Synonymous +note

I find this pretty compelling, Gary ( never mind what the wife thinks !! )  Beautifully composed, great tonal range and a lovely contrast between the sharpness of the branches and the soft, blurry reflections.

This is extremely cool! What a visual mind-ahhhhhhhh, well, you know. I really, really hate to contradict Nancy, but.............

I love it. Great visualization and processing. 

 

I was unsure about the visual chaos in the image at first. But the circle formed by the limb and the reflection on the right keeps drawing my eye and gives a point of reference. Interesting image. I had one image that my wife said interesting but she would not want it on her wall. It won best landscape in show in a competition. It is now hanging on the wall.

Gary, I can see why you like this image. And I can see why your wife doesn't like. IMO it hasn't been fully visualized. With your permission, I hope, I am posting how I visualize this image (from a screen dump). Hopefully the missus will like this more.

I like this a lot, Gary. There is a certain order in the chaos that works for me. I love the curved trunk and its reflection. The processing looks real nice.
--P
 

This is very cool Gary. Love it as is. Only way to improve is crop the RHS tree branch. My eyes get drawn to that edge.

Very cool, Gary. The twisting, curving trunk is terrific, and gives this image a very artisitic touch. I like this a lot.

Igor, that is exactly what my wife had in mind.  I cropped, recropped, reprocessed, recropped and returned to my original iteration.  I knew that a more balanced and more importantly, less reflection, would be more acceptable to more people.  What really attracted me to this image was that, even in camera, I liked the unbalanced composition.  Something that I saw and felt at that time felt right to me.  One of the coolest things about photography, is that two or three people can photograph the same area, on the same day and come up with their own interpretations of what they saw and felt. Even the same scene, shot at essentially at the same time.  Processing alone, of the very same images, will have an individual footprint.  I love that we all look at what we do through a very personal lens.  That is the beauty of photography and art in general.   You always have total permission to critique, criticize, or just generally tell me what you think. That also goes for everyone at NPN.   Absolutely, that's what this is about.  I love it and my wife loves your visualization.

Gary,

You continue to amaze with your vision!  I love this!  It's just not something one runs across every day... The random chaos of the branches and their reflection are wonderful, but surrounding the little "portal" to the water and reflection beyond makes this work for me. Crop or not.

If it makes  you feel any better, my wife wouldn't like this one either.... Her reasoning is poor eyesight (which is true, without glasses/contacts she's like 800/20, legally blind.) which means she doesn't like finely detailed images like this, my grasses images, etc. So as you've hinted, process and crop to what you think works or what your vision is.

Again, while there may be some viable crops, I like this square presentation and the larger reflected limbs being able to extend in to the reflected bottom.

Can't wait for the next one.  I can only imagine what's coming next. Wait, no, I can't imagine.

Lon

Gary, I much prefer your version to Igor's and I can't really explain why. I like where the main "trunk" enters the water in yours. This image is a unique one, and very special. You had a keen eye to see this and make an image that is so compelling.

Love this - great lines, reflections, and water swirls.
Even wives are not always right  
Sandy

A word about wives and this applies to any critiques by non photographers:

i find them enormously helpful. I almost always ask my 20 year old son to look at an image that I'm working on and 95% of the time he's right. I can't explain why I, who has put all this time into photography, don't seem to have much better judgment than someone who hasn't, but it's there. 

Im also involved in a Facebook account that posts images where people voice their opinion with 'likes' and I choose a weekly pick each week. Again I'm amazed at how accurately people with little knowledge of photography get it right. 

It's actually very encouraging to know how easy it is to reach most people with images. 

Whats interesting is that although many easily recognize a good image they can't seem to create one. It's actually quite puzzling. 

No doubt a very intriguing and unique image, Gary. The sort of image that you need to pause and ponder. It is a bit busy and I wonder if that is why your wife has objections. I'm wondering if trying some crops to eliminate the left hand side brush could simplify and make more order out of the comp.?

Those twisted trees are a great subject, but the water/reflection makes is enjoyable as an abstract.  It is a bit chaotic, though the smooth water helps calm me down.  In this case, the choppy portions of the water may add to the more unsettling feel, which are compounded by the branches above water.  Thought provoking image, very artistic view.  

Gary, I love this image.  I actually like your original image best, although Igor's is very nice too.  I like the fact the entire tree reflection is visible in yours.  Excellent composition and the B&W conversion is perfect.  This is good photography!

Well that is trippy.  Nice find!

aF