Critique Welcomed Autumn color on a drab day

[Len Philpot]

When I left my house the sky was (as we said back in my flying days) "broken" -- Mostly cloudy but with mixed clear areas of nice sunshine. The moment I arrived at my destination, a local recreation area, it turned overcast. I swear I heard the clouds clanging together as they joined up. But anyway...

I grabbed this shot and at the time wasn't too impressed. After I got home and edited a bit I started to like it more. Not perfect by any means, but more successful than I thought at shutter-button time. It's a local bayou just above* where it feeds into a river, looking upstream. We're well below our average rainfall this summer / fall, so that's why the egret barely gets its ankles wet while standing well out from the bank.

*Is it appropriate to use the term "above" in a state that's as flat as Louisiana?

Thanks.

 

[Ralph Turner]

Hey, Len, welcome to the group. Beautiful image

 

[Len Philpot]

Thank you!

 

[Ralph Turner]

Btw, I know the feeling regarding clouds. They just seem to know when you’re reaching for that shutter button

 

[Len Philpot]

I get doubly cloud-abused... I'm also an amateur astronomer. Yikes!

 

[Ralph Turner]

I get doubly cloud-abused... I'm also an amateur astronomer. Yikes!

you have my sympathies

 

[Pete Askew]

I too like this image a lot. I can sort of imagine what you were hoping to take with the intense colours glowing in the autumn sun, but then... However, what you have got instead is a beautifully soft and still image, and I think that is probably the longer term 'winner'. A very satisfying image indeed.

 

[Len Philpot]

Thank you. In fact, it's the first image I've printed - Or had printed, as I don't have a photo printer. As a result, the print is slightly darker and yellower, but still pretty natural. And that was after a couple of test iterations.