Winter in the reed bed

[bugmeister]

I suppose we are just about in winter

 

This reed bed caught my eye with the sun coming through from behind, especially with the water in the background giving it a glisten.

 

Not an easy shot and I'm not totally happy with it, I think it's too blown at the top, but I'd appreciate your opinions.

 

No toning on this, just a little increase in saturation.

 

EOS5Dii, Canon 70-200 f4L @ 1/640s @ f7.1 @ 200m @ iso400

[NannyFerret]

I like it. Can you adjust the top at all or have you tried, or what about a goldish layer over the top of the whole thing?

[bugmeister]

I like it. Can you adjust the top at all or have you tried, or what about a goldish layer over the top of the whole thing?

I tried adding a toned layer but  even with a gradient, it sort of washed out some of the details on the tops of the reeds

 

this is about the best I came up with:

[JohnP]

You sure picked a difficult subject, I doubt you would be able to recover detail in the top section. I get lots of shots like that in difficult lighting conditions....

[NannyFerret]

Did you want them to look as natural as possible? if not then you could try a golden overlay in Picasa and warmify or add a little saturation.
There is an HDR filter in Picasa which can be altered too.

[David]

I like this

 

I Think like Tina, HDR is the way to go on this one - it would be really hard to get the exposure right for the top and still keep detail lower down

 

Even though we are now into winter (although nobody seems to have told the weather! lol) this image looks like an autumn shot, must be the browns and golds in the reeds

[bugmeister]

Interesting idea on the HDR. This was a RAW shot so I can have a go with different exposure levels and see what comes out.

 

*edit* I don't think it'll work on this one, even at -2 stops there is still nothing in the hottest areas, totally burned out.

 

I'll have a go on a different frame. Composition is not as 'good' but some detail in the highlights might let me get away with more

[David]

Go for it Bugsi!

[bugmeister]

and a tonemapped version of a similar frame that had a bit more of the background showing. Still not happy with it though I think this will have to wait for the next visit and maybe take the ND grads with me

 

[NannyFerret]

I think this one is better as a natural shot and the first one for a complete filter with HDR. 

[David]

I think this one is much better, I love the detail and clarity of the foreground and the background has just enough blur to see what it is and compliments the whole image really well