Power of One
by Lon Overacker
Thank you so much for your comments and reaction to my previous post. Guess I'm squeezing all I can out of that old rock wall. ;-)
And now getting carried away with titles... But I did want to put in a plug for the biggest rock in the world. My buddy Mr. Preston will always say, that's one big frickin rock - or BFR. Not only does it provide countless photo ops by itself as the subject, but it also remains on of the greatest light sources in the valley. Reflected light and direct reflections of light and color make for endless possibilities.
I was down by the Merced with my friend Kyle when we spied this reflection, the grasses and scattering of leaves. This is actually the very same location Preston and I captured some images of ice a year ago.
I've had a real difficult time with this one in processing. Your feedback will be helpful. For starters I should mention I did some sloppy content-aware cloning to remove an oof skinny branch hanging over the scene. What a pain. But also curious thoughts on color, saturation and processing in general.
Thanks!
Lon
Comments
14 comments1. It would be nice if the pale grass strands that run across the rock reflection stood out a bit more. I think that's their purpose in a way.I'm not sure how I would do that.
2. As much as I like the green grass below with the yellow leaf a crop of the bottom that remove just above the leaf gives a lighter more graceful feeling to the image. It would be a more unconventional panoramic format, but what the hell. I like that top half more anyway.
These are just alternatives. It's excellent as is with the large bottom leaf being the point of focus.
There are some tiny brighter grasses cutting the borders at the top and both sides - maybe a slight vignetting would make them less prominent.
Nevertheless this is an outstanding image for me, a beautiful capture of e fleeting moment.
Peter
Scott, you've nailed what is bothering me about this image. While this color can happen on El Cap, it's a rare event under special conditions. But my recollection is that El Cap in this situation wasn't this red. I think I need to go back to the drawing board on this.
Thanks for the comments so far folks. Appreciate it.
Lon
Mattia
I very much like this image as presented, and all the elements have harmoniously come together to create this beautify crafted intimate image. I really like the color combination of oranges and greens, and yeah it feels a bit like Zion, but it looks great as presented. I wanted to add that this image has such a nice delicate beauty about it too Lon.
Now that I have studied this image a bit more, maybe a slight crop off from the bottom to right below that aspen leaf, yes I may like that in deed.
Beautiful image Lon