Ray of Light

Talk about capturing the light... I surprised this turned out at all. I was just fooling around at the edge of the lake, under the shadow of a Willow tree about an hour before sunset. I was watching Tree Swallows begin to roost for the night. In the meantime, I cast about for whatever else interested me. Similar image posted in Photo Art.

D200, 300/2.8 on tripod with Wimberley Sidekick. f22, 1/8ss, -1.0EV, ISO 400.
Converted in ACR; CS3 curves, cropped.

I was unsure how to sharpen an image like this. I used CS3's sharpen filter a couple times and sharpen edges a couple times. Would appreciate suggestions about this in particular, but all comments are welcome. Thanks.

Very cool Catherine. I love the gold tones and interwoven blacks. This shot works for me. You may want to try some edge sharpening using highpass filter. My only nit is the noise. Is it a result of the 400 iso or sharpening? If it is the iso, I think you could effectively reduce it in an abstract shot like this.

Sweet abstract Catherine. Very painterly.

Neat. I enjoy the light.

Very cool! Sandy r

Very cool! It almost looks like its steaming.

Nice abstract golden light here.

Catherine,
I'm not quite sure if it's a wall hanger but the lighting sure is nice.

Thanks for the tip, Hans. The noise came with the sharpening; that's why I debated whether to sharpen it at all. I forgot all about hipass! Glad you reminded me.
Thanks everyone for the comments. Gonna try some subtle dodging of highlights in areas of the water, too. Maybe that'll increase the wall hanger factor.
So, stay tuned for a repost...