Made during a walk in the dutch dunes. On an mostly overcast day with very little sun. But great colors.
There are more of these to come
As always is all feedback more than welcome !!
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
This is nicely warm and inviting, Ben. You’ve focused nicely on the tree at the left but then the open area on the right adds a good sense of depth, inviting the viewer to walk in further. Fall colors under overcast skies can look very good.
Presenting us with two subjects of interest, the two paths, is initially a problem, as the eye goes back and forth. But then realizing who is the artist, one realizes that all that is needed here is the Cheshire cat to convey Alice’s “Which road should I take?”
I wonder which path you took after this shot.
That said, I have three notes. First, I wonder if the bright grey sky presents us with an uncomfortable third subject. My personal preference would be to work with saturation, lightness and cloning to dampen it’s presence. My second note might not conform to your sense of nuance, but the scene is so indirectly lighted that the foliage and terrain seem to lack depth … as some HDR images can turn out. So I used the History brush to burn and dodge some areas. Thirdly, as with many fine and complex compositions, this contains two very pleasant 5x7 images left and right. I prefer the left image.
So which path did you take?
Nice autumn colors here Ben, I like these muted autumn colors, it works well with the soft light. I also like that you caught the foliage with a little green still in it too. The green in the leaves works well with the green in the grass. Are those some type of oak trees?
I like the dual pathways, i think it adds a sense of depth to the image. At first glance I thought the patches of white sky were a minor distraction. But as I spent more time with the image I changed my mind. I think if you had no sky patches (or tried to clone them away), then you would end up with a solid wall of color that would be less interesting.
The roots of the tree on the right edge are fascinating to me, it looks like they were underwater at some point, or the tree is growing on a rock. I think an close-up intimate scene of just those tree roots would be interesting. If this is a place you can easily revisit, that tree looks like it has a lot of potential.
@Ed_McGuirk, Thank you Ed. You took away my doubt about the white sky. And yes there is more to follow about this place. Did you receive my answer to your Goldilocks mail ?? I am not sure I pushed the right reply button .
@Mark_Seaver, Thank you Mark for your appreciation (hope this is the right word) of this autumn image.
Ben, the colors are gorgeous but I think @Dick_Knudson makes a good point about the two passages on both sides of the image. The composition is a bit awkward. Actually I got back and forth on this. Sometimes it seems awkward and other times just unusual.
@Mark_Seaver, Mark, You were sensing my image the way I did.
@Igor_Doncov, Igor,You said it right . Maybe is unusual the good word for my image.
@Dick_Knudson, Dick, Why divide the unusual in two quite common images ?
@Ed_McGuirk, Ed, you took my doubts about the sky patches away.
The image is about the whole place , its color, forms, leaves, even the light sky patches. In my view the branches give a clear direction if one is looking for it.
Thank you all for your opinions. That surely are helping me to understand my own images even better.
Quite right to insist on the unusual. I appreciated your perplexing composition, which reminded me of Alice’s conundrum.
