Salt Wells II

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 25, 2011133 views5 comments

I had little time to go through some more of my images from the other night. I like this one quite a bit. It addresses much of what was suggested on my last image-most notably the light.
To answer one of the questions, Salt Wells Wildlife Management Area is on the north end of the Great Salt Lake and about 25 minutes west of the Golden Spike National Historic Site visitor's center. There is no cell phone reception out here and the roads can be kind of lonely. Some of the roads can be real tire eaters. My brother was out this way a few years back and ended up with four flat times on his Suburban before he got it home.
f10
1/13 second
67 mm
ISO 100
As always, I welcome suggestions and thank you for taking the time to look and to suggest improvements.
I had a suggestion on trying black and white on my last image. It is something that I have never done. Any suggestions on an on-line tutorial?

Comments

5 comments

Comment posted by Darren Huski on March 25, 2011 at 11:07 AM

This looks like a fantastic location. Keep going back here!

I like the setting, the light appears decent, the composition is good. However for some reason it does not all come together for me. Not sure if its the ripple on the water or what. I'd try to work this image in PS. I think you could bring out better color in the sky and water and better texture and contrast in the grass and mountains. Maybe crop some off the bottom to more of a pano.

I think there is something nice here, but I think you need to pull that out of the file to get it into the final image.

Registered on August 17, 2008, 61 Posts, 340 Comments

Comment posted by Chad Merrell on March 25, 2011 at 12:09 PM

Thanks for the response Darren. Yes, something happened in the web version. Comparing it to the original the nice glow on the grasses and mountain are absent. Still, I think that I could push that a little and I want to go back manyy times to shoot this again and see what else I can find. There were some mud flats with reflections of the sunset in the thin water that I would like to try to get close enough to without boggin down to my waist.

Registered on July 8, 2010, 91 Posts, 304 Comments

Comment posted by Phil Pogledich on March 25, 2011 at 4:32 PM

I like the composition and this certainly looks like a place with lots of potential. You mention losing some of the "glow" of the original in the web conversion, which could be the result of failing to convert to SRBG before saving for the web. Otherwise I don't know how to explain it. Like Darren, I'm kind of wondering about the texture of the grass as well . . . perhaps some careful contrast adjustments might work an improvement.

Registered on August 24, 2009, 123 Posts, 3099 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on March 25, 2011 at 6:35 PM

It's great that you had other images that seemed to respond to the earlier critiques. I find it fascinating that while this image responds to my critique, I like the earlier version slightly better. In comparing the two, I find that the sky in post 1 adds a lot of drama and it also looks like post 1 was taken later in the day under better lighting conditions (although that may be influenced by the sky and exactly where in the image the light is hitting). I like this post for seeing more of the water and more of the mountains. I especially like the ripples in the water and the curve of the pond. Now, if only....

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Reitz on March 25, 2011 at 9:42 PM

Hi Chad,
Well, it' 9:30 here in the east, and I should be winding down, but I can't because this image makes me think. So please take all my thoughts with a grain of salt and if you disagree just blame it on an old fellow up past his bed time.

My main thought is, what is your subject? Were I standing there it would be the mountains, in which case the river foreground could be viewed as a bit too dominant. Easily fixed by cropping to panorama just below the river bank.

The other option, which I think would be good for a future visit, would be to put a fly fisherman casting from the lower left corner. The fisherman (a cooperative deer, elk, or bear would be even better) becomes the subject and the larger foreground is now essential while the mountains provide a gorgeous background. All kinds of possibilities here.

Having said all that, this is still quite a good photograph as is.

Registered on September 7, 2007, 32 Posts, 335 Comments