Hello! It's my first time submitting something for critique here so please be merciful... but still honest of course, ha ha!
So this is a small creek cascading down a small mountain near Gordon Corner QC, Canada. I was trying to catch an image that would be representative of the season in those woods around the Eastern Townships area of southern Quebec.
I haven't actually shot long exposure creeks before... Well I've tried, very casually, but that a dozen years ago and pretty terrible. Trying to step up my game a little bit.
It's a composite of several different exposures, with different DOFs and exposure times. No way I would have gotten a shallow DOF with such a slow shutter speed in broad daylight.
I always feel like I'm cheating a bit if I turn to introducing artificial glare etc, but in this case it does seem to help the image out. It just feels mediocre without it. I'm stuck playing with what I can find in the Montreal area, really. I don't get much vacation time and what I do get, I end up spending with my aging parents while they're still around.
Then when I see the guys on the FStoppers Youtube channel bring up a gorgeous photo of an amazing exotic location I can only dream of visiting, and they frown and complain... "Meh, I'm closer to a 2 than a 3 on this one" "Yeah, everybody and their mother has shot this place." - that just makes me depressed, lol.
Aaaanyway... as you can see there was some clutter of dead branches and leaves at the bottom of the frame that ended up more bothersome than I thought they would be (with my fingers freezing by that time, I really didn't feel like fishing them out of there), hence the 3:4 aspect ratio of the final crop... I know a lot of people despise anything other than the classic 2:3. Please don't lynch me. Hmm maybe a Hasselblad-style square format would have been nice.
So that's it really... I'd be very grateful for any tips, hints, feedback on this. And if you could spare a moment and have a look at the rest of my 'portfolio' here and offer some insights, I'd be delighted.
I personally like the second one very much. I would say that the rock. I like the twigs and leaves at the right front corner. Personally i would crop out everything above the rock (but leaving a little space for it) as a square. Its looks a stronger image then and the water would stand out more. I agree its hard to get a long slow shutter even closing down and using a 10 stop 6 filter but some latest advice is that it is good to show some texture in the water. Lovely colors and u dont have harsh filtered light which is the usual beginner mistake. Well done.
Hmm sort of like this? A square format making use of the full width and aligned to the bottom actually leaves a bit of room above the rock, but places the rock nicely at an intersections of thirds. I rather like it :)
I would crop it a touch more but the second of images u cropped the first one. The one you cropped at the top lef, the red leaves fights attention. The second image u took i think is better
I definitely like the 2nd one better Wojciek. The rock in the foreground seems to be the main focal point of the picture because it is the only thing sharp.Blur is a great effect but I don't think it really does much for this scene.It's perhaps a scene where I would like everything sharp.Good effort though.
The best image, is the one you didn't alter.