During an afternoon near the Svaneholm castle in Skåne, Sweden, I took a number of autumn leaves photos. This second one is a more traditional one. The castle owner at that time Rutger Macklean planted these trees almost 250 years ago.
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Hi Ola, I like this fall scene. There is a nice balance of leaves and branches, and I like the simplicity of the fog provides. The rolling green hills are a nice base to the image. I think this image would be much stronger, however, without the trees to the right, since they merge visually with the main tree an break the symmetry of the image. I don’t know what the surroundings are here, but moving to the right might have isolated the tree better. Also, it looks like there’s a large water spot or something in the upper left corner.
This old tree has a lot of interesting character to it. I like how the leaves are relatively sparse, which allow the viewer to see more of the interesting shaped tree limbs. The fog creates a nice mood, and the soft light allows the autumn colors to stand out in the image. For me the processing here is perfect.
I think you could have approached the composition in two different ways, both along the lines of what @Craig_Moreau is talking about. One would be to step far to the right and not show any of the right side trees, and just have the main tree against the sky. I think this would be okay, if a little bit simple. The other way, which I would prefer, would be to step to the right just far enough to eliminate the merger of the main tree and the stand of trees on the right. I actually like having the trees on the right, since there is a nice repetition of the yellow color in the main tree. What I don’t like about your image as presented is the merger, my eye gets drawn to the merger, when it should be more about the main tree, and then your eye would drift to the secondary stand of trees on the right.
@Craig_Moreau and @Ed_McGuirk thank you for your kind comments and proposals for improvements. This area is rather close to where I live, so next autumn I will for sure step to the right (and hope for fog once again!)
B.R.
Ola
