Fortnightly Challenge August 20-September 2 : Water

[fcortese]

Took the family tent camping at Michigan Ludington State Park last weekend, awesome place.
Did some road / fire trail rides there, ended up at the park main beach for sunset time.

Q:
Which picture gives you the "Mountain Biking reflections" feeling better?
(the after ride contemplation thing….where you “reflect” upon the ride and/or the day’s events)


Picture 1, sun above the horizon

or

Picture 2, sun at the horizon

My w#rk content filter appears to be blocking some of the images in other posts, I'll comment on them from home....

Picture #1 looks so much better to me. I love the reflection off of the water and the water bottle on the bike. Kind of ties them together metaphorically (if that is the right word) or maybe a better word would be conceptually. anyway, I just like that look better than picture #2. Very nicely done.

 

[Designer Dale]

Took the family tent camping at Michigan Ludington State Park last weekend, awesome place.
Did some road / fire trail rides there, ended up at the park main beach for sunset time.

Q:
Which picture gives you the "Mountain Biking reflections" feeling better?
(the after ride contemplation thing….where you “reflect” upon the ride and/or the day’s events)


Picture 1, sun above the horizon

or

Picture 2, sun at the horizon

My w#rk content filter appears to be blocking some of the images in other posts, I'll comment on them from home....

The sun is more blown-out in the first, but the colors in the reflection off-set it's effect (imo). I go with #1. Also, there is a more noticeable reflection if you want to say "reflection".

Dale

 

[someoldguy]

Went out today to test out an underwater camera I picked up for a trip to the Keys in November . Checking out the camera didn't go so well , the water wasn't as clear as I would have liked . Anyway , here's 2 from today ...

No data on this save for f 3.0 @ 1/470 , iso 64

Was waiting for that bubble to pop and it just wouldn't..
5D2 , 24-105@105 , f7.1@1/400 , iso 400

 

[mtbdudex]

Picture #1 looks so much better to me. I love the reflection off of the water and the water bottle on the bike. Kind of ties them together metaphorically (if that is the right word) or maybe a better word would be conceptually. anyway, I just like that look better than picture #2. Very nicely done.

The sun is more blown-out in the first, but the colors in the reflection off-set it's effect (imo). I go with #1. Also, there is a more noticeable reflection if you want to say "reflection".

Dale

Thx guys,
Based on feedback, I played with the Post Processing on #1, here is version #2 vs original

Version #2; reduced exposure by -0.3 EV (original as already -1.0 EV as exposed in camera, that's in the EXIF data), expanded the crop, PP out the reflective stripe on the tool bag, some other stuff.
The image is as dialed as I feel is possible, since the bench seat was so far from the lake, the foreground does consist of that much sand - and not a more balance of sky/water, oh well it is what it is....
The added wood post and the swim marker gives a LH anchor for your eye to wander among 3 elements; sun/bike/wood post, while reducing the emphasis on the bike slightly for more balance.

Picture #1 Version #2

Original Picture #1

fwiw,
These were not really planned shots either, rather I went on a 55 minute bike ride, with my camera gear in the backpack, knowing the sun set around 8:30pm, so I was initially just taking sunset shots...........after taking 6-7 and looking at them on the camera LCD backscreen, frankly those are a dime/dozen, lacking uniqueness.

Having my bike resting on the bench I decided to include it in the foreground, took a few, realized shooting into the sun so put the external Speedlite 580 on and tried different powers to bring balance to the exposure of the sky/water/sand/bike.
Realizing this is a public beach and there were plenty of people around, so I was constantly waiting for the scene to appear empty, and upon re-composition to eliminate some people cropped off the bottom tire porting in the 2nd shot... that de-values that shot somewhat.


So, trying to capture my love of Mountain Biking in Michigan in some unique fashion........that is my pursuit/drive......different, unique, compelling....
These miss that mark, but are the start of the journey.

 

[mtbdudex]

Been an incredibly busy few months but I lucked out and got a chance to take a few pics related to this challenge. These were from a sailing trip in Annapolis, MD. BTW, my D90 got completely soaked by waves and spray and stayed that way for about 2 hrs but it kept shooting and it seems to be none the worse for the wear.

My sailing buddies at work would buy a calendar with this image in it...simply great. I kinda would like to see a slightly tighter crop with the sailboat anchored more in the bottom, reducing the water foreground somewhat. Curious if that would add to the image vs your original.

Mine. I tried that long exposure waterfall thing on a bright day with no filter.

Dale

Nice, and the rainbow adds to it as well.
I wonder if a different time of day would give some different play on the lighting/shadows on the RH side and add to this scene.

And a contribution from me: some groovy water in the Julian Alps...

Classic, I'm ready to invest in your bottled water brochures.

This is my kind of thread. I love the water.. can't see too many fantastic interpretations of it for me.
Here's my take- courtesy of hurricane Irene and offshore winds, early Saturday morning on the space coast of Florida.

The power of the wave is captured here, nice lighting

 

[Phrasikleia]

Classic, I'm ready to invest in your bottled water brochures.

LOL.

By the way, I too preferred the first mountain bike shot with more light hitting the beach and bike. I don't have a strong preference for either the original or the new edit of it, but I wonder if there might be something you could do to tone down the sun a bit? Maybe clone some clouds over part of it or something? Just at thought. Nice shot, though!

 

[El Cabong]

After [weather event] Irene in nyc, by the East River:

 

[Phrasikleia]

After [weather event] Irene in nyc, by the East River:

A very interesting photo, given that the child is all alone. Perhaps a candidate for a crop? You could probably come in quite a bit at the left and top to give the child more presence in the frame. Nice one, at any rate.

 

[mtbdudex]

LOL.

By the way, I too preferred the first mountain bike shot with more light hitting the beach and bike. I don't have a strong preference for either the original or the new edit of it, but I wonder if there might be something you could do to tone down the sun a bit? Maybe clone some clouds over part of it or something? Just at thought. Nice shot, though!

I agreee the sun is still blown out and while not hurting my eyes looking at it does dimish the picts value.
There is not much data there to recover, over this long weekend we have here in the states I'll take your suggestion and play in CS5, this is where it is better than Aperture.


From our last week camping trip:
My boys overlooking Lake Michigan by the Big Sable Point lighthouse, this is cropped already.
This was a short 4-5 second pause for them, looking at the waves, my wife actually got this as I was back with the dog up on the dunes as the beach is a "no dog beach" with $80 fines.

 

[rekud300]

thanks for the Input

Sorry haven't replied sooner, but thanks for the input. Unfortunately I did not have my Tri-pod with me that day and was trying to freeze the droplets of water instead. I do see what is meant about that 1st pillar on the right, i do have some other shots from there that i need to go through.

All the photos on here are very, very nice.

 

[Keleko]

Just a fountain...

 

[fcortese]

It's onto the next fortnightly challenge here

 

[Melizard]

The photos on this thread are simply stunning. I know the challenge just ended, but I wanted to try my hand at waterfalls, and this was the result:

 

[fcortese]

This thread is closed as today is the 3rd. Please see my previous post