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Reflections Under Ice
1st PlaceReflections Under Ice
gminish


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Landscape (Classic Editing)
Camera: Sony DSC-F707
Location: Valdez, Alaska
Date: Jan 10, 2003
Aperture: F6.3
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/500
Galleries: Landscape, Water
Date Uploaded: Jan 11, 2003

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.

Statistics
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: 7706
Votes: 234
Comments: 59
Favorites: 21 (view)


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AuthorThread
01/16/2004 12:29:52 PM
Great photo!
Why did you put that high aperture?
01/26/2003 07:07:35 PM
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! !
01/23/2003 08:26:24 AM
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

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 :)

John Setzler
01/21/2003 06:16:50 PM
me , stupid , I go home now.

Message edited by author 2003-01-21 23:02:23.
01/21/2003 01:50:15 AM
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!
01/20/2003 04:23:24 PM
Congrats! I thought this one might win. :) Good job!
01/20/2003 09:51:17 AM
Congratulations on your win, it is a wonderful shot of an extraordinary place. Thanks for sharing a part of your beautiful state.
01/20/2003 09:24:06 AM
Absolutely wonderful. A well deserved win. I told you that you would win. CONGRATULATIONS!!!
01/20/2003 09:22:20 AM
vrey clean and a great win
01/20/2003 07:44:05 AM
Lovely! Congrats on your win!
01/20/2003 01:28:41 AM
Congrats, Gary. I love it. The blue colors are awesome!
01/20/2003 12:58:26 AM
Goregeous shot. Congrats on the ribbon!
01/20/2003 12:47:05 AM
Awsome shot! Congratulations on the win!
01/20/2003 12:40:57 AM

This is a beautiful shot well done
01/20/2003 12:18:04 AM
Congrats to you! Beautiful blue.
01/20/2003 12:11:52 AM
Congrats Gary,

This is a beautiful shot of a beautiful land.

Bob
01/20/2003 12:04:54 AM
Congrats! 2 top 3 photos from AK... guess that says something about where we live ;)

Brian
01/20/2003 12:01:38 AM
Fabulous! Nice work! Congrats!
01/20/2003 12:01:36 AM
Congratulations! You had my vote... Cub
 Comments Made During the Challenge
01/19/2003 10:44:43 PM
Absolutely Perfect! Theres nothing else I can say. This has everything it takes to win this thing in a walk. 10
01/19/2003 05:41:00 AM
to me this is the winner ....10/10
01/19/2003 03:55:59 AM
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.
01/18/2003 10:23:28 PM
beautiful. One of my favorites.
01/18/2003 07:46:38 PM
Stunning! The reflection, the mountains... all incredible! 10
01/18/2003 07:28:00 PM
I love the clarity of this. Great detail in the snow and the water, 10
01/18/2003 04:48:18 PM
Great picture!
01/18/2003 07:33:20 AM
Lovely image with crisp whites (I'm shivering here!) and superb reflections. Nice border too!
01/18/2003 02:34:21 AM
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
01/18/2003 12:38:30 AM
I originally gave your pic a 7, after looking at it again... 10 :)
01/17/2003 10:19:36 PM
Absolutely lovely and well captured!
01/17/2003 10:43:56 AM
Pretty!
01/17/2003 09:03:03 AM
Beautiful shot, great work, good luck.
01/16/2003 08:05:06 PM
Theres nothing to critique. perfect 10.
01/16/2003 03:41:41 PM
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!
01/16/2003 07:49:33 AM
I had to look closely at the reflections on the water because I thought there was actually ice on the water itself. It sure is deceiving!
01/16/2003 12:14:03 AM
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.
01/15/2003 04:08:56 PM
WOW!!! Excellent picture...Love the way everything reflects in the water...TOTALLY AWSOME!!!!! I'd like this in poster size.
01/15/2003 01:54:26 PM
The blues and whites - both in the sea and in the sky - are great. This is a wonderful picture.
01/15/2003 09:33:53 AM
one of my favorites this week. Two great landscapes for the price of one.10
01/15/2003 07:05:17 AM
i like the way the blue water gets darker at the bottom of the image. it adds depth and contrast to it. great shot.
01/15/2003 02:26:39 AM
An excellent example of reflection. Extreamly well shot. I also love the colours, composition and dof in your image. GL.
01/15/2003 12:20:09 AM
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
01/14/2003 10:53:55 PM
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
01/14/2003 10:36:41 PM
One word for this image...Stunning! One score for this image....10 This is a top 3 finisher! Good luck!
01/14/2003 08:37:20 PM
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...
01/14/2003 05:46:21 PM
Great shot. This is one of my favorites. Focus and lighting are excellent. Really meets the challenge. 9 waltoml.
01/14/2003 12:21:06 PM
wow thats pretty i hope you don't get bashed for rule of thirds 8
01/14/2003 12:57:53 AM
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.
01/14/2003 12:35:29 AM
Awesome framing! Beautiful reflection I didn't think all white would be very pretty, but you captured it perfectly and got my vote. ;-) Good luck!
01/13/2003 11:42:18 PM
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!
01/13/2003 10:15:52 PM
Nice one- almost perfectly symmetrical,exposure right on!!
01/13/2003 09:13:24 PM
I love the blue and white. I love the balance this has. It\'s well done. = 9
01/13/2003 06:58:25 PM
Magic!
Great colors, focus, compostion.....wish it was mine. Nice work.
01/13/2003 06:46:09 PM
Great shot!! Cub
01/13/2003 06:27:40 PM
Beautifull!! 9. The ice in the foreground is very interesting. I just realized it's not think ice but instead a reflection from the mountains.
01/13/2003 05:57:29 PM
Beautiful shot. I wish you had less forground and more of the snow covered mountains and the sky. Still gorgeous though! 9!!! -Annida
01/13/2003 05:17:44 PM
I love everything about this shot, one of 3 tens this week.
01/13/2003 03:43:52 PM
beautiful shot. Good luck. Hope you do well in the challenge.
01/13/2003 03:20:42 PM
Shame on you for for your advantage over us lowlanders! Amazing photograph, I bet this would be an incredible panorama. I love it. -10


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