Leaners

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 10, 2011125 views7 comments

One of my favorite local streams is this little brook that flows through a sandy area at the base of some rocky hills. Many of the large white pines on the banks lean over the water. Unlike mountain streams, this brook has few rocks, so those big mounds of snow in the water are rare things that I have not seen again since I shot this seven years ago. I think they formed when a combination of heavy snows and prolonged cold temperatures caused some frozen patches of water to sink and become frozen on the stream bed as the surrounding ice washed away in March.

After several snowshoe trips that failed to find a repeat performance of the snow islands over the years, it appears that I will never see this sight again, so I dug up this shot from 2004. I decided to "repair" the blown highlights in this old shot taken with my little Olympus UltraZoom . (Superimposed semi-transparent layers copied from other parts of the image onto a few bright spots to restore snow texture.)

Olympus C750-UZ
1/60 sec. @f/6.3; ISO 200
Tripod; remote release
Converted to B&W in CS5

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on March 10, 2011 at 12:46 PM

Hi Wayne, I think the real charm of this image is not the "leaners" as you put it, but rather the creek, the snow islands, and awesome light. I might be tempted to use a neutral gradient to reduce the effect of the heavy leaners and focus even more attention on the more intimate part of the scene.
I can seen why you were drawn to this scene.

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Sieren on March 10, 2011 at 12:49 PM

Great job of taming the contrast Wayne, it looks like a tough one but I wasn't there. The re edit works out great. Did you have any issues lining things up? I don't see any but sometimes when I crop it's a lot harder to get everything to line up.

Registered on January 2, 2008, 360 Posts, 5321 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on March 10, 2011 at 1:24 PM

Thanks folks.
CAROL: I agree -- The snow islands, and the sparkling reflections on the stream and snow is what drew me to this. My first impression was a this tighter shot, but later I didn't like the way the diagonal tree dominated the comp, so I'm glad I also shot the wider one (from same tripod set-up) that I posted. Darkening the top is an interesting idea I may try.
STEVE: Lining up the clones? Yeah, always an issue, but easy to fix. I selected bright areas with the snow texture I wanted, in the shape of the blown spots; then used the transform selection tool if needed, as well as trimming the small layers to fit.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Rodrigo Sandoval on March 10, 2011 at 3:34 PM

Wayne,
It sure looks as a tough light situation, that you seem to have handled well. I like the diagonals of the leaners, especially the main tree in the middle. The shine in the water and sourrounding snow was a perfect addition.

And I truly loved the second photo you posted, enhancing the presence of the creek. Wonderful.

Registered on April 4, 2009, 13 Posts, 254 Comments

Comment posted by Michael J Greene, on March 10, 2011 at 11:54 PM

Great hidden composition Wayne. The trees look like they are dancing.

Michael

Registered on June 18, 2009, 86 Posts, 2317 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Sieren on March 11, 2011 at 12:02 AM

Thanks for the info Wayne, nice color version too.

Registered on January 2, 2008, 360 Posts, 5321 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Hyman on March 11, 2011 at 12:11 PM

Hi Wayne,

Looked at the re-posted color version and I like black and white far better. Also as you noted, the tree is so dominant. Of the two I prefer the first and of all I prefer the wider version you sent me.
The scene is worth pursuing. Too bad it's so fleeting.

Carol

Registered on January 18, 2007, 597 Posts, 8062 Comments