Quiet Merced Autumn +RP

Lon, the textures and detail are wonderful. The large version is the ticket here. You might consider a slight crop from he right side. There is a dark area in the forest just above that grassy spot that catches my eye. Doing so would also better balance the composition.

As usual, your processing is excellent. The warm willows against the dark, cool, forest work very well. I like that the reflection does not overpower the willows.

Fine job!
--P

Lon, I first opened this last night when my eyes were tired and knew immediately that I loved it, but I wanted to see it with fresh eyes before responding.  Well, I'm up, have choked down b'fast, and my eyes are as good as they're going to get so here goes.  In my 12 years I've been a member of NPN I have seen innumerable wonderful images for so many fine shooters, but I must say, for my tastes and my style of shooting, I think this may be the finest, most beautiful image I've viewed and studied in my 12 years here.  This has it all.  Is it perfect?  Not quite, but it's so close. 

Even with fresh eyes, the beautifully colored main subject doesn't look quite in focus (on my small laptop), but this is not a negative comment at all; in fact, I LOVE that.  It looks more like small paint daubs against a more critically focused background.  I don't know if you intended to produce that effect or if it's just because I've viewing it on a 15" monitor.  I'll check it later on my 30" monitor.  I love the dark shadows and the dark, but still plainly visible and sharp foliage in the BG.  I love the darker yet still colorful foliage in the BG as well.  There's such a wonderful variety of colors, tones, and textures here.  It is an amazing image!  I would like to know the full story behind this.

I do agree with Preston's crop advice, but I certainly wouldn't overdo it; maybe crop only 3-4% off the right.  The only other area that bothers me is the angle of the bare tree's reflection, caused by some lens distortion.  The tree itself has a slight left lean but the reflection's lean is more dramatic.  I would think that would be easily fixed in post processing but it might alter the image to a degree where other elements are even more distorted or even lost.  Something to play with anyway.  That's not a huge negative, just something that caught my eye.  

All in all, what a magnificent effort and result. It's reminiscent of a painting from an old master.  The pallette and style sort of brings Joseph Mallord William Turner to mind, one of my favorite artists.  You've knocked this one WAYYYY out of the park, my friend.  

EDIT:  Well, I have to eat my words.  I took a quick screenshot (I apologize for not asking permission first) and viewed the image on a grid and the reflection angle matches the tree's angle perfectly; I guess it's just a slight optical illusion on my part.

A beautiful tranquil scene. It's interesting how your style always distinguishes your images from others - usually by subject matter and processing. What I find most appealing in this image are the colors, the yellowish brown on a canvas of dark bluish green. Can't find much to suggest. The light tree reflection going out of the frame isn't that great. I wonder if anyone would care or notice if it was absent. There's a bright area next to the tree reflection, lower left, that could be burned in or cloned out but that's pretty picky.   The black log below the willows really stands out. I think it's a good thing as it gives a point of focus but you could dodge it to put more emphasis on the willows or just to add texture to it. 

Gorgeous, tranquil scene, Lon, love the muted colors, well done.

Wow, great feedback!  Here's a repost with some changes - all great suggestions!

Preston - funny, just after sizing/saving for the web I noticed the black hole on the right and thought about taking care of that. Instead, thought, what the heck, see if anyone says anything.  Sure enough, very first comment.    I actually only cropped a very little bit. I mostly did some cloning and content-aware fill.  I still wanted to retain some openness on the right.

Bill, High compliments very much appreciated. The painterly effect on the leaves is probably just the sharpening for the web. Those tiny willow leaves are pretty detailed @100% and so I'm sure the resizing has much to do with that.  As far as any story behind the image, I might disappoint and say there's not a real story - at least one that I haven't already told.  There's just a couple things I'm after when in Yosemite (or out photographing the great outdoors,) and that is to absorb everything I can absorb just by being there and secondly to see things and come away with images from Yosemite that are just hardly every seen, noticed or photographed.  Sometimes the truth is just better left unsaid.  Just 50 yards or so behind the forest wall, is Southside Dr. with cars and buses whizzing by....   Hard to truly get away from it all in Yosemite Valley... 

Igor, thanks for your comments and suggestions as well.  You're right, I don't think anyone would notice cloning out part of the tree reflection - at least someone off the street or had I done before hand.  Also cloned out a few things in the river. Also, good call on the old log below the willow.  I thought this was pretty clever... rather than dodging, I duplicated the bg layer, then using the grayish/brown patch of leaves/gravel to the right and below the willow as the source, I cloned on to the face of the rock at a low opacity on that layer, I think about 25%.  

I think I used all the suggestions! Great ones. Always appreciate the chance to make our images better! Thank You!

Lon

 

I find this interesting in that the lighting and contrast are so similar to your previous post, with there being a "pointillist painting" sense in the way that the leaves stand out.  The slightly tighter view and extra processing in the repost are subtle but nice improvements.

This is absolutely gorgeous, Lon. Even more so in the repost as you took care of what I was going to suggest. This has a lovely painterly touch to it that I find very relaxing and tranquil. You do these kinds of scenes so beautifully and they do provide so much more material than the icons in Yosemite. Great work as usual.

Ed

Beautiful image, Lon. The title certainly conveys the mood you captured. Not much to criticize or suggest. Like Preston, I think I'd prefer this with a slight crop off the right. I also would mind a bit more room on the bottom. But, overalll, it;s beautiful and well processed.  

Real nice take from autumn Yosemite. Not up there with my all-time Overackers but quite nice. 

Nice color, composition and reflection. The muted color and light gives that feeling of the changing seasons. Nice image. 

Lon, this is a very pleasing, tranquil scene. I love the color pallette that you have here, the various shades of greens are amazing. In many autumn scenes it's very easy for yellow to dominate, but I like how you kept the yellow less saturated, which allows for the complexities of the greens to come through. My only nitpick is that the little yellow bush in the center has it's reflection ever so slightly cropped off by the bottom edge of the frame. I'd like to see the entire reflection of that center bush included, since it is so close to the edge. I'm okay with the reflection of the larger bush to the right being cropped.