Cypress Knee

Breaking new ground Buck on polarizered / non-polarizered blending? This looks great. I like the contrast..... the deep blacks, whites and mid tones. Comp works well also. Beautiful work.

Practice,practice,practice......the way you describe the process one would expect this image to look overworked, it doesn't. It's not narrow in tone range or muddy, it's a fine conversion. You could have passed those cypress roots as a rock though.

Paul

Definitely needs to be seen in the larger version to be appreciated. I like it as it as, but wonder whether you have tried 1) lightening the foliage in the lower quarter to complete a frame around the knee 2) darkening all the foliage and lightening the knee? Looks like an image one could work with for hours!

Its a fine comp. I wish it woud hold in sharpness what the thumbnail promises. however, the oof leaves on the bottom spoil it a bit.
georg

Wonderful comp and a nice conversion, however it looks a bit soft. Nice job on the blend too.

A floral arranger could not have made a more pleasing arrangement of foliage and objects. Decorative and striking in black & white.

I think it's a very nice scene and image captured Buck, I'm no expert in PS skills, but I think this needs something, or maybe something less. Just IMHO, love the feeling it conveys though.

Great little subject you've captured here. I think the shot is very effective and I like the conversion. PS generally looks fine to me. The OOF leaves on the bottom are noticeable and really the only minor nit I have.

Very cool shot, i really like this! I agree with Phil about the OOF leaves, but to me it is more than a minor nit--i think theyre a major distraction and personally id crop the bottom.

Thank you all for your insights. Just what I was looking for.

The out-of-focus leaves -bottom, right of center- are actually cypress knees. Their being out of focus bothered me, too. My preferred aperture is f11 - somehow this was made with f8 - perhaps should have been f16. Not being able to see the freshly made image objectively, I hoped they wouldn't be too noticeable to you. One of these days maybe I will be able to fix it through the magic of digital editing, but for now cropping is my only option. I think the necessary crop would be too severe. The image's other shortcomings are manageable .

This picture, sort of an intimate landscape, is a departure for me and I certainly did enjoy the making of it. We've had a lot of rain this week, so the slough will be wetter, different. If conditions are favorable this weekend, I'll return to the slough and try, try again

I like the strong contrasts of your conversion. I ditto the oof leaves being a distraction, and think a crop might make it stronger.