Reflecting on a...

Reflecting on a June Morning

As one who knows next to nothing about landscape photography, I always wander into this gallery with more than a little trepidation...but...

I captured this scene while photographing waterfowl from a blind sitting literally in a pond back in June of 2010. I was waiting for a bufflehead to approach when the scene literally "popped" into my awareness - I honestly can't say how long it was "sitting there" in the water waiting to be seen. Anyway, it's simply a reflection of the far shoreline as seen in the water of the pond. I recall thinking at the time how simple - yet beautiful - it was.

What works for me in this shot (and hopefully at least SOMEONE else!) is how the blurring of the ripples in the water hasn't removed so much detail that the scene isn't recognizable, but just enough detail has been removed that a lot is left to the viewer's imagination (and allows them to turn the scene into almost exactly what their eyes WANT it to be).

Photo Art? No, not at all. Pretty much straight out of the camera - only two minor adjustments in post-processing - a global reduction in exposure by 1/3 stop and - of course - a vertical "flipping" of the image (it IS after all, a reflection!).

Comments and feedback more than welcome.

Subject: Open forest scene reflected in a pond
Location: East Kootenays, BC, Canada
Camera: Nikon D3s
Lens: Nikkor 600mm f4 VRII lens - supported on carbon fibre Gitzo 1348 tripod with Wimberley head. VR on and in "Normal" mode.
Exposure: 1/125s at f5. ISO 800. -0.33 stop compensation from matrix metered exposure.
Cropping: None - this is full-frame

If anyone is interested, more details about this shot (processing details, conservation, etc.) can be found here...

http://www.naturalart.ca/galleries/latest/.

Cheers...thanks for looking...now I'll go back to the Wildlife Gallery!

Brad