Mountain Lakes- Critique Please

[guzzibob]

The first is from early Summer, the second from mid October - Long Lake and Nick's Lake in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. What do you think?
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/guzzibob/Canoe.jpghttp://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m245/guzzibob/_MG_4283copy.jpg

[EWek11]

#2 is nice, #1 could use some boosting of the saturation, I think. Did you use a CPL on this one? It looks like you did on the second, the colors are nice and rich.

[Radtech1]

I think that the first shot is of a beautiful vista, that makes me really want to overlook its one major shortcoming: the canoe is too close to the right edge of the frame and is heading out of the shot. Assuming that you have the entire photograph here (that is to say, assuming that this is not a crop of a larger image) there isn't much that can be done about it. Just keep in mind for the future, anything traveling through a frame almost always should be placed with the larger portion of room in front of the traveler. No one wants to see where somone's been - only where they're going.

Three other minor nicks, 1) I wouldn't mind seeing a little bit more depth and saturation to the sky. 2) And, I might consider dodging out the background behind the canoers head, to better separate the person from the background. 3) Finally, was it really necessary to include that tiny bit of a branch on the left of the frame?

Those aside, I very very much like the lighting on the rocks. And speaking of which, I also really like how the rocks are sitting in the clouds - interesting juxtaposition: the earth and the ethereal.

As to the second shot I very much like the (over)saturation level. Reminds me of a old time postcard. Very good framing of the lake, particularly in the mirroring of the blue water in the blue sky (for those reading this, that mirroring is a lot more evident if you rotate the shot 90° clockwise - now notice how taken together, the blue water and the blue sky seem to form a heart shape, margined by the green bushes on the left and the green trees on the right, with the distal shore providing a separation between the left and right halves of the heart.)

The only thing that I might do differently on the second shot is to rotate it about 1 to 1 .5° clockwise. The opposite shore does not seem level. I often have the same issue when I take shots of my grandfathers lake in Seattle. When the shore is coming closer to me it often takes on the appearance of being out of level even though I know it is really just fine. Still, from the viewer's standpoint it takes on the appearance of being out of level - which is the case here and should be corrected.

Welcome back to the form (68 posts since 2004?!?) and I hope this helps.

Rad

[jbkaufmann]

I really love the first one. The flow of the rocks to the middle of the canoe is great. I would crop just a hair off the bottom and left though.

[guzzibob]

Thanks for the extensive critique. I appreciate you taking the time to view my photo and all your observations. The canoeist came into view as I was setting up the shot so I had little time to compose. I don't think I would know how to dodge the area behind his head but now that I look back on it, I can see how it would be helpful.
I haven't been posting photos for a while. After getting helpful comments like this I'll try to do it more often.

[jbkalla]

I agree with Rad that the first shot is fantastic! I think I would have liked to see the shot in horizontal aspect. (with, of course, more space in front of the canoe!) And, like he said, maybe an increase in the depth of the sky by using a Multiply layer in photoshop. Maybe. I'm not positive...

[jbkalla]

Yup. I like it better with a "Multiplied" sky!

I would post it, but you've got the "Image Editing" button off.

[chestercopperpot]

I'm not sure you understood what radtech1 was saying when he said to dodge the part behind the head. he was referring to the tool/technique in photoshop that will actually lighten darker pixels. so he was saying if you lightened that area up around his head, it would make the silhouette a little easier to see and more dramatic. (by the way, i didnt mean for that to come out sounding snooty - just wanted to make sure you understood what he meant so you could try it :) ).

[guzzibob]

I'm not sure you understood what radtech1 was saying when he said to dodge the part behind the head. he was referring to the tool/technique in photoshop that will actually lighten darker pixels. so he was saying if you lightened that area up around his head, it would make the silhouette a little easier to see and more dramatic. (by the way, i didnt mean for that to come out sounding snooty - just wanted to make sure you understood what he meant so you could try it :) ).

I know what what dodging is, just never used that tool in Photoshop. And I never took it as being snooty.