Ben, this is warmly inviting with a nice touch of pointillism in the wide variety of green tones. As presented, the yellowish tree (willow??) near the center is the main focus and that works well. As an alternative, I wonder how some dodging of the brighter greens in the upper left would look?
Even before reading your Description, this image was all about spring for me. I love the yellow the early greens have, and this is a great study of that.
I really like that area catching more sun; it is a great target for the eye. You might drop the luminosity of the foreground some, a graduated filter type effect, and also that bright area just right of the tree on the edge to lead the eye to that focus even more.
John, you put me to work with some of your observations . I made this rework as a result of that. And what makes the image look much better. Hope you like it.
Thank you Ben
Sande, your reworked image helps focus the eye on the beautiful lines of the stream as it leads to the brighter areas in the background. Would it be even stronger if you had a larger vignette-type darkening of the margins of the composition? There is so much to notice. By the way, the reflection in the water makes this composition.
Lovely image for sure Ben! The greens scream spring to me and the light is soft and gentle; making for a very inviting scene. The reflection in the water finishes off everything perfectly IMO. Beautifully done.
Gorgeous scene in gorgeous light!! I think the second version brings out the magic just a bit more. I could sit there and enjoy the mood for a long time.
Wow, this is so nice! I love the light and the S curve of the stream and the palette of greens is so fresh and invigorating and makes me long for spring. We just had another snowstorm here this week with about 25cm of snow so everything is once again blanketed in white. Before the storm, everything was a shade of brown and it will still be a weeks before things start greening up.