Lake Hodges Sunset (B&W)

CWSkopec

Been awhile since I've posted a new photo, but it's been a bad summer, weather-wise, for photography with either 0 cloud cover or total cover. So I've been going back through my archive finding the good shots I just never got around to processing. I've also been looking for images I initially wrote of as not "filling the frame" and cropping them to the more standard (frame & matte) ratio of an 8x10.

This shot was taken at sunset, looking east, and without many clouds to fill the sky, it became a perfect candidate for the 8x10 ratio. And without the clouds to pick up sunset color, I felt the black & white would work well.

You're thoughts always appreciated! :thumb

vintagemxr

I like the shot. I thought at first it might do with a tiny bump on the white side of the histogram but I think it would lose some mood. Can't see anything I'd change.

FWIW: Long ago I lived in North Country not far from Lake Hodges. Rode my motorcycle across the north end of the bottom of the lake. Much less water in then.

Doug

hawkeye978

I like the shot. It looks like there is actually some structure in the sky. I would suggest adding an exposure gradient there to pull a little detail or decrease the blue channel to give the same result.

As I was scrolling down the page I also liked an inadvertent crop I saw. Maybe crop to remove the top to the waterline so that all you have left is just the water and plants poking out.

CWSkopec

vintagemxr wrote: »

I like the shot. I thought at first it might do with a tiny bump on the white side of the histogram but I think it would lose some mood. Can't see anything I'd change.

FWIW: Long ago I lived in North Country not far from Lake Hodges. Rode my motorcycle across the north end of the bottom of the lake. Much less water in then.

Doug

Thank you, Doug!

The water level was actually pretty low back in December when I shot this. I've returned since, but after the spring rains the resevior filled up and much of the interesting forgrounds were underwater. I need to get back and check, but hopefully after our dry summer the level has dropped a bit and I can find some more interesting comps!

CWSkopec

hawkeye978 wrote: »

I like the shot. It looks like there is actually some structure in the sky. I would suggest adding an exposure gradient there to pull a little detail or decrease the blue channel to give the same result.

As I was scrolling down the page I also liked an inadvertent crop I saw. Maybe crop to remove the top to the waterline so that all you have left is just the water and plants poking out.

There is a tiny bit of cloud structure in the clouds, unfortunately what you're seeing has already been darkend a bit to bring it out. It was just a curves adjustment to all channels though so I will definitely go in and try just the blue channel though to see if I can tweak it a bit more without overdoing it.

Very interesting cropping idea, quick crop with smugmug's tools:



Though I had to use the existing aspect ratio, I think this might work nicely with a little taken off the right and turned into a square crop. I'll experiment later in photoshop, but I like it.

Thanks for the suggestions, Tom!

starcluster

lovely !
nice depth and work with shadows
well done

schmoo

CWSkopec wrote: »

There is a tiny bit of cloud structure in the clouds, unfortunately what you're seeing has already been darkend a bit to bring it out. It was just a curves adjustment to all channels though so I will definitely go in and try just the blue channel though to see if I can tweak it a bit more without overdoing it.

Very interesting cropping idea, quick crop with smugmug's tools:



Though I had to use the existing aspect ratio, I think this might work nicely with a little taken off the right and turned into a square crop. I'll experiment later in photoshop, but I like it.

Thanks for the suggestions, Tom!

Nice!! I'm glad you did this - I was just about the suggest the same even before I saw the above comment. The lovely hourglass shape of the reeds and their reflection are what caught my eye, all framed with the ripples in the water.

CWSkopec

starcluster wrote: »

lovely !
nice depth and work with shadows
well done

Thank you, Starcluster!

CWSkopec

schmoo wrote: »

Nice!! I'm glad you did this - I was just about the suggest the same even before I saw the above comment. The lovely hourglass shape of the reeds and their reflection are what caught my eye, all framed with the ripples in the water.

Thank you, Schmoo!