Honestly, it's a beautiful capture of a nice wet snowfall. The only thing I could critique would be the sharpness - it's a little soft for me. Great post -

First of all thanks for the Camera info. Does you lens have instant stabilization? I really like the shot. I thought the stream was too centered, but I think it would look that way no matter what. The snow on the right seems a little washed out.

I really like the archway created by the trees. Maybe a tad more contrast. I really like the post and look forward to more GBRx3.

Tick

Rich ... you sure have gotten your share of snow already. I like how you composed this scene & how the scattered snow clumps leads one into the scene. For myself ... the detail looks great, but the snow appears a bit too bright or washed out. I like how the trees & branches frame the river. Very nicely captured Rich.

I have to say the snow on the right does look a little washed out. Other than that the shot is top notch work. I like the lighting in the rest of it and the color is good to.

Yeah!...The 'Boss' pinched by the boss eh!...

Love the mood of this one...excellent camera work!..

lol, i like it but the title totally had me singin... "like a virgin, touched for the very first time!" lol

<3 I say that with love rich

I think I would have gone for a lower ISO and f stop but kept the speed up. I like the composition. Similar comments to above really regarding snow etc. I do like the picture though, and the way the river leads my eyes into the distance works well.

Sometimes B/W runs very well and here we have an example

Rich, snow is one of the most difficult elements to photograph well. It creates such contrast that the image will either be underexposed if metered on the snow (trees are too dark) or overexposed if metered on the trees (snow will be blown out.)There are a couple things we can do to get a good image. One is to use a polarizing filter. I tend to bracket my shots (set my aperture according to the depth of field I want and then shoot at different shutter speed under and over the mid-line in my Nikon's auto meter. If I shoot on a tripod I can later merge the images to get one with the best detail in all areas. If I don't have my tripod, I pick the image with the best snow exposure and adjust the shadows in Photoshop. There are a ton of great articles on the subject on the net - here's one I found that was a little easier to follow: http://www.digicamhelp.com/learn/nature/snow.php. Your subject and composition for this image are fabulous. I love it. You have a great eye for composition. Now all you need are the techniques to get your camera to record what your eyes are seeing :-) anne

I just reread your camera readings and wanted to suggest you set your ISO to 100-200. The higher ISO is going to increase noise in your images to some extent. The reason the image is not sharp overall is the f-stop. A good rule of thumb for scenics is to use the smallest lens opening possible while still allowing enough light in for a good exposure. In this case, you could probably have gotten away with a pinpoint of light. Handheld at 120mm you were right with your shutter speed. But if the smaller lens opening prevents enough light for a good exposure, a tripod would be the way to go and slow your shutter speed. If you don't have a tripod, you can cheat by stablizing yourself and your camera by bracing yourself against a tree or fence or whatever you can find.

F-10 or wider might be a good portrait setting. Wide open for close up subjects like flowers will completely blur the background to make the subject pop. If you were ever a film shooter before digital, the sensor isn't quite the same for digital so the f-stops seem a little different to me and I've had to do a lot of work to finally find a comfort zone. I found another neat little article here: http://tech.yahoo.com/gd/choosing-the-right-lens-f-stop-for-your-digital-camera/191715

anne :-)

This is a stunning B&W, the contrast is wonderful and the scene itself is gorgeous.I like it!

Well, I just learned something reading your comments. Some of the things I knew, but forget about when I am taking pictures. That just shows my impatience. I agree with everyone, and this is my type of image. Water and land. I love the tone and the composition. Reminds me of Wolf Creek a little.

Jimbob

A perfect winter scene. The snow looks really white and the ice and tree branches provide lots of character to this nicely composed image.

Well, I think this is perfectly lyrical... You done good! I faved it. That way I can keep your image and have 'colocolor's' suggestions to reference when it's not so late, I mean early in the morning... ;-))
mary

excellent B&W:)

Nice one it draws you in.
I got my foot wet on this one.

This is such a gorgeous snowy scene. I love seeing this kind of thing since we so rarely get snow in the south of England. The black and white is just perfect!

Just looking through your gallery and just had to stop and tell you how nice this one is, just love it.