This was shot in early spring after the winter rains. I wanted to show the afternoon light sweeping across the scene and the colours of the understory complementary the Gum Tree. Generally the forest is dry the understory lacks colour.
I would like to know if the images works. Are there any flaws in the composition and processing.
Canon 5DSR . Possessed in LR and Burned and Dodged in PS
Hi David, welcome to NPN. I’m sure you’ll find this community valuable. I know Alex will comment on this, but I just want to say that it’s a wonderful portrait of a tree.
BTW, I used to own the 5DSR. Wonderful camera!
Hi David, welcome to NPN. I’m fairly new here as well.
It’s a beautiful tree, I can see why you’d like to showcase it with the fresh greens as well. I think you could crop off some of the right of the frame to improve balance, and maybe even crop up a little from the bottom, where the darker parts of the brush are.
The image feels a little warm and contrasty to me. I’d try cooling it down a little and reducing contrast, maybe shifting the tint a little greener as well. The foliage just in front of the tree also seems very bright and textured, especially in comparison to the lovely trunk texture. Perhaps less dodging there, opening up some of the shadows and taming highlights on the trunk.
It looks like there may be a path right behind the tree as well. The brightest areas there could be cloned or just burned to lessen impact.
These are just gorgeous trees, and I’m envious! Also interested to see what Alex’s take is.
Thanks Jack
Great feedback thank you. I am excited to be part of NPN. I will definitely action your suggestions. Where I live is surrounded by forests mainly regrowth forest due to all the icing activity in the area, but there are still wonderful pockets of remnant forest which I have been exploring.
David
Hey @david.petersen, I agree with @David_Bostock that this is a really nice tree portrait!
Also agree with @Jack_Krohn’s suggestions that the image is a bit too warm, a bit too contrasty, and could stand to have the light path behind the tree darkened are exactly where I was going with my suggestions.
I would also add that there are dark areas in the upper right and on the bottom edge that could stand to be lightened a bit, and some light branches and foliage along the left, top, and right edges that could stand to be darkened. There’s also a really dark tree just to the left of the main one that distracts a bit with its contrast, and some tiny bright spots on the ground on the left. Just little stuff all around that should be simplified/evened out to allow us to focus on the subject.
I would also say that if you cool down the image, maybe leave the main tree alone so it doesn’t lose some of those nice warm tones. The warmth issue is mainly in the surrounding foliage, and the fact that the main tree has trouble standing out from that warmth as the tree itself is quite warm.
Lastly , the greens and yellows of the ground foliage are all pretty saturated compared to the trees above. This may be natural, but it is a bit distracting since they are only supporting elements for your main subject.
Also, nice title - can’t help but think of Anchorman 
A crude demonstration:
Thanks Alex, I am super excited to be part of NPN. Really appreciate your fair dinkum feedback plus also David’s and Jack’s. I will definitely rework the image using all the suggestions.
