Heron Pond

Gallery: LandscapePosted November 26, 2010188 views15 comments

Cache River State Natural Area , a thriving eco system of Cypress trees in Southern Illinois generally has 2-3 feet of water in it, but this Fall has been considerably dry. We hadn't seen any significant rain for 2-3 months and the area was almost completely dry when I visited the first part of Oct. Full frame.

Canon 1DS III
24-70 at 52mm
f19
5 image HDR using Photomatix ( I can hear it now!)

C&C welcome

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on November 26, 2010 at 7:12 PM

Very nice image - something very stately about these trees ..
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pullen on November 26, 2010 at 7:32 PM

Looks as if you didn't need the walkway at all, it has been a dry year. Still love the cypress colors. Nice image. Ron

Registered on December 18, 2005, 74 Posts, 1413 Comments

Comment posted by Taylor Reed on November 26, 2010 at 7:47 PM

Nice to see a local shot on here, Mitch! I like the transition of color in this one. Indeed, it has been a very dry fall.

Registered on February 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 556 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Anderson on November 26, 2010 at 10:56 PM

I really like the orange and green color compliments you have captured.

Registered on September 6, 2007, 346 Posts, 2696 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on November 26, 2010 at 11:23 PM

I didn't know there were cypress in IL. Wonderful fall color here. I like the shapes and textures. This is Photomatix? Would never have guessed looks totally natural, IMO.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by Ben Horne on November 27, 2010 at 1:36 AM

I knew this was a HDR before reading the comment. The dark tones are a bit on the cool side, and the midtones have that classic HDR muddy look. If possible, I would skip the HDR and blend your exposures manually. It'll certainly take more work, but it should give the photo a more photographic look.

Registered on August 27, 2009, 51 Posts, 959 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on November 27, 2010 at 6:41 AM

I didnt know IL had cypress either...learn somethin new every day...
midtones might be a hair 'muddy', but otherwise this looks pretty good to me. I like the lighting on the fg leaves.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Taylor Reed on November 27, 2010 at 10:34 AM

For those curious, this is actually the northernmost Cypress/Tupelo swamp in North America

Registered on February 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 556 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Breitkreuz on November 27, 2010 at 11:47 AM

Cypress trees always make for a fine subject, and these are not an exception to that rule. Very nice work here, Mitch.

Registered on February 25, 2006, 525 Posts, 8448 Comments

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on November 27, 2010 at 12:12 PM

I was about to comment on being able to handle the exposure so well and getting so much dynamic range, and then read about Photomatix. You did a great job keeping the scene natural looking. I like the contrast of the stump on left to the full tree on right.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments

Comment posted by David Edwards on November 27, 2010 at 2:26 PM

I like the interesting transition of color from the orange leaves to the yellow ground vegetation. The image does have that Photomatix look, but still subtle enough to look natural to me.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 142 Posts, 2623 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on November 27, 2010 at 7:25 PM

Very nice use of light throughout, Mitch.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Rhodus on November 28, 2010 at 9:05 AM

I like how the rust/brown leaves contrast with the green/yellow leaves in the lower half of the image. Nice positioning of the tree trunks too.

Registered on November 16, 2003, 157 Posts, 3326 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on November 28, 2010 at 4:20 PM

I really like the rusty brown color of the foliage here. I might prefer the scene without the sky mostly focusing on the depth of the scene. But the blend keeps the highlites aesthetic here so it works for me this way as well.

Chris

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Pelton on November 28, 2010 at 10:32 PM

Beautiful scene, Mitch. Well constructed and beautiful processing.

Registered on November 25, 2003, 380 Posts, 4647 Comments