Dartmoor River

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wildtracks

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Name
Martin Prothero
Edit My Images
Yes
Well, more of a stream than a river. This is my first attempt at longer exposure and blurring water.
Dodging the stormy weather, pretty overcast and low light levels.
Advice and comments welcome.

River1.jpg


I think I wanted more of the misty water affect but was worried about noise at longer exposures.
 
I like that alot did you use any filters when taking that shot ?
i think you got the water just right.(y)
 
Yeah it's just right. Always a danger of burning out the water entirely - you've managed to keep a fair bit of detail in it. Really good choice of shutter speed!

Don't be too put off about experimenting with longer exposures because of noise - you don't say what gear you are using but the 400 is certainly quite forgiving.

It seems to help the composition slightly taking the top off the image so you have less sky there, that bright patch detracts from the colours and the water a little.
 
Yeah it's just right. Always a danger of burning out the water entirely - you've managed to keep a fair bit of detail in it. Really good choice of shutter speed!

Don't be too put off about experimenting with longer exposures because of noise - you don't say what gear you are using but the 400 is certainly quite forgiving.

It seems to help the composition slightly taking the top off the image so you have less sky there, that bright patch detracts from the colours and the water a little.
 
Thanks for the comments.

I'm using a Nikon D40 with a Sigma 10-20mm. No filters.

I agree about the sky being a bit distracting. It does look better with it just cropped out. There was a little more sky in the original but I needed to do a bit of 'freeform straightening' to get the trees looking upright.
 
My first thoughts were the same as chenng, crop the sky, it's not only distracting, but with a crop your eyes will flow more comfortably through the image.
Water is fine with no hotspots.

A bit of work, and this will sing :)
 
OK - here is a new version that I have Potatoshopped. I cropped the sky out as recommended and I have removed the twig that crossed over the mossy branch in the foreground as I found that distracting too.

I have a question though, that I'm hoping someone can answer for me. Once I had edited I really struggled to get it down to 200KB (the limit for gallery pics here)....this is what I have done. I had to reduce it from 300ppi to 72ppi AND crop it again AND reduce the Jpeg quality from 12 to 5 AND make it 550 pixels high. Now it is 200KB but looks so much worse for it. I don't understand why that would be. Is it because of the editing work?

Here it is anyway, ready for comments.

Rivernew3.jpg
 
Yes, that sits more comfortably in the frame.

Are you using 'save for web' in PS, 800 pixels alonng the long side should look OK at 200k?
 
No, I wasn't using save for web. I always thought that it reduces colours too much, but I guess we are lookingat them on the web! D'ouh
I'll give that a go and see if it helps. Thanks.
 
AHHH. I just don't get it. I have saved for web and in the little box where it lets you adjust the quality and tells you the image size it said 177KB.
When I save this it says it is 278KB. I have reduced this (saved for web version) down to 72ppi and is 756 or something under 800 pix on longest edge, medium setting and it is still to big. Maybe I will stop using the gallery and just link to my Flickr account or summint.

I'm off to bed!:razz::LOL:
 
wildtracks said:
No, I wasn't using save for web. I always thought that it reduces colours too much, but I guess we are lookingat them on the web! D'ouh
I'll give that a go and see if it helps. Thanks.
Click to expand...


As long as you make sure the working colour space is sRGB, then you shouldn't get any colour loss.
 
Ah. That's more like it. Thanks Les. Not sure what happened there but saving for web and can control the quality and size perfectly.

So, here is the Potatoshopped version.

Forumriver.jpg
 
No technical gubbins required. Thanks for the comment.
 
The gentle S curve on the stream makes this, also the branch pointing towards the right hand corner. Exl. compositon.
 
Thanks for all you comments. It is a stream running from Bridford towards Christow, in the Teign Valley on the east edge of Dartmoor.
Sadly someone is building a house nearby and I had to choose my composition very carefully to avoid all of the building materials dumped off to one side.
But hey, cameras never tell the full truth do they?
 
That lasted posted image is very nice.
I like the composition and that foreground detail.
I can almost smell the damp, earthy and mossy smell.
 
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