The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This intimate landscape is from our recent autumn trip to Blackwater Falls SP in WV. I had visited Blackwater on September 6th and I was surprised to see a few trees already starting to turn color. Mike and I usually head over during October 10th-15th time frame and we are pretty sure of catching some nice color. This year we decided to make the trip on the 7th since the colors looked as though they were going to be early. As it turned out that was still not quite early enough as the peak color looked to be a few days prior; although we were still treated to a wonderful display. The last few years I have gravitated towards fall scenes that have some leaf drop as that gives you a glimpse into the woodland and makes the image about something more than just color. There are a couple of overlooks that we like to visit and this colorful display caught my eye right away as it reminded me of a tile mosaic. I was quite taken with all of the limbs and trunks intertwining with all of the lovely leaves.
Specific Feedback
To busy or do all the autumn leaves hold this together? Anything else you notice please feel free to mention it.
Technical Details
Nikon Z7, Nikon 100-400 @ 400 mm, f 11 @ 0.4 sec, ISO 200, Kase magnetic CPL, cable release and tripod
Critique Template
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Skittles!
Not too busy for me, this is the type of image I seek out in the autumn.
You could dodge the tree trunks a little bit to bring them forward, maybe the one on the left more, so that it balances the main trunk a bit. Not sure this is totally necessary, but I feel a tiny bit that the smaller trunk does get a little lost, I know it’s darker so it’s going to recede anyway.
But really, it’s just fine! I like it!
Interesting image in that usually the branches dominate and give the composition structure. Here the colors dominate and the branches aren’t that noticeable. Mosaic is a good title for this. Actually this reminds me of Pollock’s work and Abstract Expressionism which was popular several decades ago. From that perspective it’s not busy at all. Its busyness is the point. A couple of suggestions.
the darkest of reds came out very saturated. I would select and desaturate them a bit or lighten and desaturate them.
I would clone out that mass of yellow on the edge of the frame in the lower left corner.
I very much like this as is with one exception…The branch poking out of the scene on the right middle edge of the frame I think is too bright and leads the eye out of the frame. I would tone that one heavy branch down with some burning but I love the speckled colors everywhere. @JulieEdwardsViola, you nailed it. Skittles!!! Just perfect. The colors look spot on to my eye and I’m really enjoying the complexities of this image. A really fine small scene image, Ed.
Ed, you’ve got a great mix of leaf colors and trunk/branch textures here. Definitely not too busy. The details make looking at the largest view very important as that view really shows off the leaf colors and shapes well. In that view, I do see a couple of soft areas near the bottom and a bit left of center that look like there were branches between the camera and this scene.
Nice image, Ed. Very aptly titled as that was my first impression. I do agree the reds could be toned down a bit as well as the small branch at the edge of the right edge.
Very nice I love these wallpaper style images where nothing or if you prefer everything is the subject and your eyes are simply drawn to the whole rather than a specific point. I was thinking along the lines of Edward Weston and Pollock.
My apologies evryone @JulieEdwardsViola, @WillR, @Igor_Doncov, @David_Haynes, @Mark_Seaver, @Stephen_Stanton, @Ian_Cameron and @John_Williams for not getting back to this post sooner as I got off track onto something else and it just slipped my mind. This happens to be one of my favorite images from 2025 so thank you all for your thoughts on this one. Here is a rework where I removed that limb that @David_Haynes mentioned. I think it looks better without it. I am thinking about making a puzzle with this image.
