Grant Narrows, a photo from British Columbia, Western

Photographer's Note

Grant Narrows is a passage of water that is really part of Pitt Lake. This narrow passage serves as a gateway to the famous Widgeon Marsh Regional Park, an intertidal area of wetlands, lake, and streams. The area is popular with kayakers and canoe paddlers.

I was not pleased with my handling of the backlighting in this shot.

Lotos, edal, Paolo, carper, weswang, ndb1958, elihesamian, bertolucci, papagolf21, peter1892, Tue, Fixfocus, danielswalsh, ChrisJ, singuanti, riclopes, plimrn, Buin, MarekP, jafadabret, cjmm, anavazao, fabio_ts has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

edal (6804) 2006-04-24 10:27

Hi, John!
Your photo's composition is a masterpiece! You start with the flowers and end with sky touching mountains - averything is enframed in perfect dof.
TFS
Anton

Albrecht (11283) 2006-04-24 10:34

Hi John
A simple scene, but beautiful and I like the mist in the mounstains there. Nice atmosphere.
* greetings Albrecht *

Paolo (41258) 2006-04-24 10:35

Hi John, another amazing view from the wonderufl B.C.
a really paradisiac view of lake, mounts and nature.
good POV, focus, light and colours.
well seen and took.
thanks, ciao

Keitht (1342) 2006-04-24 11:19

Certainly a beautiful area. Lovely composition and the lighting on the middle section is really nice. The foreground bank has plenty of interest without being distracting and forms a nice lower frame. I also like the mistiness over the background mountains.
The image does seem to lack a real focal point as I find my eye wandering from area to area. It really is one of those images that comes close to having a real WOW factor, but somehow just misses.
Still a fine shot.

markstaples (15670) 2006-04-24 12:07

Beautiful lighting, wonderful foreground interest, great natural colours, curves and lines ... I think that just about sums it up. Superb.
Best wishes
Mark

Henryk_Bilor (20803) 2006-04-24 12:19

Hello John
Why not, the lighting is quite good at the photo. Delicate and calm. Good composition with the flowers in the foreground.
Regards

Fis2 (170747) 2006-04-24 12:37

Witaj John!
Beautiful landscape. Wonderful place. I like the light and colours. Congratulations.
Regards
Krzysztof

xavshot (69835) 2006-04-24 12:51

Bonsoir John
tr鑚 belle lumi鑽e sur cette for黎. L'endroit est magnifique et ton cadrage excellent. Tr鑚 bien compos�. Bravo
amicalement
Xavier

Graal (103040) 2006-04-24 13:48

Hi John,
beautiful view and the place. I like the composition and good quality of photo. Well done.
Rgs, Aleksander

weswang (18247) 2006-04-24 13:59

Hi John, I enjoy this well composed picture. You have well made use of the lights to show the beautiful scenery in the peaceful environment. Nice PoV and DoF. Well done.

ndb1958 (9289) 2006-04-24 14:24

Hi John,
you seem to be united with nature. Another amazing picture. The lake is so beautiful, many wonderful details.
Nino

olejator (500) 2006-04-24 14:25

Good composition ,really beautyfull landscape hmm but I`ve got impression the sky is not true

elihesamian (26149) 2006-04-24 14:40

I can look at this for hours !
Poetic,
beautiful,
peaceful and
lovely,
John!
in a fine way you captured and composed the view' elements,excellent sharpness and quality,nicely done,John,

Best
M

Ann75 (0) 2006-04-24 14:57

Hello John,

What an amazing shot of the Pitt Lake area. I like this area very much and hope to explore it a bit more now that the weather is getting better. I love the foreground with the purple flowers. The light on the mountains is fantastic and it gives this image a special effect where the foreground hill is really sharp and the background is just a little in a haze. Great composition and wonderful captured!

Greetings,
Ann

bertolucci (14052) 2006-04-24 15:05

Hi John, very enjoyable work again, I like the harmony in the combination of mountain shapes. The flowers in the foreground add a lovely accent. Very tranquile with a fine crispness. Very well done John,
Have a nice week,
Bert

P-S-I-G (25536) 2006-04-24 15:15

Hello John,
A very beautiful shot. I like this landscape.
Wonderful light and colors.
Well composed.
Best regards,
Fabrice

papagolf21 (152607) 2006-04-24 16:43

Bonsoir mon ami John,
C'est toujours un grand plaisir de contempler vos photographies.
Le cadrage est parfait, une tr鑚 belle lumi鑽e, une photographie d'une grande beaut�.
F駘icitations, une fois de plus.
Amiti駸.
Philippe

coco (30439) 2006-04-24 17:27

Hi John.
Good work here. You saw what had to be the photo and you make an interesting work.
The colours are good, and the light works very well.
Well done.

peter1892 (1681) 2006-04-24 17:27

Hi John - I like the way it's lit, I really like the hazy effect on the background. It seems like a calm, serene place. Good shot!

danyy (0) 2006-04-24 17:37

Hello John,
une photo avec des aspects irr馥ls, elle donne l'impression que cette presqu'ile vient de sortir du lac.
J'aime beaucoup la touche color馥 des fleurs au premier plan.
Best regards.
Daniel.

Tue (92360) 2006-04-24 18:07

Hej John,
A gorgeous landscape, very well composed. I like the several elements in the shot, like the flowers in the foreground, the water in the middle and the forest and mountains in the background. I find the light also very nice. Good work!
Hilsen,
Lars

Fixfocus (9385) 2006-04-24 18:18

Hi John,
Itｴs an amazing landscape and I can imagine that itｴs great for canoeing.Excellent framing and nice play of light and shadow.The flowers in the foreground are a good detail.
Greetings,
Hermann

danielswalsh (13597) 2006-04-24 19:32

Nice shot John;

You made mention of not being happy with the backlighting, I don't realy think it's too noticeable here John.
Did you use 'Neat Image' here at all- and if so was it the demo one, or the full version?
I was having a similar discussion with Ann (ANN75) a couple days ago.

'Neat Image' is great at removing noise, but it's also good at removing fine detail. If using the demo version- it can be difficult as I believe it runs on your computer as a seperate application from Photoshop (or other photo software). If you have the full version (the one you have to buy), then 'Neat Image' becomes a part of your Photoshop- as a filter.

The benefit of doing this is that now- you can select an area- and apply 'Neat Image' to just that area- like the sky, or the water. Allowing you to smooth out the noise, yet keep the fine detail.

Just a suggestion, not only to you John- but anyone who uses 'Neat Image'...

Nice composition, good colors and levels- could be a bit sharper- but as I said, we've beaten this issue to a pulp! Hahahah...

All the best John,
- Dan (74 days)

[2] +

rabdelnoor (3423) 2006-04-24 20:14

Hi John,
What a great picture with an excellent composition. Everything fit very well on the scene, resulting in a well balanced photo with beautiful colors and superb light. I really liked it.
Take care
Ricardo

ChrisJ (171822) 2006-04-24 21:13

Hi John

Wonderful sharpness, color, & ighting, with good pp work on the dodging. I like the reflections. Well done!

singuanti (15250) 2006-04-24 22:52

Hi John. I don't see any big issues with the way you handled the backlight. I do use Photoshop Elements 3 and Noiseware. But since I got DxO I hardly ever have any noise to worry about it so I hardly ever use it after DxO unless it's a very high ISO image. I think I'd prefer more detail over the partially blurred areas. Still it's very beautiful though John.

riclopes (35577) 2006-04-25 3:39

Hi John,
Since you mentioned, the mountains in the background are indeed, a bit overexposed, but it's not serious at all and they resulted in a fine light layer to contrast with the one in midleground. The NI information given by Dan, was quite interesting, though.
Execelent framing with the flowers in foreground and great lighting effects on the water surface, which enhance greatly the impact of this view. I also love the yellow area, along the shore of the lake, on the other side. A marvellous landscape, very well captured and composed, as usual!
Ricardo

plimrn (21344) 2006-04-25 4:07

Hi John,
I want to complement you first on your note which garnered you the best group of critiques I've seen on a photo. I've learned a lot from Daniel, Steve, Aubrey and Ricardo.

As to the photo, like many people, I like the touch of bright color added by the fireweed. I also like the line of half-rotted posts that frame the lake, and the golden sand beach. The detail of the trees is excellent in both mountain area as is the mistiness behind this first hill. The light in sky is flat, I think from your critiques that I'll try the polarizer next. I don't know what kind of camera you use, but I'm finding that shooting in raw does give more color information; which helps with midday light.
Regards, Pat

PixelTerror (0) 2006-04-25 4:51

Hi John,
I would not complain too much as the view is quite pleasant, I like the foreground flowers you have wisely included as their color provides a good balance to the light of the background. Simple & beautiful.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

rosaline (0) 2006-04-25 4:54

Hi John
A good composition here with the flowers in the foreground to add some balance. The light is soft to reveal good colours and details. The backlighting is a touch overexposed. In these circumstances I use spot metering and take the exposure from the sunlit part of the composition and use that for the overall exposure. A polarizer helps too. This should give a nicely balanced exposure. This technique is essential when you have large areas of shadow.
Cheers
Aubrey

feather (51130) 2006-04-25 9:08

I actually like the effect the slight over-exposure of the background mountains has given to the overall image, as I think it creates extra depth and a hazy feel. I also like the foreground flowers and the texture in the water. I wonder if a grad filter would have been a useful alternative to a polariser (asa suggested) to darken the background without affecting the rest of the scene.
Kath

MarekP (4750) 2006-04-25 19:03

Hi John,
The small blue areas on the left hill are a bit disturbing, but otherwise it's a great picture. I especially like the light on the middle hill and around the reflections. Clarity and colours of these parts of the picture are outstanding.

Thanks,
Marek

Davidwh (3662) 2006-04-26 1:10

Hi John,
What a beautiful place.You have captured the feeling so well - soft, silent and tranquil.I agree with you that the backlight may be a bit bright but you have anyway managed to catch that wisp of mist that clings to the slope and emphasises the softness.i like how you have started the depth from the foreground bank of the water.You've given me a peaceful start to the day...thanks.
Regards, David

jafadabret (56501) 2006-04-26 1:59

John, c'est une photo de professionnel !
J'aime le premier plan fleuri et l'eau tr鑚 bien rendue. La lumi鑽e sur ce paysage est des plus belles et une l馮鑽e brume d騁ache les diff駻ents plans. Du bon travail !
Jacques

capthaddock (28790) 2006-04-26 11:28

Hi John - the backlighting is fine, nicely separates the mountain ranges and gives more depth, and the flowers (which could have used direct light) complement the foreground, very pleasant scenery even if it lacks a single dominant subject

anavazao (5592) 2006-04-26 14:22

wow,
another great shot!
great landscape with nice colours, composition, light, POV, details...
Thanks Ana:)

fabio_ts (13696) 2006-04-27 3:44

The colors and the lights works in perfect harmony in this picture, so natural, so beautiful.. lovely work John, compliments!!

have a nice day,
Fabio.

Gregtom (7169) 2006-04-27 5:41

Hello, John!
Oh, what a beautiful countryside! Everything I like in one place - lakes, mountains and forrests. How I wish to be there now, breathing with fresh air and contemplating the beauty of nature. Thanks, John!
regards,
Greg

ahmetgedikli (25609) 2006-04-27 7:23

Hi John,
Very nice landscape. Wonderful composition, colours,light and good depth. Thanks for sharing. Best wishes.
Ahmet

dsidwell (9783) 2006-04-27 8:35

Hi John! Time to get out the graduated neutral density filter, I guess, though I feel you've handled the backlighting and exposure for the foreground admirably. The echoing levels work nicely here, and the flowers make for a nice lead-in to the photo.

cjmm (4479) 2006-04-27 12:20

Hi John,

Amazing landscape and composition with very well balanced background and foreground. The place looks great and inviting, and I think that this is the key factor for landscape photos.

I agree that maybe a little more on the foreground could have been better, and added that WOW factor that Keith mentions; anyway the light on the background creates a nice effect.

Regarding Neat Image, I have been avoiding it beacuse (coming from film days and loving Tri X) I prefer a little noise to less detail. Also, I usually try to remove noise with Photoshop in selected areas.

Best regards,
Carlos

Mishe (3533) 2006-04-27 12:50

Hi John!
Excellent picture.
I like it very much.
Congrats and thanks.
With best wishes,
Mishe.