Muscoot Reservoir, a photo from New York, Northeast

Photographer's Note

Muscoot Reservoir in Katonah NY

The Muscoot Reservoir is a small reservoir in northern Westchester County, New York. It is located directly north of the village of Katonah, New York, and is over 25 miles (40 kilometres) north of New York City, which the reservoir eventually supplies with tapwater. It was constructed around the turn of the last century by impounding the Muscoot River, which is a tributary of the Croton River, which in turn is a tributary of the Hudson River. The reservoir itself was once much smaller, but the other side of the original dam was intentionally flooded to make the reservoir bigger, and a new dam was built. The original dam is still standing, and divides the reservoir in two.

The reservoir was finally completed in 1905. The resulting body of water is the main collecting point for all of the reservoirs in the Croton Watershed, except for the New Croton Reservoir. It is almost 8 miles (almost 13 km) long, can hold up to 4.9 billion gallons (18.5 million m�) of water at full capacity, and has a drainage basin that covers 76 square miles (121.6 km�) of land. A drainage basin is an area of land around a reservoir where there lie minor bodies of water that feed the reservoir.

The drinking water from the reservoir flows down the rest of the Muscoot River, and then enters the Croton River to flow into the New Croton Reservoir, and enters the New Croton Aqueduct. It then flows south towards New York City, and flows through the Jerome Park Reservoir in The Bronx. It continues through Manhattan, where it mixes with water from the Catskill Aqueduct, and finally flows through Brooklyn and Staten Island, where the water from the aqueduct finally comes to a stop.

Csilla, Bjostad, jorgi, usnadir, bizsu, arvndv_in, tyro, yso, Dyerco, Muse, zeca, pattyis, ElAprendiz, adores, Matthew-Watt, JorgeCK, paura, ricochet, skippy007, gunbud, AiresSantos has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

lousat (138623) 2008-01-12 15:59

Hi Angela,i like a lot your pic,remember me my country ,the light and the reflection are beautifull,thanks for share,Luciano

Csilla (1782) 2008-01-12 18:27

Hi Angela!
I like the mood and colors of your photo and the POV too, just you should leave the whole boat on the photo in the foreground.
Thanks for sharing!
Regards, Csilla

jorgi (3810) 2008-01-12 23:23

Hi Angela,

beautiful silhuette work with moody light creating lovely ambient. The POV with the branch reaching into lake is excellent and it makes whole composition great. Nice capture.

Best regards,
Jeri

usnadir (804) 2008-01-13 0:44

excelent nature.light and framing is very nice.
nadir

sebinho342 (19329) 2008-01-13 4:03

Hi Angela, and be welcome here on TE as i discover you gallery ... As i read your intro profile this is the right site where you'll learn a lot and improve in multiple ways, first receiving critics on your shot, then watching other pictures posted and last by excercing to write critics to other members.
This one is very nice, you handled well the light which was not obvious ... moody place and lot of atmosphere, i just regret you cut a little bit of that boat in foreground ... for sure a wider lens would have help in this circumstances.
Nice one
Keep on

bizsu (1015) 2008-01-13 16:17

Hello Angela,
Congratulations. Great work . Amazing colour.
Beautiful reservoir.
Regards, Zs�

arvndv_in (143) 2008-01-15 0:49

An amazing composition Angela. Thanks for the detailed note.

markstaples (15670) 2008-01-15 10:31

Hello Angela
A beautiful tranquil scene, thanks both to the lighting and the soft delicate colours. The image is well composed with the boat serving as foreground interest in the bottom right and the trees in the top left forming a nice framing device. Nice work.
Best wishes
Mark

tyro (30513) 2008-01-15 15:11

Hello, Angela.

I've just spotted this one.

If there's anything that really gets me going (photographically speaking) it's reflections on water. This one is superb. However, it looks to me that it might just take a little more sharpening - I've done a little simple workshop for you - see what you think - I hope you're not offended!

Kindest Regards,

John.

[workshop] [compare] +

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-01-16 8:47

Ola Angela,
Bela paisagem conseguiste uns bonitos reflexos, o barco em primeiro plano completou muito bem a foto , gostei muito das cores, bom enquadramento da foto , parabens!!!
Um abra鏾 Gon鏰lo

yso (4146) 2008-01-16 11:06

Hi Angela,
Vera nice composition with the boat foreground and the perspective given by the big branche in the water. Beautiful light well captured, well done !
Regards,
Yves

Brian (3) 2008-01-16 19:19

Hi Angela,
I like how your documenting the city suburbs and beyond with your camera. Your most recent scene is fantastic with it's silhouettes. I love the framing with the boat right in the foreground, the dead tree reaching out, and then the coastline with dark trees. Very nice work!

Take care,
Brian

Dyerco (10185) 2008-01-16 22:43

A nice composition but you could have used a tripod here because you could then have increased the DOF to F8 or F11 and get the best clarity from your lens.
Nicely done.
Phil

Muse (35030) 2008-01-16 23:24

Hello Angela,
Un paysage tr鑣 tranquille sous une lumi鑢e et des couleurs douces.
Un cadrage bien adapt� avec cette barque � l'avant plan.
Le commentaire est tr鑣 int閞essant.
Best regards
denise

Greg1949 (9011) 2008-01-18 6:46

Angela, you nailed the lighting on this one. The composition is nice, the boat is a good element, and the colors are very good.

Greg

zeca (19762) 2008-01-18 7:02

Very nice capture, Angela. I like the softeness of the colours with the silhouettes well contrasting specially the branches. I would prefer to see the entire boat, but it is in the perfect spot. Well done!
Regards,
Zeca

WepWaWet (3798) 2008-01-18 12:53

Hello Angela,
A great shot with perfect light and framing. POV and depht are excellent. The reflections too.
Regards,
Seref

pattyis (1317) 2008-01-18 13:08

Hi Angela
very nice perspective, light and colors...
I like the reflex on the water
Have a nice day!
Patrizia

pedru (1659) 2008-01-19 1:45

bonjour
tres belle compo
couleurs douces et agreables
tres bon equilibre
bye bye

omixlistilimni (3299) 2008-01-20 15:01

Hi Angela

Very beautiful composition and marvellous landscape!

Regards

Marina

ElAprendiz (30) 2008-01-20 16:19

Hola Angela, saludo cordial

Gracias por visitar mi galer韆 y permitirme conocer la tuya. Esta foto en cuanto a composici髇 es bastante agradable.
El punto de vista en profundidad es muy significativo, porque traes en primer plano un elemento fundamental como es el bote, y te lleva la visi髇 hacia el horizonte.
Buen manejo de la luz.

John

Scharan (14144) 2008-01-23 18:24

Ol� Angela

Bonita esta foto com este barco meio que abandonado � beira da 醙ua. A composi玢o ficou muito bonita e as cores tamb閙.
Grande abra鏾,
Vera

danyy (0) 2008-01-27 14:35

Bonjour Angela,
une vue tr鑣 paisible, reposante.
Cette barque est bien mise, comme en voit souvent sur ce genre de photo de lac.
Le cadrage est parfait.
Les lumi鑢es captur閑s � la perfection et qui rendnt bien l'ambiance de l'instant.
Regards.
Daniel.

qantz (18) 2008-01-28 5:37

Hi Angela,

Yours is fantastic!! I know where I stand now!! Love this shot!

adores (46979) 2008-01-29 16:04

Hi Angela!
Nice shot with a good composition. I like the atmosphere here, with the little boat in foreground, just a pitty you cut it a little.

MichaelTrezzi (3374) 2008-02-05 10:28

Hi ANgela, nice composition with the boat in the foreground and interesting note too. Thanks for sharing. Rgds, Michael

Matthew-Watt (5934) 2008-02-11 19:14

Hello Angela,

A good photo, plenty of interesting features here to keep the eye happy. I like the glassy properties of the water and the position of the boat and overhanging tree branches. I think that the sharpness is very good in the FG but tends to fade into the background. It is an interesting effect, possibly due to a bit of haze/fog in the atmosphere. The lighting was unusual, which is a feature of its own and helps to effectively silhouette the branches.

Matt

fserajian (2299) 2008-02-12 21:48

Hi Angela,

A very nice shot full of interest, specially the use of the FG and DOF. TFS

Fara

JorgeCK (2620) 2008-02-14 14:45

Wow. amazing shot. Love everything about this picture.
I like the tranquil scene , the water of the lake apperas to be frozen. The pastel colors are wonderful. excellent handling of the light. TFS
Bravo!
joRge

crckt (7222) 2008-02-15 16:53

Hi Angela,
Very nice composition here, i like what you've framed here. The reflection of the branch is a very nice addition.
Well done,
Shaeri

charlotte_iona (1111) 2008-02-17 9:30

lovely - the boat makes a good foreground, and the fallen branches make great lead-in lines.

paura (25802) 2008-02-25 15:51

Angela,
A well composed and nicely cropped photo here. Lighitng is very nice and the boat an excellent element.

well done.

Paulo

skippy007 (12510) 2008-04-09 3:16

Hi Angela,
The mood & colours in this scene are fantastic. A well composed scene.
Regards
Santo

gunbud (34066) 2008-04-16 19:00

Hi Angela,
The reservoir appears very somber in the month of April with lovely soft muted colors. Nice reflections with good details and sharpness to this relaxing site.
Regards, Tom

nikosrio (1158) 2008-04-18 6:32

Excellent colors and light,great atmosphaire.I think leaving the whole boat in the photo could be even better.
Regards
Nikos

aofl (1088) 2008-05-04 6:56 [Comment]

Show Comment

placombe (7715) 2008-05-06 17:47

Hi Angela
I'd wish to be there. Very serene mood, peaceful shot. You can hear a fly.
Regards
Pierre

Kris_Luxenhofer (752) 2008-05-31 7:07

Hello Angela!
What a great shot! I really like this one! Great sky, well chosen POV and beautiful reflections!
Well done,
best regards, Kris

chulasantos (251) 2008-05-31 9:18

hi Angela, the picture are amazing, but if i took that I increase the exposure a litle in the foreground to improve the impact (with a ND Grad filter).

cheers

Waylim (25436) 2008-06-05 18:27

Angela,
I see why this is one of many people's favorite of your images. There's a very soft pastel like quality about it. Some may think it's not sharp enough, perhaps they are right, but sometimes, especially image like this one the softness adds much to the mood of the atmosphere, just like some impressionist and post impressionistic paintings, they are soft in their strokes which contributed tremendously to the quality of the painting. I love the light shining through the tree branches. Very natural and soothing colors, not overly saturated like so many sunset images people do, including mine :) Really lovely image. Thanks always.
Way

gramma (3519) 2008-08-11 12:46

Hi Angela,

A beautiful image for which one I propose some modifications in a workshop... Just to try !
Cordially,

Christophe

[workshop] [compare]

tabora (0) 2008-09-01 11:08

Hi Angela,
Mon regard a 閠� attir� par la vignette,et il ne m'a pas tromp�,j'aime bien cet endroit il semble si paisible et romantique,la barque donne une envie de balade sur l'eau.Jolie capture.
A+ Joseph

hains (9491) 2008-11-21 2:34

Great natural picture. Good tons and pov. I like the soft composition.

Mario

AiresSantos (56155) 2008-12-12 5:08

Hi Angela
there are beautiful photojobs in your portfolio.
Beautiful POV, excellent reflections and colours.
I like how you framed it and the silhoettes
Thanks for sharing and have a nice weekend
Aires