Spray Lk, Kananaskis -repost

Gallery: LandscapePosted January 2, 2011442 views34 comments

Here is a shot from a recent trip to Spray Lake in Kananaskis Country. I have tried this spot a few times because the water stays open and makes for nice reflection shots, but this is the first time I had a nice sky to work with. I'm wondering how the processing looks on this one. I did a few colour adjustments to bring it closer to what I remember and I'm just curious if it still looks natural to people.

5d II
17-40
iso 100
f/16
4 sec
two stop hard grad
blend of two files, one with sky polarized (which helped the difficult exposure) and the other with the water polarized

Comments

34 comments

Comment posted by Bruce King on January 2, 2011 at 6:44 PM

A beauty Wayne, looks very natural to me. I don't see a grad line, so wondering where it was positioned? Beautiful fg details and nice composition, an all around excellent image.

Registered on January 14, 2010, 276 Posts, 2212 Comments

Comment posted by Rui Vieira on January 2, 2011 at 6:45 PM

Awesome shot Wayne, the composition and the light are fantastic

Registered on September 11, 2008, 39 Posts, 246 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Simpson on January 2, 2011 at 6:49 PM

Thanks Bruce. The grad was pulled down to the bottom of the tree line. I also forgot to mention that I used bit of an additional digital grad in the raw processing to help keep all the detail in the upper left area behind the trees.

Registered on December 11, 2006, 303 Posts, 924 Comments

Comment posted by Ian Cameron on January 2, 2011 at 7:14 PM

Lovely near far detail and it would appear to be just the right balance of contrast and colour. A very lovely shot. Just for the record and it is purely a personal thing, I reckon a less heavy border would help it breathe better it just feels a little oppressive. Please stick with what appeals to you though tis your image and your presentation, not mine.

Registered on August 6, 2004, 1125 Posts, 3318 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Simpson on January 2, 2011 at 7:18 PM

Thanks Ian, I was actually thinking the same after I posted! Back to a lesser border next time for sure!

Registered on December 11, 2006, 303 Posts, 924 Comments

Comment posted by Jay Patel on January 2, 2011 at 8:06 PM

Nice colors and excellent foreground details. Good work.

Registered on August 28, 2008, 87 Posts, 566 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on January 2, 2011 at 9:16 PM

Really enjoying the bend in the ice that mimics the mtn. Great capture

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on January 2, 2011 at 9:27 PM

Looks fantastic - Colors and processing look right on to me.

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments

Comment posted by Lucy VanSwearingen on January 2, 2011 at 10:01 PM

This is postcard perfect. The sky is very natural looking. You should see the fiery skies in Texas.
This sky pales against some of the intense sunsets here--But ours are almost too hot to work with. So, IMO you did a fantastic job.
I love the sinuous curves in the FG and the gorgeous reflection. This makes this photo stand apart from most mountain reflection scenes.

Registered on May 23, 2009, 800 Posts, 2042 Comments

Comment posted by Michael R Reynolds on January 2, 2011 at 10:27 PM

Wayne, very pleasing composition with some sweet light. The "S" curving lake leads the eye into the frame nicely. Great reflection. Best Regards.

Registered on February 26, 2008, 54 Posts, 812 Comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on January 2, 2011 at 10:30 PM

Looks totally believable to me, Wayne. What a beautiful, inspirational shot to start off the New Year.

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by Jeremy Kessler on January 2, 2011 at 11:41 PM

Beautiful Image Wayne.

Registered on September 13, 2007, 36 Posts, 1283 Comments

Comment posted by Koveh Tavakkol on January 3, 2011 at 12:03 AM

Well done Wayne. Great processing and composition.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 41 Posts, 608 Comments

Comment posted by William Vrolyk on January 3, 2011 at 1:43 AM

I like the contrast between the warm, vivid colors of the sunrise against the winter whites in this image, Wayne. There are not many places like this with open water at this time of year that I know of. It is a beautiful shot.

Will
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada

Registered on November 1, 2003, 278 Posts, 3524 Comments

Comment posted by Brigitte Lorenz on January 3, 2011 at 2:27 AM

Great work....beautiful colors and details

Brigitte

Registered on January 10, 2009, 187 Posts, 1507 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on January 3, 2011 at 3:27 AM

Lovely light. The side-on style of composition, often difficult to pull off, works very well with those beautiful layers of ice.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Eva McDermott on January 3, 2011 at 8:41 AM

Stunning color and light Wayne. The composition just pulls the viewer right into the scene. Wonderful presentation.

Registered on January 4, 2009, 1015 Posts, 13229 Comments

Comment posted by Raymond D Smith on January 3, 2011 at 8:48 AM

Great photo Wayne. The light is awesome and the colour palette is wonderful. You have some wonderful texture in the snow and ice. I could see opening up the shadows of the tree line a bit if you have the info for it. The band of darkness seems a little heavy for the photo. Cheers

Registered on January 22, 2009, 12 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Bruce Omori on January 3, 2011 at 9:06 AM

Wonderful capture of a beautiful scene, Wayne! Colors and composition are great. Well executed!!

Registered on December 6, 2010, 6 Posts, 175 Comments

Comment posted by Sean Bagshaw on January 3, 2011 at 11:35 AM

Looks just great to me Wayne! Wonderfully strong composition, light, textures, color, processing. The complete deal.

Registered on February 14, 2007, 99 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Luis Argerich on January 3, 2011 at 11:48 AM

Hi Wayne,
This is fantastic, the crimson tone suits the scene magically.

Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments

Comment posted by Gary McGhee on January 3, 2011 at 1:25 PM

It looks natural to me Wayne. Flawless comp with the frozen lake edge leading my eye straight to the gorgeous sunset.

Gary.

Registered on April 15, 2010, 142 Posts, 2416 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on January 3, 2011 at 1:26 PM

Hi Wayne

Beautiful scene marvelously captured

Albert Darmo. Canada

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on January 3, 2011 at 1:36 PM

very nice colors & details too

maybe if you burn the sky a bit it will be better (IMO)

hAMED

Registered on June 1, 2009, 372 Posts, 2282 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on January 3, 2011 at 1:44 PM

Absolutely love it, Wayne. Outstanding composition and light. I might add a touch more blue to this if it was mine.

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

Comment posted by Wayne Simpson on January 3, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Okay, thanks to everyone for their comments. I have tried a few things to try and improve the image - I burned the sky a little, brought some detail out of the trees, and added a little blue to the overall colour. I would love it if those of you who commented would let me know what you think of the revised version. Thanks guys!

Wayne

Registered on December 11, 2006, 303 Posts, 924 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Nevesely on January 3, 2011 at 2:36 PM

Looks great Wayne!

Registered on June 14, 2005, 147 Posts, 1550 Comments

Comment posted by dean hebert on January 3, 2011 at 4:05 PM

Beautiful! Love the lead-in line and great sky.

Registered on August 4, 2010, 70 Posts, 1132 Comments

Comment posted by Ant on January 3, 2011 at 4:48 PM

It's a beautiful scene, what I like of the original version is that it looks very natural, with the dark tones of the mountain and of the water in the fg and the red brilliant sky... Seems to be there.

Registered on April 13, 2009, 27 Posts, 474 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Goldwasser on January 3, 2011 at 7:03 PM

Beautiful image, the processing looks spot on to me.

Registered on May 10, 2009, 127 Posts, 970 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Atencio on January 3, 2011 at 9:49 PM

Great light here Wayne, I prefer the original, seems a bit more natural and less "forced". The FG in the original looks just a touch too bright for my personal taste, maybe a little more transition of light here, but regardless, this is fantastic. Great work!

Registered on June 23, 2009, 21 Posts, 422 Comments

Comment posted by Arild Heitmann on January 4, 2011 at 6:38 AM

they both look great. If forced to choose i would pick the latest version. A bit more dramatic feel to it...

Killer composition!

Registered on October 13, 2010, 27 Posts, 378 Comments

Comment posted by Gino Cortez on January 4, 2011 at 10:21 AM

Nice leading line, gorgeous light and reflection. Processing looks good to me.

Registered on November 23, 2010, 57 Posts, 396 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Kualii on January 4, 2011 at 6:22 PM

This is definitely a wall piece. Awesome image.

Registered on November 24, 2010, 53 Posts, 139 Comments