Four Pictures (Variations on a Theme)

I bought a new filter for my camera and headed down to Chestnut Ridge Park this morning to test it out. It's an ND Filter, that allows me to keep the shutter open longer even in bright light (though it takes some fiddling to get the balance right with the aperture opening-- which is what I was experimenting with).

So these are four pictures of trees along the creek that runs through the park. I was looking for shots where there was a balance of light and shadow, and at least some variety in color, to see how different settings with (and without) the filter would work.

I suppose some of these would benefit from a little tinkering with Photoshop Elements, but I'm still quite pleased with how they turned out.

This one may be the best-- I like how the blue in the sky remained fairly rich in the mix of colors, and how the reflection in the water came through so clearly. More experiments will be posted as they are conducted.