Winter at the refuge.

[dankearl]

A photo I took last winter on a gloomy day in the Pacific NW, with a newly purchased 70-200VRII lens.
I didn't really buy it for a Landscape lens, and I haven't really figured out how to use it as such.
I took this right after I bought it and keep going back to it.
Just a couple of snags in a refuge but I like it for some reason and I don't know why?


1/125
F11
Handheld
135mm
iso400
Nikon D7000 w/ 70-200VRII
Very little PP, a bit of sharpening and a bit of saturation.
The lens itself is very sharp.

[Indranil Sircar]

Dan, I think you have captured the tranquil nature of the refuge with the ducks and the lone goose. Layers of the water and the grass makes it nice composition. I probably would have preferred the entire tree or cropped an inch from top. It is definitely sharp!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dan,
Well....as presented this one looks like you clipped the trees.....not cropped. A few steps forward if possible to eliminate the FG grasses would have helped in the field. I do think if you go more pano and crop off the top....eliminateing the dark area on the UR and UL would help. You may also want to lighten the greens a touch to give the LH tree a bit more impact. Keep this location in mind and perhaps returning with more dramatic light will give you other possible options. Winter may also be a viable option!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Dan, Roman summed it up for me. The foreground grasses could make a nice base if I could see more of them.

[Robert Amoruso]

Dan,

Short telephotos are perfect lens for isolating subjects like these trees. It would have been better to not cropped the tree and lost some of the FG as suggested.

[dankearl]

Thanks all for the comments.
I did not clip the trees, I cropped them because I hated the bland sky.
We get so many bland dreary skies in the Northwest, that I probably overcompensate by cropping them out every chance I get.
Here is the repost with the full shot.
You all are probably right.