Straight and narrow

I went back to Brazos Bend State Park yesterday morning. It is one of my favorite places around Houston and I wanted one more visit before the year ended. It was cold (relatively speaking as this is Texas afterall) and very foggy. There were no other people around and it was great just being there. This bridge is usually one of the more productive areas for me because it is an opening where many birds will come to feed and gators come to sun themselves. On this day there were no gators as they have all pretty much gone back up into the deeper waters of the river bottom. There was one bird, a great blue heron, perched midway across the bridge, standing there like he was collecting tolls or something. I had my 12-24mm lens on because that was all I had intended on using that day. I was trying to take some landscape shots that were not the ordinary ones you see from this area. It's not what most people think of when considering landscapes. It's basically a swamp. It's beautiful to me though and I have been spending a lot of time trying to capture some of this beauty, again, in different ways than the usual. I ended up taking 5 different exposures of this bridge and combining them into an HDR using Photomatix Pro. I think HDR is like any other form of imagery in that it is an acquired taste. Some people like it, some don't. I happen to be one that loves it, especially when it is what some might consider "overdone". This overdone result is what I was looking for so please don't think it was accidental.
This image also probably breaks many of the 'rules' of good photography but it is still very appealing to me nonetheless. I have already had a number of different people who politely have told me everything that was 'wrong' with this image. It just reinforces my feeling that we all look at and see things very differently. What some see as chaotic may be seen as perfectly harmonious by someone else. I see colors in this picture the way I remember seeing colors when I was a little boy. The sky seemed so much bluer when I was little than it does today. That can probably be attributed to pollution and my old eyes but my memory is still intact and the difference in colors now as opposed to way back then is very obvious. These images sort of let me relive or refeel some of those moments by altering things to suit my whim. I have quite easily accepted the fact that we are all different and we all like certain things and don't like others. I think that is what makes this all so interesting and fascinating to me. We can all be different and still have a commonality between us in photography. It also strengthens my realization that I am doing this mainly for my own pleasure and not for someone else's. It's nice to sometimes find someone that connects to something in the same way as you but it's also nice to not be bothered or deterred when you find someone that does not see things the same way.
Well I seem to have digressed. All I really intended on doing was sharing this image of the bridge at Brazos Bend. It is inviting you to come across, pay the toll, and journey on deeper into the mist to see what surprises await you. James

James Newman said:

It's nice to sometimes find someone that connects to something in the same way as you but it's also nice to not be bothered or deterred when you find someone that does not see things the same way.......I really intended on doing was sharing this image of the bridge at Brazos Bend. It is inviting you to come across, pay the toll, and journey on deeper into the mist to see what surprises await you

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Hello James

I like this very much, I like the composition, the bridge definately looks enticing to me, I would have to take a walk over it if I were there. If it was my shot, I would probably clone out the gate on the LHS to make it more symmetrical, then it would seem even more compelling to walk over the bridge......

Lovely shot though, thank you for sharing.

Thank you Jan. I am open to any and all suggestions on ways I might improve. I will see what I can do with that railing Here are just a couple more taken that morning. Thank you for looking.

Hi James

I like the 2nd one of these, but IMHO it would be improved by cropping about 1.5cm off across the bottom, I don't think that the short grass in the foreground adds much......

The misty light and colours are just beautiful, days like this are precious!

unity of Concept

janet Smith said:

Hi James

I like the 2nd one of these, but IMHO it would be improved by cropping about 1.5cm off across the bottom, I don't think that the short grass in the foreground adds much......

The misty light and colours are just beautiful, days like this are precious!

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Yes,

Janet,

Getting rid of the gate would balance the picture. I have thought of that and removing the lower and upper portions to yield a Panorama. After all the deep blue empty sky above the trees adds nothing. By removing the foreground clutter, one is not arrested there and one is invited to cross past the heron, towards the mist.

James,

Yes that's one way of adding some serenity and lifting more meaning!

However, let's start with the assumptions that the gate is important, and then it is out of balance. Now a bird to the right of the beginning part of the bridge might do that. Unfortunately, this was a still day and there was no bird. Should a bird be added? Well that depends on the artistic license one allows oneself and whether or not one has one's own photograph of a bird, so that one feels that it belongs and is not purloined. I have a picture needed a humming bird, but no picture of mine satisfies me. So that photograph remains incomplete.

In planning this picture one needs to hunt. On a shot like this I'd first scout with my camera on my shoulder with cap on the lens. I often look at the scene through a rectangle from my thumb and forefinger at right angles opposed from each hand to the right shape. I'd pace up and down, and try to find a position and angles from which the interesting features could be separated from what didn't add strength to the pictures. I'd think to myself, “What is the one concept, the overriding sense of unity that will tie up the elements that work together”. Other times, I hold my arms out in front of me at the viewing angle of the lens to see what might be captured. Even though I can machine gun a mountain for stitching, individual shots need to be considered with view to assembling from all the things before one's eyes, only the components that would seem to belong together. Pressing the shutter release is the easy part. Looking through the viewfinder without first getting a sense of the contest of what one wants, is robbing oneself of possibilities. If by contrast, it's the heron on the bridge rail that one wants, then one needs a long enough lens or stealth to approach closer and that is a totally different discipline.

If I was stuck with only one way of taking this picture including that gate I'd plan to either remove it or from that point, I'd decide how I can make that an important element and not a mere distraction.

I am not a purist. Sometimes there is a dangerous ledge, a power line or some other obstacle and one has no choice but to take photography that one intends to correct as if one could hover in a magic position without hindrance.

To some, cloning out dust spots is fine, increasing the contrast is O.K. but removing a gate is downright cheating.
To me it all depends on what's in your mind. As a forensic crime photographer or new reporter, for sure, one should not alter the picture. Here however, James and those you allow to give you feedback need only be guided by vision of what might be.

Asher

Thank you again Jan and thanks to you too Asher. Once again your insight and explanations prove invaluable to me and my desire to improve. You look at things and obviously think about things in a much more advanced and logical way than I currently do. You look for things I don't even remember to think about. I need to make me a list and tape it to the back of my camera. I have improved since starting this obsession but I do still find myself sometimes blindly snapping away without really thinking much first. Then I get home and just hope to find something that I somewhat like. I take half as many exposures now as I did in the beginning but it's still way too many and usually just a waste of valuable shutter actuations. I will strive to improve upon this each time I go out.

I tried my hand at some of the suggestions you both made and I do like it better without the rail on the left. It does seem to give a better overall balance to the picture. Cropping helped too. My Photoshop skills are still desparately lacking and I need improvement in that area. I am currently looking for a good class to take dealing with this because I know that I could do a lot better job in post processing and get much better results with training and more experience using the power of that program. This month I will be attending a seminar on "mastering" the Nikon Creative Lighting System. I need that as well and it was never more evident than last month's attempt at shooting my wife's company Christmas party. Anyway, I really appreciate your help and that of everyone else on this great forum. I do much more reading and looking here than posting and I learn something new with every visit. That being said, here is the result of the changes we discussed. I also tried a B&W and I think that with the proper conversion techniques, which I obviously do not know at this point, that could work as well. And I threw in a photo of the heron. I hope you don't mind. Thank you. James Newman

James Newman said:

I do much more reading and looking here than posting and I learn something new with every visit.

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Hi James

I'm delighted to know that you find it helpful to have our input, like you I continue to learn, despite having been at College for 3 years studying photography, I learned to work in a darkroom and processed my own film, hand printing black and white in my own darkroom. When I changed over to digital about 2 years ago, I felt that a lot of my training had gone to waste, but I was completely wrong, it's all relevant, just new additional skills are needed which I continue to work on.

Two things have been said to me on this forum that have influenced me enormously, I was having difficulty with processing a photo not long after I first joined OPF, I said to Asher that 'I would play with it some more' Asher told me 'work on it' it was a light bulb moment for me, I realised I had been tinkering with Photoshop for months, ever since Asher said that to me, I have never stopped working and will no doubt never stop learning. Also Cem said to me 'there are no stupid questions.......' These two things have really stuck in my mind, so any questions you have, fire away, I'm sure someone here will know the answer.

BTW I like your heron, and your adjustments, so keep working, keep learning, you're doing REALLY well.......

Bonsoir james
we all learn something everyday…
Your heron is beautifull, but I like it a bit more sharp, hence present:

Hi James,

I like the colours in the very first image. I do not think removing the gate improves the balance of the image at all since you are left with a boring flattish area compared to the ridges on the other side of the bridge. However, it is good practice for the clone tool.

Now, this is what I did- I made a background copy, then used the perspective tool to get the bridge rail supports (uprights) parallel.
Then the eyedropper/measure tool, run along the bottom plank, then image rotate, arbitrary. This squares it up with the horizontals/verticals. I then cropped it, to exclude the boundary edge fill wedges. Then cropped again, once I could see all the usable image, such that the gate hinge, metal upright and a few inches of the bars (real world inches) were included. Now, this may not appeal to you, or anyone else, but personally, I don't mind, it is only playing, looking, surmising, maybe working, as to what may give a pleasing result. I tried to emphasise the heron on the rail in the distance - but working with the jpeg is not so good. I would consider layering in the heron (suitably resized) from your later image. I am talking about creating a picture, which maybe is considered differently from making/taking a photograph. I am more concerned initially with overall composition, general colour shades, etc. Sharpening and the fiddling bits come afterwards - like 'flying through rocks'.

There are other aspects here. The left hand rail seems to blend into a weir/dam or something in the river. I think I would emphasise its separation. There are a few odd lumps - flotsam I guess - in the water that interrupts the line of the uprights. I was going to add some vignetting, to further force your eye down the walkway. You could spend a week or two trying things with just this one image. Then, you decide which version you 'like', and then try and explain 'why'. ;-)

wrt a couple of others - the B&W the reflections are too strong for me adds clutter, pulls your eye to the bottom rh corner. For the heron - lose the guy in the background - at least the facial blob.

You are right in what you say, I have watched your progress and self analysis, but I would not agree with 'waste of valuable shutter actuations'. When you get back, look at your scrappers, think about why you believe they are no good. See if they can be rescued into something - practice your pp on them, try some of the daft things to extreme - you may amaze yourself. If you can't learn from other people's mistakes, then you will have to learn from your own ;-)

Best wishes,

Ray

Ray.

Your remarks are great but where's the image you made?

Asher

Hi Asher,

It's here. (on my hdd ;-) I gave some steps for James/anyone to get to a similar position, so that on the way he can see the different effects. Then something else may be discovered on the way. Because the gate has a couple of horizontal bars, it sort of balances the more numerous, but fainter marks in the concrete? on t'other side. I think the imbalance in our minds is because it is metal, not rustic wood - i.e. psychological, not graphical. There are dozens of things that could be done with this one image, as usual, there is not just one right answer.

Best wishes,

Ray

OK, Asher, a bit more padding ......

for what it's worth, yertiz -





I would still want to adjust the perspective - stretch the lhs , crop it differently, bring back the green, less of this, bit more of that, then think the first one was just as good;-)

Best wishes,

Ray

Ray West said:

OK, ... yertiz

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Ray, well done, really.

I really like your (close to, but not quite, golden section) choice of cropping. I'm not sure, yet, about the framing ...

Bart

Ray West said:

I think the imbalance in our minds is because it is metal, not rustic wood.....

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How right you are Ray, love what you've done.....