Winter parkland - C&C

[Old_Eng21]

Hey all, I'm new around here, and figured I'd post a photo that I took earlier today. The medium-sized image makes the reeds a little blurry- they're better in full-size.

I want to crop it a little closer into the cattail heads. Suggestions on where to make the cut? Anything else that sticks out crying for a fix?

Oh, and details:
Canon 30D + 50mm f1.4
1/3000s at f3.2 200ISO (wanted the reeds in focus with the background well-blurred, but I might have lost a bit in the foreground)
Curves, High-pass mask and B&W contrast mask in GIMP.

 

[KmH]

Way to busy for my tastes.

The trees in the background seem to be the main subject, because they are so much bigger than what is in the foregound.

 

[Scuba]

+1

you don't seem to have achieved what you were trying to do with the DOF. The trees are too prominent here. To get more what you wanted you would need to be closer to the grass or open up the aperture more. Which on your lens you don't want to go too much more. f/2.8 is about as wide as I would go on that lens before it starts getting soft in the corners so therefore move closer and make sure to focus on the grasses. Also seems to be very contrasty. Did you boost it a lot in PP?

 

[Old_Eng21]

Also seems to be very contrasty. Did you boost it a lot in PP?

I boosted it a noticeable amount, but the scene started out quite contrasty (which was one of the things I liked about it). Here's the shot I had after converting from RAW:

Way to busy for my tastes.

The trees in the background seem to be the main subject, because they are so much bigger than what is in the foregound.

Agreed, which is why I was figuring on cropping. How's this?

 

[jmtonkin]

When I look at this shot, everything blends together. I feel that those trees needed to be way more OOF. There is no separation between your subject and the background.

 

[timputtick]

The tree's seem to be the main subject, so the shallow DOF doesn't work for me.