Stills

I suppose I should have said that it is the Teifi for the sake of geographically-challenged Englishmen! 1/50 sec - a complete guess.
 

I like a little more motion blur in water shots.
 

I find that clichéd.
 

John, interesting angle of approach to this one. Were you on your knees? As for the slight blur of the water I would, I think, have liked to see this crisper. How that could be achieved in such low light I'm not sure.
 

Johnjo - can't win can I?!! One wants more, one less. What I wanted, and think that I achieved, is a feeling for the upwelling bottom right. But on the whole, I tend normally to side with you on having water crisper.

I was crouching (would I want wet knees?!) on a small outcrop. It would have been difficult to use a tripod but the parameters were just OK without. Taken near the end of October, so one can how late it is before the leaves started turning.
 

"One wants more, one less" - John, I'm sure there's a whole essay in those few words.
 

Having stood in, or by, this sort of river many times recently, I would say that you've got the blur/sharp bit about in line with human vision. Given your documentary bent I would guess that this was deliberate.

I really want you to have been further out into the river. To be between the banks to even out the composition. In reality, my mind would probably blank out the intruding left hand side, but in a photograph I can't ignore it. The central top bright patch is a good anchor though. The tones and colours in the water are great. This is about water, not plants.
 

I don't know - the river isn't so wide and part of the character of the place is the near meeting of tree tops over the middle of the river. But to lose the left hand side is obviously a compositional option - I'll give it a try next time I'm down there!

The blur/sharp intent was as I said to Rex and Johnjo, which may or may not tie in with your observation; certainly not consciously...!
 

certainly not consciously...!

I was definitely thinking sub-consious here.
 

Deliberately sub-concscious?
 

OK, so 'deliberate' wasn't the best choice of words.

The meaning I was looking for was perhaps to deliberate which Princeton defines as 'think about carefully'. This isn't necessarily a conscious process.

Also, I think, I was looking at this across two timescales. The conscious deliberate part was done some time ago. You have internalised the style such that at the time of the photo it was sub-conscious.

There are things that I do that are deliberately sub-conscious. I know that I've been through the thought processess and come to a decision. I don't choose a 35mm lens on the Leica deliberately, but the choice is deliberate.

Ho! And now I've looked at this word ......'de' + 'librare'.
That's a humdinger of a word for describing what I do when picking a picture taking machine.
 

I'll buy your internalise!! The meaning of words preoccupies me more than it ought to, perhaps, but if language is what has evolved to allow us to communicate (as opposed to pictures) then I think that we have to be more careful in our use of it; which is not aimed at your 'deliberate' but is a more general observation. Much though I love photos and painted art, neither can knock me off the scale high as much as certain lines or words in a good poem.

de + librare is fun!
 

I think wet knees would have resulted in a more dynamic picture. The ebbs and flows (?) stir up the water but not particularly high. Perhaps a lower vantage would have incresed the sense of power that the river posseses? I also feel a little isolated from the large outcrop mid-river. Good or bad - I'm still undecided. Given the sweeping course of the river this shot looked just as effective as a panoramic (hold a piece of white paper to the screen and block out the bootom half and see for yourself). Overall I'm not feeling the full force of this river.