My Church - w/ REPOST

Gallery: LandscapePosted October 20, 2012293 views14 comments

Between the birth of our third child, buying a new house, moving, and remodeling I haven't been able to get out to shoot much lately. Still, I always make time to get out to the GSMNP during fall. My wife has called it my "church" since I always say my trips into the park are good for the soul. I used a day off of work to scout some areas for next weekend when I will be shooting in the park for a few days. The skies were clear so I only had a couple hours in the morning before the sun got too high.

I think part of the appeal of this image is in the details, which will be hard to see even in the larger image since I had to decrease the quality by 50% just to get it under 500kb (ugh!).

The critiques are the major reason I post to NPN, so let me hear it!

50D, 17-40 f4L, CPL (slightly decreased to show the reflected glow of the foliage)
f10, 0.8 sec, ISO 160, 20mm
I use PS CS5 to blend in some blown highlights from an underexposed image. Other than that most of the pp work was done in LR3.

Good to be posting again (for now)

Comments

14 comments

Comment posted by Joseph Campisi on October 20, 2012 at 10:05 AM

Delightful fall scene Joe that flows really nicely. It looks very natural.

Registered on November 24, 2008, 304 Posts, 3211 Comments

Comment posted by Chad Merrell on October 20, 2012 at 10:25 AM

Beautiful scene. My only problem with with the highlights/glare on the large foregrouond rocks. Though I am sure that some has been lost in the web conversion there are still some beautiful details in the the large version.

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

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on October 20, 2012 at 11:11 AM

You've caught a wonderful glow here and the diagonals in both the stream and the hillside work well. With details like this, larger is always better. I too think the highlights on the large rock on the left could be toned down a bit, but that's a minor nit. This is a lovely scene.

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

Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on October 20, 2012 at 11:19 AM

Wonderful composition Joseph. It pulls me right in, especially the glow on the river in the BG. My only dislike is that it feels a bit to contrasty, in particular the FG rocks in the river.

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

Comment posted by Brian Schrayer on October 20, 2012 at 12:28 PM

This looks like a beautiful scene, Joseph, and definitely good for the soul. I especially like the way that the warm light is bathing the scene. These kind of scenes are often difficult to compose but you've done a nice job with this I think.

Registered on May 28, 2004, 114 Posts, 2890 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on October 20, 2012 at 12:53 PM

Great scene, Joseph--beautiful! I agree with the others regarding the rocks/sheen, but that's pretty minor.

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

Comment posted by Tom Hilton on October 20, 2012 at 3:09 PM

Excellent scene and capture...
take care of the rock and this is real good!

Registered on September 19, 2011, 68 Posts, 668 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on October 20, 2012 at 3:41 PM

Lovely scene. The highlights on the rocks are a little too bright IMO. I love the shimmer on the water and, of course, the beautiful foliage.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on October 20, 2012 at 5:33 PM

Joseph,

Beautiful autumn scenic - the large version shows the details quite nicely.

Have to agree about the others about the rocks. I was also thinking they were a bit bright and contrasty before reading other comments. Actually less of an issue in the larger version, but I think you could stand to at least burn down the top of the main rock; that would make a big difference I think.

Lon

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

Comment posted by Joseph Balcken on October 20, 2012 at 8:44 PM

Thanks for all the comments. I did burn the left fg rock, but based on the comments thus far, maybe not enough. Not sure if a you can see the difference, but in the repost I burned it a touch more and decreased the overall contrast. Any better?

Registered on November 29, 2009, 48 Posts, 249 Comments

Comment posted by Kathy Barnhart on October 20, 2012 at 8:54 PM

Beautiful fall scene. I prefer the second post with less contrast on the lower left rocks. It lets my eyes wander upstream a bit more. Gorgeous!

Registered on November 11, 2011, 404 Posts, 1639 Comments

Comment posted by Chad Merrell on October 20, 2012 at 11:18 PM

1st was excellent. 2nd is much better. Over the top!

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

Comment posted by Morris McClung on October 21, 2012 at 4:05 PM

A fine Autumn stream scene. Lovely color and light and a good comp. Well done.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on October 23, 2012 at 7:36 AM

Lots of nice detail, the re-post is the better of the two IMHO. I think you have captured a very "good for the soul" image. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments