Desperate Measures (+ crop version)

Gallery: LandscapePosted January 11, 2014592 views23 comments

Captured on my recent 3 week workshop in New Zealand and coastal Australia. The full story will appear on the Really Right Stuff blog soon but here's an excerpt.

Crouching over to make the best composition available, I could feel icy water up to my bare thighs and then a shock as it reached the seat of my underpants.The only problem was that suddenly my foreground subjects had vanished. I turned around to see the two pieces of ice slowly spinning downstream behind me. I desperately lunged at the nearer one and managed to push it to a more secure position closer to the lake edge. By the time I had re-assessed the situation, the quality of light had diminished significantly. Although disheartened by the awry turn my plans had taken, I did the best I could with the scene at hand. I wanted to at least come away with something for all my troubles.

Canon 5DMkIII, 16-35mm

Comments

23 comments

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on January 11, 2014 at 11:00 PM

A cool metallic look to this one.
It seems so calm and planned despite your explanation of the scene.
I don't have much critique, almost too centered and perfect?

Registered on September 2, 2013, 209 Posts, 1514 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Anderson on January 11, 2014 at 11:01 PM

Man, love that dark contrasty moody foreboding goodness!!!

Registered on September 6, 2007, 346 Posts, 2696 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on January 11, 2014 at 11:22 PM

Dan, I believe that if you have a really strong dominating subject it often works better placed centrally than trying to put it off on the rule of thirds somewhere. Now that you point this out, I'm thinking that perhaps I should have emphasised the centralised theme a bit more and that a slight crop is an improvement.

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

Comment posted by Dan Kearl on January 11, 2014 at 11:28 PM

Repost looks very strong!
Nice.....

Registered on September 2, 2013, 209 Posts, 1514 Comments

Comment posted by Karen Kane on January 12, 2014 at 1:20 AM

The mood you have captured is surreal! Repost is my favorite of the two, but both are stunning

Registered on August 4, 2012, 66 Posts, 726 Comments

Comment posted by Jon Daining on January 12, 2014 at 1:55 AM

Beautiful, moody, with great post-processing! I feel cold just looking at the image, but even more so after reading your narrative.

Registered on February 25, 2012, 25 Posts, 191 Comments

Comment posted by Jose Fernandez on January 12, 2014 at 4:27 AM

Beautiful strong image, I love it

Registered on July 25, 2011, 77 Posts, 172 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on January 12, 2014 at 5:56 AM

Holy location batman....sick.

aF

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

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on January 12, 2014 at 7:07 AM

I really like the cold look of it, although some parts may be a wee bit too dark for my taste. The repost is definitely an improvement.

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on January 12, 2014 at 11:38 AM

Very moody and powerful. Both versions work for me. I would suggest investing in a pair of light weight waders.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on January 12, 2014 at 3:42 PM

I'm not sure what the original scene looked like, but this is sure a magnificent runner up. I much prefer the crop, but would darken the highlights in the ulc so that they match the urc more (the crop emphasizes the difference, and drags my eye there). Wonderfully dark and moody.

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments

Comment posted by Wieslaw Poltorak on January 12, 2014 at 5:04 PM

Beautiful and strong image. That had to be quite a juggle, changing light, moving foreground and all while freezing your legs off. Very well done Kah Kit.

Registered on September 25, 2007, 37 Posts, 187 Comments

Comment posted by Carey Closs on January 13, 2014 at 12:56 AM

Kah, I admire your commitment to the craft. This is a stunning image, the darkness and blue tone you chose combined with the moonlight is really quite appealing. The light reflecting off the ice in the foreground gives it the appearance of a giant gemstone. My preference is for the original.

Registered on April 15, 2012, 107 Posts, 326 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on January 13, 2014 at 12:33 PM

The slightly darker background in the larger version shows this off much better, as it does most images around here. Great dark mood to this. And, the blue toning keeps the cold feeling.

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

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on January 13, 2014 at 1:41 PM

This sure does look chilly! Neat story about it's making. It's a very close call, but I like the original better, which may be influenced by the ability to look at the larger version where the details along the sides show up much better plus the repost seems darker.

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

Comment posted by R.Bill Moser on January 13, 2014 at 2:16 PM

I love that metalic look and the mood you captured is just gorgeous and somehow surreal. I love how you placed your foreground elemenst here. Beautiful location and well composed and processed image

Registered on January 29, 2010, 285 Posts, 4281 Comments

Comment posted by Zack Clothier on January 13, 2014 at 9:28 PM

I think this turned out very well, Kah. Really like the ominous mood. The only thing I might suggest is to bring up the shadows a bit in the mountains, they seem just a tad dark. Repost is a slight improvement as well.

Registered on January 28, 2010, 343 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Anderson on January 14, 2014 at 1:08 PM

Beautiful evocative image! I love the color, the textures in the ice and dark moodiness of this! I prefer the uncropped version- it is more sweeping and grand IMO.

Registered on January 31, 2006, 228 Posts, 3072 Comments

Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on January 14, 2014 at 2:11 PM

Wow, very dramatic & moody

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

Comment posted by Bill Reid on January 14, 2014 at 2:37 PM

Wonderful mood and the toning is awesome. Great positioning of the fore ground ice and beautiful comp. Beautiful image.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on January 14, 2014 at 4:17 PM

Wow! I love this. What a mood you captured.