Thursday, May 04, 2006
Aeron in flood
No ducks here! In fact, this is a scene of desolation as it is a field covered in water from the River Aeron, which comes to Cardigan Bay at Aberaeron. You can see the river behind the trees. It was taken on the same day as 'out of season'. There were two big flooding sessions this winter in November and December; this is the latter. It is unusual in that I used a tripod. It was relatively early, about 10 am and the rain had stopped not long before. The light, although subdued was very interesting as you can see from the colours here.
Permalink / posted by and copyright of John Ellis : 7:10 AM
Comments:
I particularly like the backdrop, there are some nice greens there. Maybe they could be enhanced with a bit more contrast. The water is less attractive but conveys splendidly the fact it is flood water and not a pretty lake. There is a nice smoothness in the water conveying well the subtle reflections. I thin you have captured the flood well.
What wonderful colours. And such a different photo from the one I would have taken (and answering that question is one of the pleasures of this project....why would I have responded differently....why can I imagine taking a different photo. Tough questions).
But back to your photo. Contrary to John L, I think that the lack of contrast in the top part helps it match the softness from the water in the lower part. This means that I see two different sets of rows. One set of colours, and one set which goes (top to bottom) - soft and hazy, then sharp and detailed, and finally soft and hazy.
love the different layers of interest. the colors appear like fading from green to brown with the different sharpness of the rows. interesting to see such a flood picture. for me no need to increase the contrast of the top part. I have the impression its slightly tilted to the right. would like to compare this with an alternate shot without nearly centered horizon (more water or forest). do you have one?
in germany the news at that time were full of reports from flood in southern germany, austria and hungary. very rare flood reports from your island.
"Noah's ark", said the boy when he saw this. A lovely flood picture. I particularly like the reflections of the partially submerged trees.
John L - this was enhanced!! The original was quite insubstantial due to the peculiar light, but what you see here approximates pretty well to the circumstances.
Auspicious - it would be interesting to know what you might have done. I tried a panorama extending to the left but (and it was on a tripod) it didn't succeed (whereas my handhelds usually do!). I took a few other shots (see link for Michael) but after 10 - 15 minutes it seemed that that line of trees was what I wanted.
Michael - there is a slight tilt, but I think that it is due to not being straight on to the line of trees (aiming left). So what one is seeing is the river receding to the left. I was reasonably happy to have the river near the middle because the different layers softened the effect. The hill isn't that high so I wanted to avoid the sky and I didn't think that the water was interesting enough to give it more space. The link takes you to a variation that gives you some idea.
http://www.johnelliseone.co.uk/gallery/photo.php?photo=93&exhibition=20&u=166|0|...
I've been looking at this picture many times since it's been posted. Initially I wanted much more saturation. Each subsequent viewing changed that though. The muted tones are what sits so well on my eyes - after all, we do not live in a land of Velvia colour! The line of trees through the middle of the picture break up softer top and bottom. May like to see a little more work in the water reflections. Great work and one I'd be happy to have taken.
John E: my different photo would have emphasised the foreground, so standing where you were standing I would have tilted the camera down such that the green trees would have gone and the water would have taken about two thirds of the frame. This would have limited the palette to brown and red (so avoiding any temptation to drop it into gray monochrome) and created a sense of the photographer being in the flood (probably incorrectly as I presume you were not wading).
Would this have been a better photograph? I doubt it (for the avoidance of doubt, I think your version is great). You know I like foreground!
Thinking about it more, I think that I made my original comment because your photo captures the spirit of the time and place so well that I could imagine standing there camera in hand....and tilting it.
Thanks Guy, and thanks Auspicious for coming back on this. I like your suggestion, which is quite different to the link I gave. I can only half remember the time and place but there is some vague recollection that I didn't want to bring the photo to the edge of the water (where the tripod sat on dry land - what was left of it), probably because flood water isn't that attractive. But the colouring would have been even more remarkable and the sense of scale of the water more forcefully shown. Next Autumn!
I like the subtlety and the lack of colour extremes.
Being a bit slow I didn't originaly connect the half submerged trees with the title!
The muddy brown water looks deep, still waters run deep.
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But back to your photo. Contrary to John L, I think that the lack of contrast in the top part helps it match the softness from the water in the lower part. This means that I see two different sets of rows. One set of colours, and one set which goes (top to bottom) - soft and hazy, then sharp and detailed, and finally soft and hazy.
in germany the news at that time were full of reports from flood in southern germany, austria and hungary. very rare flood reports from your island.
Auspicious - it would be interesting to know what you might have done. I tried a panorama extending to the left but (and it was on a tripod) it didn't succeed (whereas my handhelds usually do!). I took a few other shots (see link for Michael) but after 10 - 15 minutes it seemed that that line of trees was what I wanted.
Michael - there is a slight tilt, but I think that it is due to not being straight on to the line of trees (aiming left). So what one is seeing is the river receding to the left. I was reasonably happy to have the river near the middle because the different layers softened the effect. The hill isn't that high so I wanted to avoid the sky and I didn't think that the water was interesting enough to give it more space. The link takes you to a variation that gives you some idea.
http://www.johnelliseone.co.uk/gallery/photo.php?photo=93&exhibition=20&u=166|0|...
Would this have been a better photograph? I doubt it (for the avoidance of doubt, I think your version is great). You know I like foreground!
Thinking about it more, I think that I made my original comment because your photo captures the spirit of the time and place so well that I could imagine standing there camera in hand....and tilting it.
Being a bit slow I didn't originaly connect the half submerged trees with the title!
The muddy brown water looks deep, still waters run deep.