Between autumn and early winter

I have been (silently ) following these magnificent forums of POTN. And I have learned a lot of photography. At least I have learned how little I know. The pictures here are so breath-taking that I have been afraid to send mine. But maybe it is also my (pleasant ) duty to participate.

At the end of last november the lakes were still open. While driving my car I noticed this spectacular view in the sky. This stopping place was near but I was afraid whether I would miss the best moment. I turned to a small road but it was almost blocked by snow (it was not cleaned on several days), and since I was not sure could I turn around, I left my car and ran fast. But I managed!

I used Sigma 18-200 and a mini-tripod (luckily had at least it with me!). I am a newbie, but in this picture I tried to make some composition (e.g. the log in the front). The colours are just as I can remember. The picture is not PPed in any way, not even sharpened, nor cropped. Should it?

All comments and suggestions are welcome.

Antero

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Welcome to the forum.

I like the composition and the sky has a great color. What I think is missing is some color detail in the trees at the other side of the lake. All black and no shades.

Keep it up!

Welcome to the forum Mr Capp

Thats a lovely sky you've captured there

Welcome to the forum. You have a nice shot with good composition; however, you could lighten up the trees and the reflection in the water to show more details as well as adjust the saturation of the sky and water just a bit to enhance the overall image.IMO. Thanks for sharing.

Welcome. Nice starting shot. Why not try different PP actions (levels, contrast, USM, etc) to see the effects of each and how you like the result? That will be a good learning experience for you.

Thank you.

About the 'missing colours': what can I say? There aren't any - that's what a Finnish autumn is! Dark and colourless, except sunrises, sunsets and of course aurora borealis - the northern lights. If you look carefully, the sun is just behind the trees, so - at least for my skills - it is very difficult the get colours to the trees at the other side of the lake.

But do you mean that you see them totally black? Actually, there really should be some grey details. I have not calibrated my monitor so maybe mine is too bright or something, but I can see details in the trees. I looked the picture from several (at least 5) monitors and the results were depressive: in some monitors it was too bright, in some absolutely too dark and in one very yellowish. (Maybe this tells that the monitors need adjustment.) I even had made a paper-copy of the picture and it is very near what I can see on my laptop, maybe little darker (I have also a CRT and their brightnessess are similar).

Thank you. I myself like it, too.

Thank You

Thank You

For Reigh Higgins & sparker1: I had checked the levels but as far as I can see they are correct. Decreasing or increasing the contrast made the colours poorer (on my opinion). Little USM really improved it. Also little more saturation, but I like the colours in my monitor since they are so near what I can remember they were on that november evening.

As I wrote to SanderH, maybe I have to try to calibrate my monitor(s) first, since I was really surprised of the comments that the trees are too dark. Or should I lighten only the trees? I know that there are many possibilities to adjust the photo.
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Thank you for all your comments, it was nice to get some feedback.

This is what I managed to get by increasing saturation and brightness, and by USM. The modifications were very minor, almost invisible.


Antero

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Yes, thats improved it very well. Looks cold as it gets.

I love the colors and the reflections. Really nice shot. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome to the forum. That's a really nice shot. very serene