This tree with fall foliage caught my eye the other day as I was taking a walk through the woods.
I’m used to shooting more wide open landscapes so any criticism/feedback is welcome.
Nikon D750 Nikkor 70-300mm
70mm f/5.6 1/200s ISO 500
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Wow, that is a phenomenal image! Bravo! I had a hard time coming up with some sort of critique for it. The only thing that MIGHT be detrimental to this image is the bright spots in the upper regions (sky?) and the lower regions (lake reflections?) but really, those don’t do enough to make a huge difference. I don’t know luminosity masking (yet) but maybe if you did, you could mask the brightest of the bright areas and just tone those down a tad. Teeny tiny bit.
Just love it though. Its almost an abstract image, but not. 
Thank you! ya those highlights are the sky, they were even worse in the raw file. I tried to clone some of them out but there was only so much I could do before it started to look unnatural.
I agree with Barbara. This is a fabulous image. The composition and colors are perfect. And my only possible nit is the bright spots in the sky.
Love this image Michael. That corona of branches is really amazing.
Hi Michael- I just wanted to comment that the luminosity of the green branches and the yellow leaves really helps to bring the tree forward to the viewer’s eye and out from the trees behind it. You did a great job with that- it could have very easily been lost in the green behind it, I think. I’m sorry I don’t have any constructive critique to add- it looks terrific to me, even with the previously mentioned highlights behind the tree (which, to my eye, help to give the yellow increased contrast). Nice image!
Oh, fabulous! This has such energy with the way the branches are reaching up and the gradation from dark green to bright yellow. The bright bits don’t bother me at all. What might be nice is to tone down the blue tinges in the sky spots at the bottom. Where the darker pieces poke into the sky you get blue haloing (blue chromatic aberration? maybe that’s not the right term). What I do to get rid of it is to desaturate the blue colors only in those areas. Anyway, really well seen.
I agree that it is often difficult to shoot these kind of scenes because of the complexity, but you have done a great job with this composition. While it is busy, there is a nice flow to the lines in the scene which fill the frame nicely and keep my eye moving. I like the gradation of green to gold. I think your choice of the title is perfect and in fact the combination of the color gradation and the lines of the trees reminds me of flames painted on a hot rod. Nicely done!
Unique and wonderful composition. I’m glad you got it nice and tight. It makes for a bit of an abstract image this way. The bright spots through the branches are a bit distraction, but I don’t see how you could avoid these. Overall, it’s easy to focus on the branches and leaves.
This is a wonderful image Michael. The color is amazing. Several people already mentioned the bright spots from the sky but this is a fabulous image none the less.
Gorgeous colours and contrasts. The bright spots in the sky don’t bother me in the slightest.
Grtz, Ingrid.
Just wonderful and one to ponder. Congratulations on the WP! Well deserved for sure.
