Shot this from the swinging foot bridge on the James River in Buchanan, VA.
PP included a lot in multiple layers to get the postcard effect I wanted: color sat, contrast, lighting/exposure, curves, Mr. Contrast filter, posterization filter, Neat Image, dodge/burn brush, clone/blend brush (to remove a snag in the river), save for Web.
Statistics
Place: 230 out of 281 Avg (all users): 5.0316 Avg (commenters): 5.0909 Avg (participants): 4.6373 Avg (non-participants): 5.4886 Views since voting: 933 Views during voting: 236 Votes: 190 Comments: 13 Favorites: 0
I'm so tickled that I got your image to critique...it's always nice to do one for someone I know and someone that can really appreciate the effort involved.
This is a really beautiful scene...gorgeous view, great vantage point, and lovely colors. I personally like the painterly quality of it all, but some do not like that...particularly in challenges. Compositionally, I think that a more head-on viewpoint rather than this one at more of an angle would help voters feel more balanced as they view the image, but of course, that may have been completely out of your control. It does appear to be angled up ever so slightly on the left end as well. I almost think a lower viewpoint would help as well, so that we can see the tops of the trees (or at least more of whatever's back there) in the back of the scene under the bridge.
The sky is rather noisy, which is common in the blue channel. I'm viewing this on a LCD screen, so it's going to show up as more noisy with that, so take that with a grain of salt. The reflection shows a lot of noise as well, so maybe some selective noise reduction in the blue channel, just on the sky and the water, might help a bit.
Challenge-wise, this is probably stretching for an architecture challenge...the bridge, of course, is a beautiful example of architecture and design, but voters really don't like to have to think much about the topic and need to have that whole "in your face" thing when viewing an image for all of three seconds during voting. Still, I am kind of surprised that this only received a 5.03 during voting...but I am a sucker for scenes such as this one.
Your work is always intriguing and inspiring...keep it up! :)
The colors are very rich, but overall, they look too much like a watercolor painting for my tastes. Also, the bridge seems to be lost along the treeline; the sky and its reflection seem to be the centerpiece of this shot instead of the bridge.
Not sure what you did in your post processing, but there are some weird artifacts in the sky and water. Looks like it's been polarized or solarized. Not flattering to the photo at all.
Wonderful sky. On this particular image, I think the bridge upsets the balance of the composition. I know it is architecture, but you should have focused more on the bridge, and perhaps a different angle like coming at you or away from you. Need to be sharper as well. If it was taken late in the day, a tripod would be helpful to steady your camera.
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