Posted by John Freeman on February 12, 2015 at 6:38 PM
Critique Please.
The fish are rising, and your fly fishing with two of your best buddies, nearly mirrored water and a beautiful sunset makes for a perfect evening.
31 images stitched. f-13, 1/5th sec. at 70mm for a 30" x 60 final image. Used PS RAW to batch process the images to pull out the dark areas while attempting to preserve the highlights. 8 bit jpg version tends to lose the highlights.
Posted by Doug Beezley on February 13, 2015 at 9:47 AM
John,
A very good capture of a moment to remember. I'm a fly-fisherman too and it's hard to decide my priority when I'm in the middle of something like this - fish or photo? A couple of observations: you could have composed a bit lower so the rocks aren't crowding the bottom of the frame, a move to the left would have taken the rocks out the center and the lower composition would have revealed the grasses going into the water. The detail they would provide is important in a broad, expansive pano. Lowering the composition wouldn't have hurt your sky since there's a little bit at the top that could have been given away. But, you're right - "a perfect evening".
Doug Beezley
Snellville, GA
Posted by Doug Koepsel on February 14, 2015 at 11:07 AM
I agree with Doug in that a position move would have shifted the larger rock to the left and then the two would have cradled the mountain. Have you tried cropping the right to see how you feel without the tree on the edge? I'd have a hard time too trying to fish with that scene unfolding.
Posted by John Freeman on February 14, 2015 at 12:04 PM
Doug & Doug,
Thanks for your comments. I agree getting the big rock less centered would have been good. I had been searching for a spot that allowed me to get the reflection of mountains on the water. This location was one of the few I found. As it was my tripod was sitting in the water, collapsed to the shortest height I could get. Even 3 ft. to the left the ground level or backing up to to reveal the grass, was too elevated to get the reflections I wanted. I will try cropping the tree.
Posted by Brian Schrayer on February 14, 2015 at 11:50 PM
You've captured a very idyllic scene, John. Is this at Sprague Lake? I agree with the other comments and would add that it looks like some of the highlights in the clouds have blown out. This is otherwise a beautiful setting and I hope you are enjoying the large print of this scene.
Posted by John Freeman on February 15, 2015 at 11:32 PM
Brian - Yes, Sprague Lake. The conversion to 8 bit jpg definately gives blown out look to the clouds. In the PS format there are still a few bits short of fully blown out.
Posted by Grant Collier on February 17, 2015 at 5:12 PM
Some beautiful clouds in this shot. I agree that a different composition might have helped. I might have actually gone higher and to the left, so the rock doesn't overlap with the mountain reflection. In fact, for this shot I think the reflection may have been nice enough to where you could exclude the rock entirely. I usually favor a good foreground in an image, but in this case the foreground is sort of distracting me from the best part of the scene.
Posted by Jeremy Kessler on February 21, 2015 at 2:12 AM
Beautiful peaceful scene. I like it with tree cropped out.
Discussion
7 repliesThe fish are rising, and your fly fishing with two of your best buddies, nearly mirrored water and a beautiful sunset makes for a perfect evening.
31 images stitched. f-13, 1/5th sec. at 70mm for a 30" x 60 final image. Used PS RAW to batch process the images to pull out the dark areas while attempting to preserve the highlights. 8 bit jpg version tends to lose the highlights.
A very good capture of a moment to remember. I'm a fly-fisherman too and it's hard to decide my priority when I'm in the middle of something like this - fish or photo? A couple of observations: you could have composed a bit lower so the rocks aren't crowding the bottom of the frame, a move to the left would have taken the rocks out the center and the lower composition would have revealed the grasses going into the water. The detail they would provide is important in a broad, expansive pano. Lowering the composition wouldn't have hurt your sky since there's a little bit at the top that could have been given away. But, you're right - "a perfect evening".
Doug Beezley
Snellville, GA
Thanks for your comments. I agree getting the big rock less centered would have been good. I had been searching for a spot that allowed me to get the reflection of mountains on the water. This location was one of the few I found. As it was my tripod was sitting in the water, collapsed to the shortest height I could get. Even 3 ft. to the left the ground level or backing up to to reveal the grass, was too elevated to get the reflections I wanted. I will try cropping the tree.