We had some foggy patches today, so I checked on my favorite tree to see if it was now isolated against its background. No dice. So I tried a different view point from with the sun in my back so the tree reflected the still diffused light back to me.
I couldn't find a good composition, but maybe someone in this group has an idea what to try.
I wonder about the 2nd photo's crop with the clarity of the first photo..something in that neighborhood?
I think the lack of clarity is what sets the mood in picture #2, so I wouldn't want to change that.
Photo 1 is not a bad shot, but the sky in the upper right is distracting. Cropping or composing that out would help.
Photo 2 is closer to what I might have done here. You've narrowed the composition to the trees and reflection, but it may still be capturing too much. Attaching a quick single tree and reflection crop form your photo to compare to. I might look for more of this kind of shot. Also, check your frame before taking the pictures, you have some distracting branches coming in from the side and the dog and person in the background.
Yeah, that makes more sense. I kept on switching between portrait and landscape orientation actually. But we're not quite there yet, maybe I'll just leave the reflection out and focus more on the tree itself, not sure yet.
I was aware of the branches and the people. I cut as much of the branches out as I could and was confident I could deal with the remains in PP. The people with their dogs entered the scene just a couple of minutes after I had set my camera up (picture #2 shows them entering the scene) and then stayed for the full duration of my (borrowed) shooting time. When they finally left the fog had largely dissipated (as seen in shot #1). I just took a shot whenever one them changed position so I could blend them out later on.
are we thinking crop, color or just a different direction of the shot? the color is better in the first the overall coverage is better in the second with all that i have been learning from you guys tis is missing 2 things you keep telling me ..a base to start looking and leading lines into the photo this is more of a dead on portrait so i would take the first crop down on the pic to eliminate the sky so your interest is in the reflection not equal parts of tree and reflection but get caught up looking into that great reflection and then get the pop of color from the tree.
The reflection plays the part of leading into the picture and giving it depth here.
The autumn colors simply aren't there yet, a couple of weeks and it'll be great, it's just wait and see, be patient. At the moment it's a bit of fog and a bit of autumn color. It doesn't suggest the autumnal mood strongly enough, I don't think you can save it with a good composition.
Thanks Nick, I think this hits the nail on the head. I'll keep returning in the hope there will be some fog then.
I said to someone else today Thorsten maybe you should use the Sam Abell approach.See link to his youtube talk on the the life of a photograph. A brilliant illlustrated talk.He would sit there for even 2 days having set up the scene he had in mind and waited for something to happen. Eg those dogs walking into the picture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYf9klvk8vQ
I like them as they are.
Thanks Geoff, I'll watch it when I return from work, just finishing my coffee and I'm off. As for the dogs, see my answer above.
Thanks Thorsten. You will need to stay with Sam the first few minutes as he is a different sort of narrator. It's one of the best talks on photography I have seen. He was an award winning national geographic photographer.