Two Bridges

OK, it's actually one bridge with two slightly different compositions. I tweaked the levels and sharpening a bit in PS to compensate for my lack of picture-taking skills. The first one is also cropped a bit on the left to remove what I felt was another tree (too distracting for my tastes). Anyway, comments are welcome...

Good picture! I'm no expert at this, but I have three suggestions:

1. Try a circular polarizer to remove reflections off the water and darken the sky.

2. Try adding a neutral density filter and stop your aperture right down so you get a 4 to 6 second exposure time (you'll need a tripod of course) to give the water moving over the rocks that "fluffy" look.

3. Try removing the power lines using PS or whatever. It's going to be time consuming but worth it.

I like the location and subject; there's something about bridges that's fascinating.

Thanks for the feedback. Since I have an SD550 I don't know if a polarizer is an option for me (I could be wrong). I am already looking into a monopod/tripod for future shots. I'll also give the PS a shot in the future.

I like the upper picture better than the lower one because the lower one seems washed out to me.

I don't see one bit of advantage/disadvantage to either relative to any cropping, although it does look like your comment about the cropping is backwards from the order of the two pictures.

I also see no reason to want to eliminate the reflections in the water - either the sun's reflection or the reflections of the bridge. First, it would not be possible to eliminate one without eliminating both. Second, I think the reflections contribute strongly to a picture that is weak on level of interest to begin with.

The shot needs a human figure or two in the picture to make it come alive. For example a lone person standing on the bank or on the bridge, just contemplating the scene would be nice. Or a couple walking across the bridge. Either way, he/she/they should be doing something independent - that is not posing for the camera and certainly not looking into the camera. That's how I see it being more interesting.

Thanks,

Where were you standing when you took the picture?

Would it have been possible to lower the camera view to "ground level" and take the shot "up" using the wide angle and perhaps take the picture with the camera turned to the vertical?

You could get a lot more of the foreground water that way.

David

I had gone off the path that leads away from that bridge. Unfortunately there was a winter thaw in that area, so the ground was quite muddy and that limited where I could stand and how I could position myself.