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Author Topic: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light  (Read 1858 times)

John Rodriguez

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Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« on: February 10, 2013, 09:17:19 am »

Constructive criticism always welcome.

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thierrylegros396

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #1 on: February 10, 2013, 02:55:25 pm »

What is the shutter speed, please ?!

For me the result is interresting as it's different of other works that use fairly long 5 to 30 sec shutter speed !

But slightly overexposed for me.
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John Rodriguez

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2013, 03:12:20 pm »

Thanks. I generally don't blur water unless I need to in order to emphasize the main subject.  

I don't remember the shutter speed, probably somewhere around 1/15ish around f/22.  I need to rescan, the chrome has texture in all the highlights.
« Last Edit: February 10, 2013, 04:13:21 pm by djjohnr »
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luxborealis

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2013, 04:44:06 pm »

I've looked at this a couple of times now and it's not the highlights in the water that are a problem as there is some texture there. To my eyes, there are too many competing elements - bright water, bright rock and bright plants - and they don't seem to work together. Viewers are subliminally drawn tot he brightest parts first but there is no natural connection between these elements.
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John Rodriguez

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #4 on: February 10, 2013, 05:58:47 pm »

I was trying to tie together the plant, main rock and foreground rocks, however that diagonal is opposite the flow of the stream.  Here's another version with that work taken out.

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thierrylegros396

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2013, 05:29:32 am »

I prefer the first version, more dynamic !!

Perhaps, just little touch of brush to recover some highlights, but good overall.

Thierry
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davidh202

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2013, 11:10:53 pm »

I'm calibrated and all the water textures show up just fine.
What does work better to my eye composition wise, is eliminating the foreground rocks.

David
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wolfnowl

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #7 on: February 12, 2013, 02:05:04 am »

Well, since everyone gets an opinion, I like the two 2/3 or so of the image, but I could do without the bottom.  I find it distracts with the main stream and creates competition for the eye.

Mike.
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John Rodriguez

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #8 on: February 12, 2013, 01:14:58 pm »

Do you find the plant, main rock and foreground rocks, interesting -- or is this an exercise in technique?

I find the overall scene and lighting interesting, with particular emphasis on the main rock, the plant and the light on the foreground rocks.  The diagonal I had added was more of an exercise/experiment (I'm doing homework for a printing workshop I'm attending in a couple of months).  The image you see at the top of the post has changed several times during the course of this thread, the diagonal contrast increase I referenced is no longer present.  While there's still some room for improvement, I'm fairly happy with where it's at currently - the eye is drawn initially to the rapids and the main rock then wanders to the plant then eventually down to the light on the rocks. 
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thierrylegros396

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2013, 02:11:54 pm »

Well, since everyone gets an opinion, I like the two 2/3 or so of the image, but I could do without the bottom.  I find it distracts with the main stream and creates competition for the eye.

Mike.

Someting like that ?!

I think you are right Mike, it looks better to my eyes too !
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davidh202

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Re: Merced River Rapids, Rocks and Plants in Afternoon Light
« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2013, 03:33:34 pm »

too much cropped off ! It need to be cropped right above the bottom rocks.Doing so draws the eye first to the big rock then clockwise with the flow of the water, around to the right.
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