Autumn river

Geir Andersen · 22-10-2007, 20:28

As I have a week off from work now, I had a chance to take a trip this weekend. Camera along and everything

. Being as new as I am, I still really have no idea what I'm doing just shoot what I like at the place I am. Seen a lot of very good autumn shots and landscape shots on here lately, and wanted to share my take.

My screen isn't calibrated so I'm not sure on the colours and such. Looks like the compression has made the foliage a bit flat, or it could be flat in the shot to begin with

.

Honest C+C always welcome.
PS! Hate having to come up with a title, as that always gets me stuck

Rob Barron · 22-10-2007, 23:08

Wow Geir, that really shows the difference between norway and down here in the south of the UK. Your trees seem to be already heavily bereft of leaves whereas ours are still in the turning face so we have lots of colour right now.

I like this shot but if I may make one suggestion: there isn't much in the sky worth having so I would have dropped the camera down slightly and given us more of the reflection of the golden brown trees in the water. Other that it's very nicely captured.

Cheers,
Rob

**Markulous** · 22-10-2007, 23:22

Agree with Rob re. sky......... tho' not about leaves - we've trees that are bare (tho others are still green

Think a touch more saturation and maybe some dodging to counter the brightness of the sky. And thinking up a title is half the fun!

Geir Andersen · 23-10-2007, 00:35

There's a very big difference, and it happened VERY fast. Leaves dropped all too fast this year. As I finished my week on, getting ready for some fun it was almost all gone. But then again, it make me have to really try which is a good thing

Thanks for the comments and tips guys, the shot is ordinary at best, but I feel it could be better than that with enough help and advice. Next time I find a scene I'll be sure to capture it from more than just one or two angles.
Pity I couldn't capture the sky in the shot, as it was a rather beautiful evening. Pratice makes....better....eventually

.

Here's a (quickly made) version with a bit more saturation, and PS work:
Removed this and posted a new one instead. This one was just to wrong

PS! Just saw the traces from the PS tool (in the sky) after uploading, so I'll work it again in the morning on a different computer with a much better screen. Think I might have overdone the dodging a bit, but it felt like I started to get somewhere.

Huge thanks again for the advice guys

Charlotte · 23-10-2007, 01:08

Nice composition Geir. I agree with what's been said. In addition, I think a polariser would've helped to darken the sky + at the same time maximise colour saturation. Also, being a high contrast scene, bracketing for hdr would've worked well here.

(Yes the dodging in your 2nd version is a little overdone

)

What are the dark spots in the centre tree? Either birds or birds' nests I'd assume, but they are so evenly spread from top to bottom of the tree + the fact that there aren't any on other trees, I'm intrigued

jusu · 23-10-2007, 07:37

Great shot beautiful autumn landscape

If you have Photoshop you can use burn tool to saturate the sky for more colourful tones

There are plenty of other techniques, but burn tool is easy to start with

**Markulous** · 23-10-2007, 10:19

Had a go, tho' would still prefer more river to sky!

Added a bit of colour to sky, dodged trees, crop

Geir Andersen · 23-10-2007, 12:03

OK, I'm not even gonna post my latest attempt because I see it needs just a bit more work

. Tried for several hours to get more colour, but the sky just god "blotted". I'll work on it a couple more weeks, maybe it'll get closer. (I am tempted to ask for a wee direction nudge Mark, as to see where I'm missing on increasing the colour..)

Thank you so much for the latest comments. They're very much appreciated.
Charlotte: I have no idea what they are

. Didn't noice them when I was there shooting but the jumped at me when I opened the shot on the computer. You can be sure I'll climb up and look next time I'm there.

Geir Andersen · 23-10-2007, 13:33

I've been playing a bit more in PS and came up with this:

It's far from perfect but I think it's a bit better than the first one I posted. Still not completely satisfied with the colour in the sky, but didn't want to overdo it this time.
Should have spotted this before the shot and taken more of the river, but hey. Always a next time

Edit: Think maybe it needs a crop like Mark's though.

Charlotte · 23-10-2007, 13:57

Nice pimp Mark. And Geir, your latest version is MUCH better

Geir Andersen · 23-10-2007, 16:06

Thank you Charlotte.
It's good to know I'm on the right track

Rob Barron · 24-10-2007, 17:21

Not sure if you've moved it or whatever but I am just seeing a red cross box instead of your revised version, no pic.