I think portrait format is the way to go here. 🙂
This was my last image before leaving Gate 30 in New Salem on Monday and heading off to Froggy’s pond in Petersham. To be imperfectly Steve, I think I may reshoot it at a faster exposure to get a bit more definition in the water motion.
WordPress’ lack of color management is frustrating me. In Photoshop this looks very different with better lighting and less saturated greens. And when I post a link to this on Facebook the image looks just fine until I click and see it on WordPress. I have no idea whether it is just how my display reacts to WP, but it seems a little dark and the greens too saturated. But when I look at the images on my tablet they look OK. If you wish to comment on what you are seeing in that regard I would be happy to hear. I don’t mind creating an action to adjust for WP, but don’t want to do it if the images look normal on the displays, tablets or phones of others. Thanks.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
It’s a lovely, restful photo. It would be interesting to see it with a faster exposure: but of course that’s purely personal preference speaking.
As for the colors and such: it looks fine to me. It doesn’t seem dark, and there’s quite a bit of variety among the greens.
The lichen and moss (?) on the rocks in the foreground seem perfectly natural, as do the ferns along the bank. There’s a diagonal strip running below the fallen tree and behind the two primary trunks that seems a little bright-green, but I chalked that up to some extra sunlight and very new growth. It doesn’t have that artificial glow that over-saturation can produce.
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There was indeed some sun starting to hit the other side of the brook’;s bank. A few moments after this it became quite bright over there.
Everything looks perfectly normal when viewing this in my editing space. I had been making adjustments for images based on WordPress’ presentation but probably will not spend my time on that any more Thanks, Linda.
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I think you’re right about the colors. I wouldn’t worry about that, though, but rather focus on what your target audience is looking for and also your own heart.
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I rarely have any idea who my target audience is, Melissa. For sure it is all the folks who visit here as well as someone who might just happen by, but there are different perspectives and one thing I have learned is that I can’t please everyone. But I do want to make the best presentation possible (which is where my heart is 🙂 ) so appreciate hearing how things look to all who are willing to share what they are seeing.
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Melanie has complained about changes to the colors of her quilt pictures in WP.
When I study your photo, I like the foreground exposure. It seems very natural to me. The distant greens seem a little bright. I’m viewing on an older MacBook laptop screen.
There are a gazillion intervening variables between your initial photo and the final viewing by us.
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Yes, I would guess for Melanie, or other artists like Melissa, color is critical in showing your work online. It must be frustrating.
The distant greens were just receiving their first sunlight of the day from over the trees behind me so would be brighter than the foreground, although I do try to control that as much as possible.
The biggest variables are the different screens that people are viewing upon. And older laptop for instance has shifted its color over time and may or may not have lost or gained brightness. I try to calibrate my screen monthly so I have control over what I see, but there is no accounting for what everyone else is seeing.
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I agree with your evaluation. On both my (5-year-old) Dell laptop and the larger LG screen on my desktop, the greens (especially behind the tree on the distant bank, but also on the moss on the rock in the foreground) are definitely on the bright side, but not so much that I’d call them garish; to my eye, somewhat less saturated and more subdued would provide an improvement. Your definition in the water movement is great (!) just as it is.
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Thanks, Gary. Out of curiosity, do you calibrate your screens? I would imagine a 5 year old laptop might have drifted a little. But I am not familiar with laptops as I have never owned one.
Water in motion is such a subjective subject. Some folks like it to look frozen in time, some with a little definition as here and others prefer it to be total silk. I like all three appearances in different given situations.
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We’re in total agreement regarding the degree of motion representation. It all depends on so many factors, including my moods at the time of capture and at the time of developing. And I may return another time and work with it yet another way. It’s all part of the art and part of the fun! I’ve considered calibratiing my screens, but as long as a print looks like what I have on my screens, (and it still does), I’m happy (but maybe too complacent).
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Steve, I can’t say I see any meaningful difference between the display o Facebook and here. It looks great to me, and by no means oversaturated in the greens. Just out of curiosity, have you tried looking at it in other browsers?
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Thanks, Jackson. Honestly, no. I have pretty much stayed with Firefox but your implied suggestion is a good one. I think I will see how things look on a couple of others.
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I really like this photo and I’m not picky about the color. If it were me, I’d only be concerned about the color if I were going to sell this or exhibit in a gallery. You can fiddle and piddle till the cows come home worrying about how your photo looks in all the different formats. I don’t follow your blog to look for every nit-picking thing so that I can point to a flaw. I just like you photography. 🙂
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I am particular about the appearance of both the color and light. And while I appreciate that some people come here to enjoy the images and not to critique them, I have had a couple of instances on the blog and website where someone saw an image they liked and either purchased a print or used an image in publication. So I do want to encourage that and it the appearance seems under control than it is a smoother process.Of course, as my friend Greg Russell has described some, there are folks who like a “nuclear” sunrise etc. which I do occasionally post.
Thank you for your visits and enjoyment of my images, Yvonne. I appreciate that very much. 🙂
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🙂 🙂
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The greens are certainly saturated in the background, and the whites in the long water exposure are a touch warm. They aren’t unpleasing, but for my eye cooling the WP image down a bit would be helpful. I was interested about your comment about the image looking fine in Facebook. As a different experiment of sorts, I downloaded the images from WP by right clicking and compared the two. The images are identical when viewed on my display (HD Dell) in Windows Photoviewer and your WP website. Don’t worry, I’ve deleted the downloaded image after the experiment.
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Thanks very much for the analysis, Ian.
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Gorgeous and interesting photo; I do share your WP-internet frustration with color.
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Thanks, Charlie. I wonder if there is more control with paid service.
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