Merced Autumn + orig and rework version

Getting down to the last of the Yosemite Autumn images and wanted to get your thoughts on this one. Before I say what I like and dislike about this one, I'll let you tell me what you think.

This is the same rock that Bishop posted about a month ago, although this view is downstream and his was looking perpendicular across the river.

Comments, suggestions?

Thanks,
Lon

Oh yeah, 4x5 stuff...

My thoughts are I like this. But since you said there is something you don't like, you have me looking harder. The only thing I can suggest is maybe a slight boost in contrast for the trees on the left and maybe a slight crop off the bottom to remove some of the bright light. Beautiful image.

Looks pretty good to me Lon, though not as strong as your "usual" tree photos. The highlights at the bottom are catching my eye, and the contrast seems a little low. I love the presence that rock has.

I am going back and forth with this one, Lon. I love the underwater detail and the framing of the rock. This has a very quiet, peaceful feel to it. While I like the color of the golden reflections in the very front, I find it somehow out of place and a distraction from the rest of the image. That said, it works far better as is than cropping the bottom. A crop changes the whole perspective and diminishes the image for me. I might experiment with toning down those reflections. Knowing my contrarian opinions, everyone else will love them.

Lon,

This is a quiet and beautiful image. I do agree that a slight boost in contrast on the left side would better balance with the right side of the image. I looked at a crop, as Harley did, and I totally agree with his observation; including burning down the golden reflections.

See, Harley; you aren't the old contrarian curmudgeon you think you are.

Very nice image, Lon. I'd like to a print of it, for sure.

Very nice, Lon. I especially like the aged watermark(s) on the rock. That thing really has some character and an excellent anchoring to the scene. Along with the clarity of the water it sure provides a peaceful scene overall.
I would for sure try to knock down the FG highlights. This is one of those cases where I think not being able to see the top area that is causing the bright reflections my eyes & brain don't connect and as such it tends to be too much of a draw.

I love the wonderful depth of this image and the tension between the surface reflections and the textures of the river bottom that that lead on a nice diagonal from LR directly into the big rock. My eye is less distracted by the reflections at the bottom which also lead my eye into the scene than by the shoreline foliage at the right edge of the image.

I think this is a nice image, but not as strong as your usual work.

- Dan.

Thanks for the comments folks. You've confirmed my misgivings with this scene as well. It's mostly the trees on the left that I couldn't get right. I burned down the reflection at the bottom some in processing and I think I agree with you Paul that perhaps being able to see the source of the reflection might balance things out.

Here's a copy of the straight scan, no processing except for sharpening. You can see why I wasn't too excited on this from the start. I reduced much of the blue which warmed this up a bit. I also did some TK luminosity painting on the right as it was quite dark. Lot's of challenges with this one.

Anyway, not sure how much more time, if any, I'll spend on this. Thanks for the feedback!

Lon

Ok, after some feedback by Harley and others, here's a new version. Increased contrast in the LH trees, and cropped out the majority of the bright reflection at the bottom. Also, I should have caught this, but you can see some faded orange in the URC of the original post - I think I have a light leak in my film holder! So I cropped the top a little in this final version.

Is this an improvement?

Thanks!

Nice reflection Lon, that grabs me the most here. The Merced just gets as smoot as glass in autumn and winter.

I think your rework is a nice improvement and worth the compromise(s). I do miss the neat lake bottom patterns in the LRC that had to be eliminated with the bottom crop. But I think it is a small price to pay for minimizing the bright spots near the bottom edge. I can't think of anything the others haven't already mentioned. Nice work... especially after looking at the original scan.

This works very nicely, Lon. I think the compromise on the bright reflection is for the better IMO. My eyes seem to focus in and relax on the entire scene now.
I do see your light leak issue which I totally missed in the first one. Oddly, I just sprung for a new Fuji QL holder as a back-up to my original. Although thinking about it, you use the the non QL transparencies, so it could be amongst the various holders you have I suspect. A holder is easier to deal with over a bellows issue that's for sure.

The rework is really nice. The balance is much better left to right. I'm still on the fence about the crop, though, becasue the image now looks a little tight to me. I like the bits of the reflection in loweer left corner.

Nice work, Lon. I'm really enjoying your Yosemite images.

-P

Lon, the reworked image works for me. The large rock and its reflection become more of the focus point for me with everything else providing a subtle background for the rock. There's enough color and detail in the image to cause my eye to wander but not be distracted or "drawn" to a particular area.

Lon --

Am coming to this party a bit late but wanted to weigh-in with one thing. This is a minor nit but I would burn down the river bank and the couple of rocks near it on the left hand side. I find this bright are to be a bit distracting. I really like this view and find the crop from the bottom and the work on th left hand side to have made a great difference in this image.

Beautiful work -- Bishop

beautiful Lon. the rework works much much better...

Really nice revision.

Craig