The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The La Sal Mountains live so far under the radar when it comes to fall colors. The foliage puts on one of the best shows in the West, in my opinion, but photographers seem to always head to the nearby San Juans. Fine by me, as it leaves scenes like this for me to photograph without another photographer for miles. This is the upper reaches of a canyon that drops thousands of feet to the desert floor, terminating at Fisher Valley.
Specific Feedback
Any and all comments welcome.
Technical Details
Sony A7IV
Sigma 60-600 @ 348.6
ISO 400
1/60s @ f/16
Lightroom/Photoshop
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A really nice image from the fall season in that area Bret. I like how there are three layers here, with the deciduous trees in the lower part, the brush in the middle and the pines at the top. That lone pine in the middle is a nice touch, but I wish the one in the lower section wasn’t there. But not much you could do with that other than removing it in post processing.
I like your composition with the diagonal lines of the foliage on the hillside countering the vertical lines provided by the trees. Good color, great detail, wonderful layering. Lucky to have it to yourself. I want to call you a rule breaker by centering that pine tree, but heck, we all break the rules. Rules, we don’t need no stinkin rules!
Thank you, @Ted_Forman and @Youssef_Ismail. I didn’t want to give it away in the initial description but the reason I included the bottom pine is because it, the middle pine and the one above it make a nice implied diagonal line through the middle of the frame. That’s what caught my eye and I was curious if anyone else would notice it.
Lovely photo. I love the subtle colors and the diagonal lines formed by the close to the ground brush. My only suggestion would be to use luminosity masks to slightly darken the bare tree trunks at the bottom of the photo…they draw my eye down and away from the rest of the photo. Thank you for mentioning Fisher Valley. I have visited Moab five or six times for photography and have spent lovely days exploring the La Sal Loop, Castle Valley, and the Fisher Towers area, but I have missed Fisher Valley. Next time I’ll explore there and think of you!
Beautiful image, Bret! I do see what @Tony_Siciliano says about the bare trunks at the bottom. I did not notice it until he pointed it out, so it’s a personal choice as to leave them as-is or darken them a bit.
I love the distinct, fg, mg,bg layers of the image and all the diagonal layers also. The first thing I noticed was the diagonal made by the three trees and figured that was planned. I played around with cropping the image to move the one tree off center, but still came back to this comp as the best one.
Tony: I wondered if anyone would find them too bright. I left them that way because I wanted them to really stand out from the background, like they did while I was standing there looking at the scene. I’ll play around with it and darken them just a touch for comparison.
Michael - I’m glad you noticed that diagonal! Wasn’t sure if others would see it or if it was something only I appreciated.
Bret, how nice to have a scene like this to yourself… The variety of colors is amazing and your showing them very will with the overall brightness. The strong diagonal makes for a dynamic feeling while the dark greens of the evergreens set off the fall foliage well.
There very well could be a slight green tint. I’m color blind and seem to always struggle with nailing down the right white balance (temp & tint). I’ll go back and add a smidge of magenta and compare it to the original. Thanks for the comment!
This is a beautiful image Bret. I like the way that the autumn foliage contrasts with the evergreens. The diagonal line in the autumn color also keeps my eye engaged from edge to edge in the frame.
