Autumn Merced River

Captured along the banks of the Merced River a little over a week ago. Have worked the image to the point of questioning my efforts. Appreciate your comments/critiques as to the image...not sure how this will show since I had to save at 40% to get it under 200k. Thanks in advance!

Nikon D300
1/2s @ f/16, ISO 100

Content, and composition look pretty good. It also looks very crisp, and sharp, to the point of being oversharpened a little. It also looks like it could use some more color.

Chris

Bishop, nothing wrong with the composition and the efforts you've applied to make the image look good, but there are some anomalies taking place for various reasons. I wish I could safely say it was a certain item and you could adjust from there, however, anytime there is this amount of leaf detail as in this scene all bets are off and it gets down to compression in most cases. Which as you have pointed out that you had to drop down to 40% to get under the 200k factor to post the image. Overall, I suspect that is the majority of the issue here and I can only sympathize with your efforts and would also mention you are not alone in this cause & affect problem of the down sizing demands.

I like the play of the ferns, tree trunk and dogwood leaves. Compression when getting down to 200k can be a bear!

Bishop,

I like this very much. It's a peaceful forest scene. The only color that doesn't work for me is the blue of the rocks and in some of the in the leaves on the the left.

I agree that compression is hurting this, but I also feel it is a little oversharpened. I'm sure a print would be very nice.

You might consider getting an inexpensive web host (you'll have to puchase a domain name) where you can store and then link to your images from NPN. The advantage is you can post images with larger file sizes, and thus less compression. Most of the images I post on NPN/CANP are are around 240KB and the occassional one at 250KB.

You might also look at your workflow to see if there is something affecting your images that results in compression artifacts. I was having some issues with this, but I solved them. Just a thought, on my end.

Nice work! It's good to see you around here again!

-P

Bishop,

This is another classic scene along the Merced River - although of course not as recognizable as your previous image. :-) In fact I was there this weekend and stared at your composition for a few minutes - and decided against capturing it even though it was certainly a worthy scene.

I really like the mix of colors and the various elements - they all fit together very nicely. I'll have to agree though about the compression. A real bummer because it's certainly affecting the presentation of this one. 40% is a killer. The lowest I've gone is 50%. One thing you might consider that may help a little would be to post a smaller size. You might try something between 650 to 680px. Not as big as permitted, but still big enough to appreciate the view.

Very nice image.

Lon

There's a lot going on, but I think this would feel nice much larger of course. I might add a touch of green and yellow to the scene, but that's a personal preference. Other than that this works for me. Well seen!