webs in the mist

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 20, 201198 views6 comments

This comes from the cranberry wilderness in West Virginia in an old beaver meadow on a warm September morning as the sun rose over a nearby spruce forest and began to slant through the mist. Late summer is prime time for the orb-weavers in the appalachians and the skeletal trees once drowned by the beavers were filled with intricate webs covered with dew.

C&C welcome

50D, 15-85, 22mm f/8@100, 3-shot combo

thanks for looking and please especially check out the larger version as the 720p file loses a lot of detail

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on September 20, 2011 at 4:10 PM

Interesting shot. Ilike the webs up front especially. It looks a bit 'HDRish' to me though, would help to bring back some of the natural contrast i think, especially in the bg.

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

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on September 20, 2011 at 4:27 PM

Hi Robert, I enjoyed your large version here very much. It is a very interesting shot and I too like the webs in the foreground. I like the misty feel and the beams alot too.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Robert Stough on September 20, 2011 at 5:01 PM

Thanks for the comments, they are very much appreciated. This was obviously a tricksy shot to try and process and I knew the results wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. I've tried this shot with harder background contrast to see if I could mitigate that flattish hdr look that Stan referred but it just didn't work for me, I think because I was of course inside the mist myself and the flatter tone curve is more true to what I actually experienced.

Registered on November 20, 2010, 26 Posts, 273 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on September 20, 2011 at 9:09 PM

Robert,

I'm no hdr expert so I'm not sure what to suggest about any processing. But I can say that I like this. I like it for it's "airy" feeling. although you've got the darker area in the corner, I think the early morning atmosphere is captured very well and the webs are showcased very nicely. I think a nice image that captures the place, time and essence of this location.

The only nit I have is that I notice some weird posterization or something going on in the sky, maybe due to compression? not sure.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on September 20, 2011 at 10:13 PM

Lots of great elements and light here, but it feels a bit much packed into a single frame.

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

Comment posted by Floris van Breugel on September 21, 2011 at 2:14 PM

There's a lot of interesting elements here, Robert. I like the haunting and dark spookyness of the cobwebs, and the misty light is intriguing as well. The two combined, however (particularly with the sky in the frame), leave me a little confused as it's not clear to me what the image is trying to accomplish. I would prefer a composition that focused on one or the other.

Registered on December 19, 2008, 306 Posts, 4840 Comments