Autumn Stream

[rgeorge911]

Puppet warp?  Yeah, that does look cool.

Wayne, the scene was a little darker, like yours.  I like the light sky reflections, but must admit that your version looks a little deeper(?).

Reed

[Dennis Gallus]

Reed,

Replying without looking at anyone else's critiques, I see:
My eye picks out the leaf on the rock as the primary subject,
    putting the leaf at the  lower 1/3, 1/3 point might enforce the leaf as primary subject.
If you do crop the right side to put the leaf at this point, the photo is no longer a 2x3 image
Top border of picture is about right,
    perhaps crop just a little more off the top;
    but if you also crop off the bottom to get back to a 2x3 image, you lose some of the great reflected sky color.
So perhaps your original composition in camera was a little off; you could have aimed more left.

This is an interesting Fall photo.  Sorry for the late reply.  Now to see what others have said.
Dennis

[Dennis Gallus]

After reading all the foregoing, I rather like the square crop.  It does achieve the rule of thirds effect.  And the stronger coloration helps too.

Nice thread here, guys.  Reed, thanks for starting it.  I apologize for my late reply.

Dennis

[jamesmck]

It's interesting to ponder what the primary subject of this photo is.  Of course, only Reed knows what he had in mind.  But, when I look at the image the most striking thing about it is the beautiful reflections, partially framed by the upper rocks.  Looked at this way, the submerged rock and the leaf become distractions.  Were I to have the opportunity to re-shoot here I would consider trying to find a vantage point that would allow these superb reflections to dominate more.  And, it would be nice to have some sort of framing object at the bottom (maybe a piece of the shoreline).

By the way, I have looked at this image countless times, but only now have noticed what seems to be a reflection of the artist in the lower right corner (but maybe it's Elvis).  Anyone else see this?  It got removed mostly in the square crop.

[br1078lum]

It's got to be Elvis, as all the reflections are coming from the area the camera is pointing at. 

There are many different crops that work with this shot, as there are myriad features in the image for your mind to settle on.  It's mostly a personal taste thing. 

PF

[rgeorge911]

Actually, Elvis took the picture.  The truth comes out...

Reed