A calm cold bright day after a snow storm that dumped 8 - 10 ft of snow on us in 10 days. The mountain was reflecting in the still water of the bay, but the reflections appeared to be trapped under a thin sheet of ice.
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Place: 1 out of 219 Avg (all users): 7.6880 Avg (commenters): 8.8205 Avg (participants): 7.8248 Avg (non-participants): 7.4948 Views since voting: 8397 Votes: 234 Comments: 59 Favorites: 21 (view)
I've been to Valdez three times in the past two years and you've captured the beauty that I've seen every time that I've been there.
Absolutely beautiful photograph! Congratulations! !
This is a lovely photo... The snow is beautiful and I love the way it contrasts with the blue sky. The reflections on the water always add an interesting element to a scene like this one... Since you won first place this week, I'm gonna be 'picky' with my critique :)
There are two things I would have done slightly differently with a photograph like this one. First of all, I would have made sure the horizon line between the mountains and the water was perfectly level in the frame. This one is very slightly tilted down towards the left. This tilt is very minor and probably went unnoticed for the most part. You can quickly rotate this in photoshop to correct it... I don't really believe the 'rule of thirds' applies to horizon lines in landscape photos. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. In your case, you have something interesting to see on both sides of the horizon. When this is the case, you can usually toss the 'rule of thirds' out the window :) Secondly, I think I would have lowered that horizon in the frame just a tad so that the horizon line did not split the center of the frame. Someone commented that it would be nice to see a little more sky and a little less foreground... I'll have to agree with that comment completely.
This is definitely a beautiful photograph. Keep up the great work and I look forwared to seeing more of Alaska from you in the future :)
Thank you all very much for your extremely generous comments!! I noticed there were two main themes in the comments. Rule of Thirds and 'ice or not'. Here's both stories. This was a full fram shot and I even shot a few frames both up and down to fit the rule, but all of them lost a key element, the symetrical cloud reflection. It was a tough decision, but I chose to break the rule and keep the symetry. As for the ice....it was really ice...which is why the reflection didn't have the clarity there that it did in the open water part. There are a number of rivers that run into the port and the fresh water floats on top of the salt water so we occasionally get some thin ice...although it's actually rare. Once again, thank you so very much!
Gorgeous colours. This has to be in Iceland! It feels like there's a little bit too much glare on the snow, but how you would avoid that I don't really know.
A beautiful photo. Very crisp, beautiful colors, good composition. Though I think I might have moved the horizon line down a bit to the 1/3 height level. A little less of the water. Congrats on a very nice image. 8 md
This is absolutely gorgeous! I love how the reflection is centered so they both come out of the middle and I love your use of blue border and then white as well, it really adds to the photo. Amazing how blue the water is compared to the sky, thats really neat! Did you use a polarizing filter on this. Excellent job on your exposure, that can be really tough with the white. -10- Good luck!
What can I say. This is one of the most awesome amateur pictures I have ever seen. I stared at my screen for ten minutes before my wife came and picked my jaw up off the floor.
Composition is great. Usually I would apply the rule of thirds and not put the horizon in the center, but given the reflection this works perfectly. Colours are splendid. Sharpness is excellent. Where is this? Alaska? Iceland? If I could, I would give this an 11 (10 will have to be sufficient). My prediction for #1.
Wonderful shot, this is my #1 pick for this week. I love the reflection on the thin ice. The beauty of the scene is just breathtaking even down to the cloud formation. 10
This photo has a great use of colour. I think the horizon could be up a bit higher in the frame to accentuate the water which has a most gorgeous tone to it. Mountains are nice and crisp. jgillard9
Beautiful light conditions, and very good composition! I wonder if a less harsher light woukd produce a more evocative picture. Perhaps you'd lose the remarkable reflection in the lake, I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure a little use of the rule of thirds could add a litte to the photo (by cropping so that the horizon line is higher or lower than the center of the photo) I find copping more of the sky and leaving the reflection as is makes a more dynamic photo...
I'm not sure that I like having the top and bottom so even. I think I would rather see more sky and a little less along the bottom maybe. Very cool winter shot. Nice exposure. Great color.
Wow! Breathtaking. Colors are great. Good composition . I wish I could see more detail on the mountains, but maybe you could loose some of the expanse. Good luck!
Reflections Under Ice
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