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We took our first trip to NZ in March 05 (and plan to return in March 06) and captured this image of early morning at Lake Matheson. We had been there the evening before but the light was poor and as soon as we woke up early next morning and found a mist everywhere, we raced back to the Lake (in time to see a busload of foreign tourists arrive). But as they stayed a nano-second at this spot, and departed, we had the opportunity to take a couple of snaps. This was taken with my 70-200 f/4L



Of course, the duck makes the image

Cheers
Sheila

Sheila Smart wrote:Of course, the duck makes the image

you let a duck use your camera to take this photo ???
You're game....pardon the pun !

Seriously, exquisite photo. Probably my favourite of all you have posted thus far.....and the images you've posted have all been exceptional (IMO).

Gorgeous lighting Sheila and wonderful symmetry. My only comment would be to crop out the foreground mud just before the tip of the tree reflection , IMO doesn't really add a lot to the image and the balance of the overall image isn't adversely affected. It also seems that if you crop the little tree from the left hand side you can basically return to the original image proportions and the image still works brilliantly. Great stuff Sheila
cheers
marco

Lovely atmosphere! Gorgeous stuff!

Sheila - this is truly a magical photograph. My only critique (minor) is the ruffled water in the foreground. I am not suggesting returning to reshoot but a crop to the still water line might enhance a great photo

Hmm... maybe I should do a bit of Photoshop magic on the bottom bit and smooth out the water. I may just do that!!

Cheers
Sheila

I definitely agree with Chris and find the water ripple in the foreground jars an otherwise lovely serene landscape... crop or clone, either should be quick and easy.

Oh yes... and forgot to mention... we just adore ducks on this forum !!!

Sheila

I've looked at each of your posts, but not commented so far since none grabbed me strongly enough to add to anything already said. This one is the best of yours that I've seen so far. The composition is great, the mist and the glassy water work well and yes there's the duck. Like Chris I'd like shiny water all the way to the bottom, but nature never delivers perfection Thanks for sharing this.

Ruffled water, Chris I thought it was mud in the foreground or at least exposed sand Ok what is it Sheila?
cheers
marco

The wind just started to ripple the lake so I had to be quick to get the smooth reflection. Here's a shot (converted to mono )taken with the same lens at around 70 mm - I had a choice of cutting out the mountains and obtaining the tree reflection. I chose the mountains. I did try using my 17-40 but the image was too small. I may rue the day that I sold the 70-200!



Cheers
Sheila

Sheila

Second post is good too. Mountains work well, but being greedy I'd have liked the tree reflections too Such is life.

Beautiful shots Sheila of a beautiful part of the world for photographers. You've captured a tranquil moment in a very poignant style. I'm unable to add anything to what's been said except that I agree about the ruffled water but would clone over it rather than crop. I wouldn't like to see the tip of the tree reflection be too crowded, as it would with a crop.

Lovely work.

Also an excellent shot but I agree with your choice, difficult as it may have been, to go with the reflection
cheers
marco

OK, OK Here is my other, other, other shot!



Could do with a tad cropping at the bottom - but couldn't we all

Cheers
Sheila

I think both versions are quiet nice, usually I'm a sucker for the reflections but in this case I prefer the mountains are the price of full reflections.

i would also like the smoother water in the first shot and i love the mountain shot with the way the mist stands out
The third one doesn't do it for me.

Shelia,

I much prefer your original photo. The colours and the way it's cropped is well done, Oh...... and the duck does make the photo come to live.

Regards,
Bill

nice capture, the available light really enhances the scenary.

I would say if you had the duck in #3 it would have been sublime. As is, #1 is exquisite (bar the ruffled water at the bottom) and 3 is superb.

Wonderful shots Sheila

Matt - There's a duck in all 3 pics, just smaller in the latter 2

Edit: I'd say these were taken fairly close together as the duck hasn't really moved much - the rest is just afocal lenght thing.

Beautiful Sheila - I prefer the first one with the duck... but to be honest, I don't mind the ripples in the fore, but is only my opinion
Rel

Sheila, I prefer the 3rd one in this series. It has a myserious and eery feeling that it promotes and the B&W conversion is well done.

As already stated the rippling in the first one let it down, still a great shot though.

Very nice Sheila I like the first one the most, the duck definitely is the key. Lake Matheson sure is a magical place - I visited in 2004 (before I got my D70) and I think we were lucky with the weather because it was very calm on the couple of mornings I went. If you're curious you can see one of my shots from the trip, taken with my Nikon Coolpix 990, here.

I'm also going back to NZ soon - hopefully we can both get some good shots (if not, there's something wrong!)

Cheers,

Stephen

Sheila,

Making me home sick! I love the first shot, but I think the mountains in the second one say a lot more about NZ.

Ant.

Hybrid wrote:Very nice Sheila I like the first one the most, the duck definitely is the key. Lake Matheson sure is a magical place - I visited in 2004 (before I got my D70) and I think we were lucky with the weather because it was very calm on the couple of mornings I went. If you're curious you can see one of my shots from the trip, taken with my Nikon Coolpix 990, here.

I'm also going back to NZ soon - hopefully we can both get some good shots (if not, there's something wrong!)

Cheers,

Stephen

Lovely shot, Stephen. Were we not lucky to get such good weather to shoot Lake Matheson? We are back there on 1 March for 16 days - doing the bits we missed last year.

Cheers
Sheila

Thanks all for your comments. Hopefully I will have the Canon 5D for the next trip in March when my WA lenses actually become wide angle.

Cheers
Sheila

Sheila Smart wrote:Lovely shot, Stephen. Were we not lucky to get such good weather to shoot Lake Matheson? We are back there on 1 March for 16 days - doing the bits we missed last year.

Thanks Sheila - it looks like we were both pretty lucky with the weather - friends of mine went to NZ last year and it rained most of the time. Fingers crossed that it doesn't rain too much this time around...

Looking forward to seeing your upcoming shots from NZ.

Cheers,

Stephen

these are all great images..could stare at em for hours

Hi Sheila - Thanks for posting up these lovely images. Just beautiful. I dont mind the ruffled water in the bottom of the first image. Makes it unique. Different strokes i guess.

The mono took my breath away. Did you use Virtual Photographer to convert it? Do you care to share what settings you used. PM me if you dont want to tell all and sundry.

Cheers
Steve

Willy wombat wrote:Hi Sheila - Thanks for posting up these lovely images. Just beautiful. I dont mind the ruffled water in the bottom of the first image. Makes it unique. Different strokes i guess.

The mono took my breath away. Did you use Virtual Photographer to convert it? Do you care to share what settings you used. PM me if you dont want to tell all and sundry.

Cheers
Steve

I use Fred Miranda's black and white plug in to convert to mono. I believe I used high contrast for this particular image. I do tend to fiddle with curves after converting to mono.

Cheers
Sheila

Cool - Thanks Sheila. Some good plugins come out of FM.