C & C : Buck Island Lake

After a couple years break, I am once again pursuing landscapes as a hobby. Sold most of my gear a couple years ago, but just recently acquired a Sony a7c and Fe 20-70 f4. First outing with the new setup and captured these images.

Looking for constructive feedback. All images are single capture and minor Lightroom edits.

Hi Bill,

I've lived in Santa Cruz for the past 54 years, spent a significant amount of time in the Sierra but never heard of Buck Island Lake, so had to Goggle it. Quite beautiful!

I think your images have good IQ, nice contrast and dynamic range, and are framed quite well. The reflections are well done and the skies are interesting.

I think the last 3 images are best, as I find the large tock taking up too much of the scene in the first 2 images. They distract my eye from the pristine mountain lake scene and have me focus on the rock primarily, which is nothing but an invasive large rock, to my mind.

Look forward to seeing more of your images here.

Best,

Den

Love # 1 and don't care much for # 2 and am OK with 3 and 4.

Thanks for sharing.

Kent

Thanks so much for the input.

Thanks for the feedback.

Well done. I think the last two are stunning. I also like second, the large boulder works in it.

Thanks for the replies.

I still can't decide myself if I like the big rocks in the foreground or not. Sometimes I think they are distracting, and other times I welcome seeing them.

I like 1,3,4 ..find t he boulder too much of a distracion in 2. thanks

sony_bill said:

Thanks for the replies.

I still can't decide myself if I like the big rocks in the foreground or not. Sometimes I think they are distracting, and other times I welcome seeing them.

Click to expand...

#3 - the only one without a boulder - looks more bland to me.

The other images made me rave a bit: I easily imagined myself sitting on it, contemplating, in this peaceful atmosphere.

I also couldn't help thinking about time passing, boulders are marks of ice age and show that a landscape we believe eternal, actually changes.

Clearly, those boulders rock!

I like 1 and 3 best, and also like 5. The boulder adds interest but 2 and 4 area bit busy for me.

sony_bill said:

After a couple years break, I am once again pursuing landscapes as a hobby. Sold most of my gear a couple years ago, but just recently acquired a Sony a7c and Fe 20-70 f4. First outing with the new setup and captured these images.

Looking for constructive feedback. All images are single capture and minor Lightroom edits.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing! Overall impression - it looks like too much clarity/dehaze applied to all the images. Further comments below. Note I'm comparing the images against my personal style and preferences.
The apparent boulder size is too big to me, it's... overwhelming. That is, too much emphasis on the foreground. Also it overlaps with the reflection.
Basically same as #1
Pretty nice view and reflections.
I like the composition in this one. Maybe it lacks a bit of space at the bottom - it's cut a bit too tight. The relative boulder size is just right in this one. However, as above, too much dehaze/clarity has been applied. This makes the image grungy and flat. The background, especially distant background like this, is naturally expected to be hazy and less saturated. If there was any haze, it was completely removed by dehaze which made it less separated from the foreground trees. The trees now blend into the background. But maybe the air was exceptionally clear?..
Also good composition albeit slightly disbalanced with too much weight on the left.

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Thanks for the feedback!

Welcome back! I like the last two the best.

Thanks so much!

I like the location and some of the compositions (1, 4, 5), but I have to admit that I don't like the PP. They do not look natural to me, they look over-processed. That's why I'm surprised that you mention "minor Lightroom edits". But I'm sure you'll find a more balanced way of doing PP once you're "fully back" in this nice hobby ;-)

Cheers,
Reto

Thanks to everyone for the feedback.