Took this shot the other day and I'm not too sure about it. I was about to toss it but cropped it a bit and adjusted a few other things and would like to get some opinions on it.
I'm learning so your input is welcome, good or bad. Should it go in the trash?
It is a nice scene, I like the light, especially in the yellow trees across the lake. The clouds look like the coastal fog rolling in that I have seen near San Francisco. I don't mind the blown sun on the right, not sure what aperture you were at, no EXIF intact, I might have stopped down composition related thing I see is the lack of separation between the reeds and the shoreline across from your vantage point, was it possible to get just a little higher to let them be separate elements?
The separation of the reeds does not bother me, but I really don't care for the blown out sky. I don't know if you can recover this from the raw, but even so working with a full sized image you should be able to pull the brightness down. Here is a 60 second try just to indicate the processing direction I think would help.
I really like the reeds and the fact that you got them sharp while keeping the mountains sharp too. Not easy and one of the things I work for.
I like the exposure everywhere but the blown right side. I think I would just crop about even with the right most branch that protrudes into the sky. This would not get all the blown area, but enough to minimize it.
Would like to see the raw/sooc to work from ... particularly regarding the top right corner being blown out. Took a stab at (rough draft) "trimming back" some of the reeds so they might still take you across the lake, but not up as high into the scene. (clone to taste)
Threw a little warming filter and some selective tweaks @ levels/sharpening as well as the crop. Tried to emphasize the raking light a bit more.
Exif for the shot is 24mm, f/8, 1/160 sec, & ISO 100.
The blown right side had me trying different crops to see what I can do with it. I like the brightness adjustment that Jim included in his version. I had an almost exact crop of Kent's version before I decided to include my version for feedback purposes. I was not able to get any higher for the shot. I do like the trimming job that Kent did on the reeds to add a little more separation that Travis indicated. I didn't even think about doing that.
I appreciate the feedback and time in your suggestions.
Lovely scene, very peaceful... you composed well...
Well, there was no way to get the blown-out highlights back - so I had to do it the hard way - masking, cloning, paint-brushing etc. to replace the blown-out sky. All done in ACR and PS CS6. (Levels,Curves, Gradients with different modes - playing around to get the right ambience... You can tell I really had fun here.... thanks.
Thanks Bee for taking a stab at it & your feedback. I've scrapped the image with intentions of going back when the conditions are similar to try to get the shot similarly framed but without the blown sun.
