'Marshmallow' Snow

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 24, 20172,530 views10 comments

Converted to B&W. This was taken several weeks ago. This is on the edge of a lake, and the water was still open where this small creek came into the lake. The snow had formed these soft, marshmallow-y looking snow edges along the water.
It was snowing and blowing in the the spruce trees on the hill, so that's why they are a bit blurry in the upper corner. This was a very overcast day. I played around with this in color, but there was a very strange color in there that I just couldn't get to look realistic, so I just went to B&W.

I like this and yet something about it irritates me. I am not sure what. Maybe it's that open space of white between the water and the first trees?

Comments welcomed and appreciated!
See the (slightly) larger version.

5DmkII, 100-400L @ 120 mm, 1/400 sec, ISO 800, cropped some off the top and bottom.

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on March 25, 2017 at 8:42 AM

I like the triangles in the composition. The brighter band of snow through the midzone probably is the weak link here which irritates you I'm thinking.

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

Comment posted by Ronald Murphy on March 25, 2017 at 12:17 PM

The tones around the water are quite nice. Good as is, but cropped down to just show the water is a nice composition also.

Registered on March 13, 2012, 279 Posts, 975 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on March 25, 2017 at 1:35 PM

Hmmm, yeah, I'm also unsure about the space of white in the middle. Call it "negative" space, or whatever, it's not working well connecting the two other elements of the scene. Interestingly, for some reason, I think a slight crop off the top changes that empty space issue for me a bit. Say, cropping from the top to cut the sky-triangle in half, if that makes sense.

I do like the shapes and forms of the snow surrounding the little stream of water and the tonality of both.

Lon

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

Comment posted by Preston Birdwell on March 25, 2017 at 3:33 PM

I love the snow and shapes in the foreground, and the tonality there looks very nice. As has been mentioned, the midground flat snow is somewhat overbearing, but if the sky were cropped out, I think that makes the image work. You might also try pulling a little more detail out of the snow.
--P

Registered on November 1, 2003, 471 Posts, 5188 Comments

Comment posted by Vance Gese on March 25, 2017 at 10:49 PM

Excellent composition, with the diagonals and triangular forms. The texture in the snow comes through quite well, especially in the foreground, and the snow forms along the creek are wonderful. Wonder if what bugs you is that the large triangular expanse of snow in the middle of your composition has a competitor for the viewer's attention, namely that triangular slice of sky. I would crop out half of the sky, leaving just a small triangle of sky. This would also eliminate that blurry upper right hand corner you mention. Just an idea of course. Love the frosty trees (cottonwoods?) right behind the expanse of snow. Great work with the black and white processing. And nice work with that long lens.

Registered on November 13, 2008, 298 Posts, 6629 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on March 26, 2017 at 7:28 AM

I will have to disagree with you and the others. The negative space doesn't bother me at all. Overall, I think this is wonderful, especially the diagonal stream and the fact you converted it to B&W. Larger version is a real treat IMHO.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Genny K. on March 26, 2017 at 3:39 PM

Thanks for your comments; they really help me figure things out.
The cropping idea definitely seems to help, and Bill, I really appreciate that you like this as is!! In real life, the snow forms along the water were enchanting, but I had to work within some human-made tracks along the right side and in the FG. Sometimes it's hard for me to figure out what to do when I cannot fit everything I want into a composition!!

Registered on June 5, 2006, 132 Posts, 2001 Comments

Comment posted by Rudy Ruberti on March 28, 2017 at 11:24 PM

Nice winter scene and the snow in the middle doesn't bother me.

Registered on October 28, 2008, 179 Posts, 1875 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on March 29, 2017 at 11:07 PM

The curves of snow are lovely here Genny! I agree that it would be stronger if the stream lead closer to the trees, but that's a nit. This is a very nice image even with that.

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

Comment posted by Doug Koepsel on March 30, 2017 at 9:19 AM

A couple of crop options come to mind; 1) from the top and left to eliminate the gray sky completely. 2) crop to have just the water path through the snow with no trees, ridge or sky. Maybe add just a slight bump in brightness too?

Registered on April 1, 2010, 196 Posts, 1592 Comments