Middle Ground
by Luci11e

Comment by snaffles:
Aww, what a sweet shot and convenient usage of son and gf! I agree with Joao's critique...*Yoda voice* listen to him, wise he is ;-)

Wildfire
by Luci11e

Comment by justine:
Love the title,......thanks now I have that song in my head!!! lol

Middle Ground
by Luci11e

Comment by sarampo:
Hi Lorie, how are you doing?
Another critique from me :)

Composition
I have no idea how you got on the middle of the stream...but it's the perfect position for this shot.
The only thing that draws attention out of the subject are the trees in the back, but it just was not possible not to have them. Still, they are distracting, and I think that if you had shot from more to the left, or they were more to the right, they would both be inside the green patch of the tree, making them more visible.
I like very much the angle from below, it makes it a very lovely postcard.

Technique
Since there was no way you could have the bokeh in the trees, making them out of focus, take advantage of it, and stop down your aperture, so you'd get a much slower shutter speed. This way, probably you could have the water with a more silky effect (it would also mean that you need a tripod), but it could help the overall look.

Processing
Very interesting and unusual choice of border, I think it's one of the few that I've saw here like this. If it could be just a tad shorter, nobody would have had any questions about it being there or not. It's a very smart move for a border, to make it part of the surroundings.
I was also interested in seeing this in b&w, maybe you can try it :)

Take care,
Joao

Wildfire
by Luci11e

Comment by burfino:
Sky looks blown out.

Middle Ground
by Luci11e

Comment by Lydia:
I wonder, since you say it was such a gray day, how this would look in BW.

It's a lovely scene.

Middle Ground
by Luci11e

Comment by bcenu:
Nice take and good border. The saturation needs boosting to add a little more color to the shot IMO.

Middle Ground
by Luci11e

Comment by ThingFish:
A pretty picture with reasonable perspective. 5

Hot Like Me
by Luci11e

Comment by Lydia:
Perhaps moving your model away from the background, if you don't like the look of it, and using less DOF might help disguise it.

Middle Ground
by Luci11e

Comment by kleski:
taken at a better time of day would have added some nice color to this scene

Hot Like Me
by Luci11e

Comment by bvy:
Perhaps a bit of a shoehorn for the challenge, but the casual lighting and improvised backdrop give it a gritty from-the-basement feel.