Delaware River

Got to this location just before first light. Appreciate critique on my processing.

This one has been sitting here for a while. So I'll give it a shot. I don't have much to say about your processing because you didn't provide a before image. If this were my shot, I would be on the edge of filing it away. It just doesn't grab me. What is the story being told? The colors in the trees offer a hint of interest, but they're lost in the grays of the water and sky which together take up something like 3/4 of the frame. My first thought was to crop them out. That would leave something like a leading line, but a weak one that drifts off to the left side. I'll bet if you come back to this scene in a couple of weeks, the colors in the trees would be more striking. It might give you an opportunity to try different points of view for a more compelling composition.

I would increase the saturation of the trees so that they stand out more. Also I would crop from the bottom to the start of blue above your name to center the triangle formed by the mountains and the reflection.

I agree w/ increasing the pop value of the trees to make it more dimensional.

i would increase contrast and saturation. you could even selectively bring the saturation of the colors you want like the greens and reds and so on.

Fog lowers contrast. Adding contrast/micro contrast and lots of vibrancy/saturation makes it look un-natural, like those HDR effect filters (which is fine if that's what you want).

It's hard to judge the processing without the original.

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DesolateMirror wrote in post #18274451
Fog lowers contrast. Adding contrast/micro contrast and lots of vibrancy/saturation makes it look un-natural

I agree. Well, I somewhat agree. There are ways that you can "remove" some of the fog without making a scene look unnatural, but why? I mean, fog is so beautiful, and so unique.

The reason to take an image of a foggy scene is because you love the soft, mystical look of the fog, right? I mean, if you are going to effectively "remove" the fog by increasing the contrast to produce "pop", then why not wait until it is clear to take one's photos? To me, it seems reasonable that the reason to photograph fog is because one wants pictures of fog. So I think that the best processing would be that which preserves the mystical, ethereal look and mood of the scene when it was so foggy.

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OP - I was pleasantly surprised to see the Delaware River! Back when I lived in Pennsylvania my friends and family and I spent many, many weekends on that river, fishing and canoe-camping. We used to float and hunt and fish the area from Milford, PA down to Delaware Water Gap, PA very often. And a very good friend of mine lived along the river in Yardley, PA, so we used to recreate quite often in the section between Washington's Crossing and Morrisville. Good times! Your photo brings back many good memories for me. Thanks for sharing!

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On the other side - I would leave the fog as much as possible and desaturate the trees.

I saw an earlier edit and someone earlier than that had mentioned something about "It just doesn't grab me."...Well, here's a hand...grab ahold.

hahaha! grab him!