Another Visit to Island Pond
January 24, 2021
My neighborhood’s Island Pond seems to be my favorite spot to photograph these days. Here are some photos I took yesterday of the pond and its associated vegetation. The collection begins with one of the ice alone. I had great expectations (always a mistake) of this shot, but the download was quite disappointing. So I fussed with it and manhandled it in Lightroom, Photoshop, and Color Efex Pro until it gave me pleasure. Still, I wish the straight shot had worked.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Romancing Reality 
You’re fortunate to have that pond in your neighborhood. You say you were disappointed with the first shot and had to do a fair amount of processing to salvage it; did that lead you to figure out a way to get what you want the next time the pond looks similar?
The long shadows obviously appealed to you, given that they’re an element in the majority of these pictures.
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January 24, 2021 at 12:38 PM
There are at least seven small ponds in our neighborhood; I know I’m really lucky. Having to do a lot of processing on the first photo made me realize that I need to shoot at faster shutter speeds when I wear winter gloves. The original photo was too out of focus. Fooling around with it sort of hid that. Yes, I really liked the long shadows and wondered why I hadn’t seen them the previous two weeks—until I figured out that it was because the pond was frozen solid on the surface and a lighter color than the incompletely frozen pond, so the shadows showed up better.
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January 24, 2021 at 6:18 PM
Beautiful Linda. I love number 5…those different colored barks all in the same area. Perfect!
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January 24, 2021 at 7:00 PM
Thank you, Clare. One of the nice things about winter, I think, is that it forces you to notice things (like colorful tree bark) that you don’t in spring, summer, or fall, which are full of other distractions.
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January 24, 2021 at 7:32 PM
Dave Egloff forwarded this to me, and I really enjoy your use of form and line in your photos, especially 1 and 6. When I do nature photos, especially in winter or with ice or water involved, post-processing is essential to bring the photo back to “as seen.” I think that is a better goal than “as shot,” when you consider the limitations of RAW. The films of the olden days, like Kodakchrome, did that automatically!
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January 24, 2021 at 10:02 PM
I agree with you, Deane, about “as seen” rather than “as shot,” though I do enjoy shooting with Intentional Camera Movement and sometimes, as in the first photo here, I have fun with manipulation. I’m not so sure I agree that Kodachrome always got things right, however. Sometimes there was too much “greens of summer [making] you think all the world’s a sunny day.” 🙂
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January 25, 2021 at 1:41 PM
I think the first shot’s great, it looks great. And I too like the various long shadows in the others. 🙂
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January 26, 2021 at 3:13 AM
Thank you, Adrian. I’m glad you like that first photo—makes my time working on it worthwhile.
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January 26, 2021 at 11:18 AM
And what a good visit it was! I like the results your fussing produced very much – it verges on the abstract, in a beautiful way. I know that feeling though, when the light moves you and you have expectations that don’t pan out. But to my mind, you found a way around it. The darker shape in #2 is so beautiful. Open water, thin ice, and a sprinkle of snowy stuff? So interesting. The wavy patterns in the ice and contrasts in texture & temperature are well seen. #3 has much to offer, too. First I’m struck by the cool shadow, then I see how the tree reflections in the background work off it – warm and cool, etc. I love that. Then I see that funny texture on the ice again and the swirls. Wonderful. #4 & 5 break up the experience and bring me closer. #6 reminded me immediately of the World Trade Center – seriously, that’s how it used to look, late in the day, before 9/11. I never liked the blatant show of commerce and wealth that it stood for but it was an effective piece of architecture. And so are those cattail stalks. The last photo is very tenderly rendered and makes a perfect ending…the vegetation relaxing into the depths…. yes, you had a very good day!
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January 29, 2021 at 1:22 PM
I’m glad the fussing for #1 paid off in your eyes. I’m going out with the camera later this afternoon and will make an extra effort to hold the camera steady. And/or I’ll chimp more often to see if I have motion blur. I kind of rediscovered the Detail Extractor filter in Color Efex Pro because of the blur problem in #1, so all-in-all I can’t consider that shot a failure. I like your pairing of the World Trade Center and cattail stalks; you see in shapes. “Tenderly rendered” and “relaxing into the depths”: such good words for #7. Thanks. And thanks for all your comments, Lynn.
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January 29, 2021 at 2:41 PM