. For processing used Topaz simplify and pb/oil with different opacity to get this effect. Hope you like it...

I'll be interested in reading the reactions of others to this. As for me ... I like the composition and the mist and the tones of the trees, reflections, and water over most of the image. However, I wish the right side wasn't so dark. I wonder what a shadows/highlight adjustment might do. Or a pseudo HDR based on exposure changes applied to the original shot in Adobe Camera Raw. That could just be me, though.

Thanks Dennis. Good point on the shadows. I have enough details and here is a repost...

Ah, yes. I like that better. To my surprise, it seems to make the rest of the image look even better than it already did. Thanks for the re-post. Upon looking at it, again, I really like the combination of browns and greens on the other side of the water.

Hey Indranil, Dennis hit the critique spot-on, IMHO. Most of this looks fantastic but that dark area doesn't seem to fit. It looks better in the repost but I think I might like this better if all the dark area on the right and about ½ of the sky was cropped out. I'll be curious to hear what others have to say. :S3:

I'm going to second what Ken suggests but, perhaps, for a different reason. When I was looking at the browns and greens, I zoomed in to the image. That revealed filtering effects that weren't as apparent when the full image is shown. Doing some cropping would be a way to remedy that. If I were going to do that, though, I'd keep as much of the spit of land as possible -- even if it meant having to remove some tree branches that would be left.

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Originally Posted by Dennis Bishop

I'm going to second what Ken suggests but, perhaps, for a different reason. When I was looking at the browns and greens, I zoomed in to the image. That revealed filtering effects that weren't as apparent when the full image is shown. Doing some cropping would be a way to remedy that. If I were going to do that, though, I'd keep as much of the spit of land as possible -- even if it meant having to remove some tree branches that would be left.

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Dennis, after I made my post I decided to put my suggestions to the test so I downloaded the image and cropped it exactly as you have just suggested and then cloned out the few branches that were left on the right side. Then I read your latest post. Great minds and all that. :bg3:

Ken, Dennis, thanks. My original intent was to contrast the shadow with the highlighted mist at the turn of the river. I think the alternate crop works but does it convey the intent?

Indranil, As soon as I saw the image I thought that I would crop the right side-nice repost. I might clean up the few artifacts in the sky URC. This is a peaceful scene and I like the soft high key look to the water and the sky.:S3:

Indranil, very nicely filtered! Pane #8 does it for me too! Nice Work!

Indranil, that last repost looks great!

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Originally Posted by Indranil Sircar

Ken, Dennis, thanks. My original intent was to contrast the shadow with the highlighted mist at the turn of the river. I think the alternate crop works but does it convey the intent?

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I really like this, Indranil. And, yes, I think it conveys your original intent. Perhaps even more so -- at least if I understand it. You've still got great shadow in the trees right behind the mist and in that piece of land jutting out into the water. In addition, the cropping makes the mist a stronger element in the image.

Hmm, I'm going to go against the grain and say that although I like the super cropped version I prefer leaving the right side in the image - just maybe 1/2 of what you started with. It seems to anchor the image for me.

Lovely processing here, Indranil, and I share your sentiment - thank goodness for the weekends so we can do what we love!

I like Pane 8 the best...and for what it is worth...I think this would make a killer B&W with a selenium tone to it...my two cents worth!

Indranil,

Greetings. Swimming upstream as they say, I like the OP composition & find the detail in the dark area to be enough. I would, though, rotate the image CW a fair amount (1.78 in LR) to straighten out the reflection & and it would be good if the flair in the middle of the left most dark tree on the right was dealt with.

In any event I like the quiet, serene feel to this one.

Cheers,

-Michael-

Indranil, I like Pane #8. I would have preferred the OP except the dark trees and then the dark reflection created a straight line from top to bottom that bothered me. It looks like a very peaceful morning and yes, thank heavens for weekends:S3:

Thank you all. I appreciate it.