Was out today hiking and came across these little ice chunks sticking up thru the water... Got the camera as low as I could and popped off a few shots. This is the best shot, the others being either out of focus or not as "clean". Taken on a Nikon d5500 using the 70~300 kit lens. I went with a high'ish shutter as I'm shaky and nervous holding the camera that close to the surface of the water. [ f6.3, 1/1000s, iso 200, @270mm ], I did crop in a little to remove other distractions.
Minimal post work, nothing really noticeable outside the crop; but I did do a slight sharpen and moire reduction on the ice block, perhaps a pinch of dehazing...
I guess the big question would be, to remove or not remove the tiny twig right in front of the ice....
Edit 1: Added a second version changing crop and removing twig.
Edit 2: Added vertical, abstract, b/w, versions.
Edit 3: Added a monochrome, crushed back, version.
Hi Joe, a good attempt at minimal work.
I find the hardest part of minimal images is to find a subject that has an interesting/recognizable form. In this case although the ice is not that interesting it is bold enough to make it stand out against the water.
I would definitely remove the twig, and also clean up all the 'spots' in the water to give a cleaner background (easily done in PS or LR using the spot removal tool). this may be worth repeating to remove specular highlights on the ice if you have patience.
Other than that I'd play about with different crops (perhaps make multiple copies to compare) and see which appeals the most a day later.
As always, these are just personal opinions/suggestions so as with others feel free to disagree.
Thank you for the feedback Alan. I'll play around with it some more and see what I can come up with. I wonder if a tight crop, horizontal, and cutting off each sides of the ice could work. That would make it more abstract as well.
Added a more minimal, abstract version, in vertical and black and white. Toying around experimenting.
With input from Paul Kroh, I made a crushed black, monochrome, version. I really like this version.