Creek shots

[cdryden]

I braved the weather today to take a few shots in a half froze creek.

 

[bogeyguy]

I'm liking the 2nd photo.

 

[Mike Lamb]

The first has too much blur. 2 is mostly uninteresting except for the oil spill.

 

[Tim Tucker]

The first example is an excellent illustration of the principles of design that many don't think exist. The principles of design are about how we see, how we learn to make sense of what we see and how you transfer these visual clues to a 2D image.
Very simply, contrast and detail diminish with distance. Look at any landscape (the real thing not the photo ) and you'll see this. Such is our experience of this being true that when you see it in a 2D image your brain automatically interprets distance with diminishing contrast and detail. Look at the ice on the centre right of the first image and see how your brain is trying to interpret the contrast and detail as being in front of the water and as a consequence it appears to be floating in mid air. It's this principal that allows you to add depth and pop to your images, the difference in relative contrast and sharpness (detail) produces the effect not global sharpness or contrast. Understanding how this works and how to re-create it is what the principals of design are about.

 

[xDarek]

In the first one the ice is looking like is floating, the water in unnatural and it's not looking good, did you edited it?

 

[cdryden]

I thought I would add this picture to better show the ice without the effects of the long exposure. The shelf of ice is one of the things that attracted my attention to the scene in the first place. I like how the splash of water created this overhang and how it extended about a foot past the rocks.

 

[Tim Tucker]

I thought I would add this picture to better show the ice without the effects of the long exposure. The shelf of ice is one of the things that attracted my attention to the scene in the first place. I like how the splash of water created this overhang and how it extended about a foot past the rocks.

Fully understood, I realised that the water had to some extent tunnelled under the ice. I meant that the tip of the ice appears to be further forward than it actually is, almost hovering in mid-air over the foreground water. It's only its shape along the upper right and it's connection with the bank that pulls it back into place. I'm not saying anything wrong about it only that it's interesting to note. I've enhanced the effect a little:

 

[cdryden]

I like it. I kinda wish I would have taken a few shots from different angles but my feet were getting a bit froze standing in the water! Thanks for your comments though, it gives me a lot to think about.