Argent Mirror

Gallery: AvianPosted April 6, 2013210 views13 comments

I had been on a native plant field trip at Canaveral National Seashore one January morning and on the way back home stopped at Spruce Creek Park where I had the good luck to see this great egret standing in the middle of a side creek. From my vantage point on the boardwalk bridge and the midday sun, a beautiful reflection was cast in the still water.
I titled this image Argent Mirror as a play on words, as great egrets are in the Ardea genus, Argent a term for silver or silvery white, and silver used to make mirrors.

Comments

13 comments

Comment posted by Martin Dunn on April 6, 2013 at 9:23 AM

Interesting photo Paul.
I'm intrigued to know what you did to create the smooth effect on the feathers - especially the back. Even on th elarge photo there is almost no detail but just a smooth white.

Registered on February 20, 2013, 198 Posts, 1011 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Rebmann on April 6, 2013 at 10:32 AM

Martin,

I am afraid that that is just a result of the original being a bit overexposed on the whites. In this particular image, it made for a nice effect.

Paul

Registered on July 17, 2012, 31 Posts, 122 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Leggett on April 6, 2013 at 1:36 PM

I like the pose, and ecpecially the nice smooth water for a great reflection. Compositionally I might decenter the bird by cropping some off the left.

Registered on July 21, 2004, 706 Posts, 3233 Comments

Comment posted by Jeff Lewis on April 6, 2013 at 3:01 PM

Very nice, love the inclusion of the small ripples at the bottom. Also agree on the left crop idea, though.

Registered on January 29, 2013, 9 Posts, 89 Comments

Comment posted by Basri Akcasoy on April 6, 2013 at 4:16 PM

May be technically wrong according to generally accepted concepts (especially white back without any detail and one third rule), but IMHO this is really very artistic image. Congratulation.

Registered on February 16, 2012, 118 Posts, 767 Comments

Comment posted by Carol Nichols on April 6, 2013 at 8:36 PM

I really like the simplicity of this image Paul - both in the bird details and in the colors. Very artistic look! I would only suggest cropping a little off the bottom and the left side.

Registered on November 7, 2007, 161 Posts, 1420 Comments

Comment posted by Mike Ramy on April 7, 2013 at 12:51 AM

Outstanding Image Paul,
Well Done . . .

Registered on June 16, 2012, 567 Posts, 2809 Comments

Comment posted by Rob Drummond on April 7, 2013 at 3:41 AM

What a beautifully tranquil shot Paul

Registered on November 8, 2003, 617 Posts, 8267 Comments

Comment posted by Ingrid Vekemans on April 7, 2013 at 11:36 AM

A very beautiful and tranquil shot. To me the central placing is just a bit of a shame, it would have been nicer (to me, personally), if the bird had been placed to the left of the image. As it is, I wouldn't crop it, because then it would be too tightly framed. So just keep it as it is, I would say, it's still a lovely shot.
Grt, Ingrid.

Registered on August 2, 2010, 138 Posts, 780 Comments

Comment posted by Patrick O'Healy on April 7, 2013 at 9:25 PM

Paul, very artistic shot. Are you sure this is not an oil painting?

Registered on March 13, 2011, 326 Posts, 1679 Comments

Comment posted by John Sherman on April 8, 2013 at 2:37 PM

I like the smooth gradation of tonalities and generally monochromatic nature of this image. It works. Agreed on the left crop - perhaps even a thinner than 2x3 crop. Oooh blashphemy, did I say that? But this seems like a great image to point out that nature doesn't always present itself in a Golden Mean or Fibonacci curl and when it doesn't I think it's not only fair but prudent to bend the cropping rules. BTW dig the muted clouds and how they dapple the BG.

Registered on March 10, 2013, 31 Posts, 142 Comments

Comment posted by Paul Rebmann on April 9, 2013 at 6:23 AM

Thanks to all of you for your comments. John, it is not blasphemy, I have produced both a 9x16 print and a 10x30 canvas (you can see here: http://www.wildflphoto.com/canvas.html ) that is very popular. For those that do not like the centered subject, I did try some crops with more traditional (thirds) positioning, but I felt it lost something that I liked. Patrick, I have had a number of people at art shows who saw this image printed on canvas say something like "Oh, you paint also?" and there was one woman who I never could convince that it was a photograph.

Paul

Registered on July 17, 2012, 31 Posts, 122 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Bielefeld on April 9, 2013 at 11:03 AM

I like this a lot Paul. Well done.

Registered on December 6, 2008, 360 Posts, 7132 Comments