# Reflections of Mother Nature



## vipgraphx (Mar 20, 2012)

Took this picture yesterday. The sky was very interesting as it was stormy but for brief periods of time the sun would find a clear spot and the sky would light up. In this view you would not know that there were storm clouds to the east and west of this photo and back behind. I really like the way the sky reflected in the water and brought by camera about 6 inches from the ground to get a good perspective and nice reflection of mother nature.

*Original Photo*







*Edited Photo*




reflections by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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## Majeed Badizadegan (Mar 20, 2012)

I see your processing is evolving to become cleaner and cleaner. That's a good thing. I think for the most part, except in some rare cases, clean processing trumps overcooked HDR. 

This is a really nice scene, and it's awesome when you can find still water to get these nice reflections. You've also done some nice clean processing.  This reminds me of your desert lake photos that you posted a long time ago that had 1/2 : 1/2 compositions. 

Personally when I look at his photo I notice a couple things. I see the sky could use a bit more highlight smoothing.  it's brighter around the clouds but gets dark quickly. I also see that from a composition standpoint it could've been really nice to somehow involve those rocks in lower left frame as a foreground element. The first stop for the eyes. I think 2/3 water; 1/3 sky would've been nice as well. Try to move away from horizons at middle frame because most of the time I think it makes for a less interesting photo.  Choose what 2/3 of the frame is more interesting to you and emphasize that.

You mentioned Ratcliffs rule of putting something interesting in each 1/3 of the frame. If you're going to subscribe to that philosophy, consider the composition with 1/3 foreground rock -- 1/3 lake -- 1/3 sky or something along those lines.


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## ann (Mar 20, 2012)

Radtcliff rule comes from a variety of others sources, basically well schooled landscape photography, he didn't come up with the original thought


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## vipgraphx (Mar 20, 2012)

Rotanimod said:


> I see your processing is evolving to become cleaner and cleaner. That's a good thing. I think for the most part, except in some rare cases, clean processing trumps overcooked HDR.
> 
> This is a really nice scene, and it's awesome when you can find still water to get these nice reflections. You've also done some nice clean processing.  This reminds me of your desert lake photos that you posted a long time ago that had 1/2 : 1/2 compositions.
> 
> ...



Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to comment and notice processing and what not. I know that there a few people that think I don't listen to what they say however I have evolved from listening and learning. I think my processing has direct results of that. I do like the various methods of processing however I also think that it should compliment the subject. Grungie processing is great for rusted metal and abandon buildings where as scenery like this benefits from a more realistic method.

In regards to the 1/2 and 1/2 I have been making a conscious effort to stray away from that. In the scene I felt that because the reflection came down so far on the the right I did not to crop that out and I tried to salvage as much rocks on the left. The way that the trees are bigger on the right than the left also made it hard to take any sky out. When on location I tried raising my camera to get in more sky but lost detail in the water which was my main focus. I though it was well balanced but I do understand and see your points.

With the sky I did a lot of masking and I was not totally please with the darkening on the top as you mentioned. It was a crazy sky and I will post a few more pictures so you know what I meen. there were bright areas, dark areas ,bright clouds, dark clouds and everything in-between. I think I could try and selecting the darker area and do saturation and hue adjustment and see if I can not mach up the blue and cyan tones better.

Again thanks for your honesty!


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## vipgraphx (Mar 20, 2012)

ann said:


> Radtcliff rule comes from a variety of others sources, basically well schooled landscape photography, he didn't come up with the original thought



Ann - I am not sure who came up with it to be honest with you. I took Ratcliff's course a while back and have watched other online videos and that is where I heard it so I assumed that he did.

I like the method I think it helps me more than traditional rule of thirds. You know me I am all about breaking those rules 

Cheers!


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## vipgraphx (Mar 20, 2012)

*Rotanimod *- just updated original image. Have a look. I reprocessed the image from start to finish. When I was editing the og file it started to have banding as I saved as a jpeg. 

look at original post for updated photo.


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## ann (Mar 20, 2012)

vipgraphx said:


> ann said:
> 
> 
> > Radtcliff rule comes from a variety of others sources, basically well schooled landscape photography, he didn't come up with the original thought
> ...




That's fine, I just didn't want the credit to be given to someone who didn't originate the concept.  Frequently in the literature one will see it referred to as 1/3 foreground, 1/3 middle ground and 1/3 background. Of course it doesn't have to be measured to the exact inch, just a helpful concept.

Nothing wrong with breaking rules (personally I think about them asl guide lines, not rules), it just has to work becomes the bottom line.


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## vipgraphx (Mar 20, 2012)

Understood :hug::. One thing he has mentioned and maybe this is not his doings either but he mentioned that its not  just  foreground,middle and background  but also just making each third vertical or horizontally interesting.

Example. You have a shot that has a house on the left a broken down car in the middle and a lake on the right (just for the sake of saying it these are just random subjects). There would be not foreground,middle and background applied to this shot if you understand what I am saying. Sometimes hard to explain without a visual.


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## ann (Mar 21, 2012)

understood.


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## Majeed Badizadegan (Mar 21, 2012)

vipgraphx said:
			
		

> Rotanimod - just updated original image. Have a look. I reprocessed the image from start to finish. When I was editing the og file it started to have banding as I saved as a jpeg.
> 
> look at original post for updated photo.



It looks a lot better!!! Sometimes it's best to go back to the beginning and get a fresh start.


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## Bynx (Mar 21, 2012)

Since I missed the original shot I have to say I really like the present one. Interesting scenery with palm trees instead of bloody fir trees.


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## c.cloudwalker (Mar 21, 2012)

I'm with Bynx here. Didn't see the original (please post a newer version without deleting the first one) but this looks very nice.


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## vipgraphx (Mar 21, 2012)

Bynx said:


> Since I missed the original shot I have to say I really like the present one. Interesting scenery with palm trees instead of bloody fir trees.


 


c.cloudwalker said:


> I'm with Bynx here. Didn't see the original (please post a newer version without deleting the first one) but this looks very nice.



Just posted the original photo back up. Sorry for the confusion .


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## Joel_W (Mar 22, 2012)

I liked the original till I saw your final edited version. Just an outstanding composition. Well done.


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## vipgraphx (Mar 23, 2012)

What do you think about this crop?





reflectionscropped by VIPGraphX, on Flickr


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## Compaq (Mar 23, 2012)

I think I prefer this last crop. Nice image anyway :thumbsup: Very tourist brochure-ish


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## c.cloudwalker (Mar 23, 2012)

vipgraphx said:


> Just posted the original photo back up. Sorry for the confusion .



You're not the first one to do this and won't be the last one   It's not that big a deal but it helps to see both so, thanks for posting the original back up.

And, yes, the edited version is way better. You got rid of the mud.


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## vipgraphx (Mar 23, 2012)

Thanks all your feedback has helped me a lot. I have a few other reflections that now I know what to do them.


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