CA Aspens

What technical feedback would you like if any? Any

What artistic feedback would you like if any? Any

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

I got this shot while on a “leaf peeping” trip in the eastern Sierra on the June Lakes loop. I never get tired of seeing, and shooting the turning Aspens! D500, Nikkor 18-200 lens, hand held, 1/100th, f/8.0, 200mm, ISO 100, AI Clear

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Nice view of fall color on the east side. I might crop a bit off the right to match the margin on the left, but otherwise, it looks good to my eye.

I think you have positioned the elements well in the frame. The Aspens and the shadows create a nice sweep from left to right. This creates a flow in that direction. It’s here im going to disagree with @Harley_Goldman (sorry Harley). I feel that if you crop i from the right to match the space on the left you will lose this flow as you will crop into that shadow. You will also create tension by having the shadow abutting against the edge of the frame.

My suggestion for cropping would to crop in from the bottom so that the lowest diagonal starts in the bottom right of the frame. This will also create additional flow and reduce deadspace in the very bottom of the image (see below). Similar to where the diagonal starts in the upper left corner. Cropping in this manner also puts the foremost aspens on the lower right third. To me this improves the balance.

Hope this helps!

1 Like

Dave,

Love the June Lake Loop and turning aspens too! I try and make the pilgrimage each fall. Never tire shooting the area.

Excellent job framing and isolating this beautiful aspen grove. Like Eugene, I like the diagonals here and the shadows are especially important. I like the bit of a crop off the bottom too.

No nits or suggestions otherwise. Maybe I’ll see you on the loop this fall!

Lon

Hi Dave,

I love this and it really jumped off the page for me. The splash of colour and the diagonals of the trees and shadows really work.

Looking for niggles, I was slightly bothered by the foreground and couldn’t work out what to do about it, but I think Eugene has nailed it with his crop.

Good call, Eugene. Upon further consideration, I would agree with you on the crop.

I enjoy the island of color you’ve presented in this image. To me it looks like the image could use a slight clockwise rotation. This will unfortunately force a bit of a crop, but on the positive side it will strengthen the diagonals.