Saturday, September 4, 2010

#604. Clear Lake Shores

Taken this morning in Clear Lake Shores.

Title: "Clear Lake Shores"


Camera / Lens: Canon 5D Mark II / Canon 24-105mm L zoom
Post-processing: Photomatix Pro to combine 9 exposures into one HDR (High Dynamic Range) image > Photoshop CS4 > Topaz Adjust plugin

5 comments:

Doug Haass said...

I have to ask if the float is the subject of the photo? I know there is a thought process involved that had you leaving it in the shot, I'm guessing because it was there. What was your actual reason if I may ask?

I think the photo would be more successful, from my view, by cropping this just above the float.

I like the HDR treatment as presented here. It's well done and not over the top. There are times that over the top works for me, but they are few and far between.

Did you burn in any of the photo? It appears you may have a little on the red roofs to the right side of the photo. Some of the trees are darker too. Maybe that's just how the shadows from the clouds fell on them? I'm asking because I might have tried burning in the clouds and sky a little more.

Nice job Barry.

Barry Armer said...

Thanks Doug!

I intended for the boats and houses on the far shoreline to be the main subject of the photo. And then I included the float in the composition because I wanted something of interest in the foreground in order to add a second dimension to the overall scene. I have noticed that a lot of the photos I enjoy the most, especially in landscapes, include some foreground element of interest. Anyway, the direct answer to your question is that yes the float is in there intentionally. Not only was it intentionally left in but I had to do a disproportionate amount of post-processing on it in order to use as it had two strikes (at least) against it; 1) it was moving up and down in the water quite a bit and 2) because it was close to the camera which exaggerated the movement.

My favorite tool to use for "burning" is Nik Viveza because of the level of control it affords the user but that being said I didn't use it on this image. Any brightness adjustments I made here were done globally via Photoshop blending modes (I did use masks for fine tuning but only on larger areas rather than on specific elements within the image).

Thanks again for your comments Doug!

Cheers!
Barry

Doug Haass said...

I think I really knew your answer. I felt the bright color caused me or at least my eyes, to stay there longer than intended. I can't really stay away from that piece of the composition, so it appears intrusive to me. I can't seem to concentrate on the rest of the scene without placing something over the float to take my eyes off it.

Thanks for explaining your thought process.

Larry said...

I like the float in the foreground but I think the shot might be better cropped square. This would omit the red roofed boat house and 1/2 house on the right and leave the more interesting portion of the shot. [Anymore ideas? :)]

Doug Haass said...

Larry, you would have to muddy the waters and make me think on it a little longer. At least that takes the float out of the center of the photo. Hmmm...I'll think on it some more.