Autumn 2020 Photo Project - taken 10/18/20 in Weston, Massachusetts
A foggy October morning in the forest. The rainy, misty conditions made the colors pop on this maple tree. I liked that there were still some green leaves remaining on this tree. It helped to provide a little contrast against the warm yellow and orange colors.
It was so foggy that in post processing I had to apply more than some LR de-haze to restore detail in the leaves. This shifted the colors somewhat, and I had to adjust color to offset the shift. Do the colors and saturation here look okay ? I been working on this one for a while, and need an objective opinion.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any critique or comments are welcome
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 5D MKIV, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, at 200 mm, ISO 400 1/6 sec at f11
It is always a balance between to empasize the mysterious mood that the fog gives, and to reveal the very nice autumn colors. The balance is a matter of personal taste. I think you have made a very good choice, but have you also tested to make it a little bit more mysterious?
I love the foggy autumn look here, as opposed to the in-your-face colors of a clear day. The colors and saturation feel fine to me, although I have no experience with eastern hardwood forests. What does the original, more foggy version look like? It sounds like it could be very impressionistic.
I bow to the collective wisdom of NPN. As requested, I have posted 2 reworks back up top with varying degrees of less de-daze on the raw file. What’s the verdict ?
I find them reasonably close, but prefer the one without dehaze. It is not as dramatic (probably not the right term) but has more of a good dreamy look for me. Can’t go wrong with either.
The first image has a good balance between fog and detail. You get the best of both worlds. The fog is there yet the beauty of the tree is well displayed. If I were to emphasize the fogI would go all the way and use image number 3. For some reason I really like the color of the ‘hole’ in bottom center left. It’s both green and blue.
I love the subject and the misty conditions captured in this photo. I also really enjoy seeing the transition of the tree’s leaves changing color from green to red and gold.
It is a very close call between the original image and the images without dehaze. But I am a huge fan of foggy woodland photos, so I will have to say I prefer the re-worked image without the dehaze. Aside from the dehaze, I feel all three images still retain the same mood and feeling of mystery, just on different levels.
Since three is not enough to make your brain freeze trying to keep them all separate, you might play with a non-global change. Once in awhile I find an image is appealing if I dehaze (I usually use high radius, low amount sharpening, but it’s the same effect) the darker areas, but not the lighter. Here’s a quick and dirty edit to compare:
Ed, to me your first image was the best. less dehaze made it more flat. Again an image as this one has a lot of possibilities . So I could not resist to give it a rework.
I used your “even less dehazed image”. And dehazed the yellow leaves with gives more depth in my eyes. I let the background as is. Maybe a solution?
@Ben_van_der_Sande@Ola_Jovall@John_Williams@Mario_Cornacchione
thank you for your comments . As @Bonnie_Lampley points out this is a matter of personal taste. After spending some time living with the versions, I prefer image #2, essentially because it is in between, sort of the best of both worlds. But I do like what John suggested about adding dehaze to just the darks, that is a technique worth playing with, it is an interesting spin.
