Meredith Bain  

Across the Salt Lake by Meredith Bain

March 2025 - Across the Salt Lake

About the Image(s)

This is an image taken from the north eastern edge of Lake Tyrrell, a much photographed, large salt lake in my home state of Victoria, Australia. Most often, photographers head to the south western section of the lake where there is a viewing platform and arguably more expansive views.
I was told about the lesser viewed side and headed there on a day of unusual weather. It was warm but light rain was brewing, providing sunlight filtered by rain clouds. The light turned out to be soft and a little glow-ey which I thought enhanced the colours of the scene - creamy white salt lake with the red of the soil showing through in the mid ground and colourful scrub in the foreground with a couple of stark trees to add interest.
I like this image even though I don't think it is a textbook composition. I would appreciate others' thoughts on all aspects of it.

Fujifilm X-T4, 10-24mm lens @ 16.6mm, ISO 200, SS 1/50th, tripod
Lightroom: cropped lightly, exposure adjusted, black and white points set, medium contrast tone curve."


5 comments posted

Donna Sturla   Donna Sturla
Meredith, the colors are quite nice, especially in the foreground area where they are rich and compliment the colors beyond the trees. It's hard to tell that there's a lake there, but since it's a salt lake I guess that explains that! I've never seen a salt lake ! I might crop a bit off the top of the image so the horizon is not so much in the middle. I know that in my camera club they talk about the magic of an uneven number of objects -- so three trees would have been better than two, or maybe just one instead of two. There is a big space between the two trees so I think I would walk around and try to get a slightly different composition. But I do love the colors, the mood, the textures. Makes me want to go there !   Posted: 03/13/2025 00:48:36
Meredith Bain   Meredith Bain
Thanks for your thoughts Donna. There was no third tree so I would have needed to crop it to one. Such a difficult decision because to me, it loses much by chopping away half of it. With the trees being quite different shapes, I hope that mitigates a little the fact that there an even number of trees rather than odd.
Good suggestion about cropping a bit from the top. Thank you.   Posted: 03/13/2025 04:43:33
Doug Wolters   Doug Wolters
I love the atmosphere, the trees, but one tree would be better. What do you think of this?
BTW, your comment of my image last month was very valuable. I just expanded the canvas using "piecemeal" Generative expand (beginning with a transparency, then filling it in with Generative fill one rectangle at at time to keep the resolution better) and the result really is much better. Thanks!   Posted: 03/16/2025 15:26:44
Comment Image
Peter Curcio   Peter Curcio
Meredith, I really like the image and feel that the colors work very well. I might crop a bit of the sky. I also agree with the number of trees. Perhaps one s better than two.   Posted: 03/18/2025 08:20:35
Mark Aksoy   Mark Aksoy
I find that the muted earth colors and detailed water currents in your image make for a captivating scene. I agree with Peter that a slight crop from the top will improve the image. Though I'm aware that 2 subjects in an image usually does not make for a winner, in this case the 2 bushes are so different in form that I think it works here!   Posted: 03/20/2025 22:43:58

 

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