The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
A photo from early September in Finnish Lapland. More or less I missed the autumn season last year and now I am trying to prepare with experiencing early autumn in the Arctic Circle.
Generally, I prefer to avoid mid-day direct sun for this season, but I thought it worked quite well on these birches.
Specific Feedback
The first thing I am not sure about this image is the balance in the composition. Initially I though the tree on the left is a bit out of balance with the absence of the same amount of yellow leaves. I had a verticle shot from the location for this same reason, but now I think I prefer this one more.
Another thing I am not sure about is the white balance and whether I should cool it down a bit. I like the warmth now, but also I feel a bit lack of color separation and the colorful leaves seem to mix with the backgound too much.
Finally, I am still thinking about the level of contrast I would like to have. The shadows are a bit raised, but I was thinkg I could maybe do it more in the most dark patches.
Technical Details
The photo is taken with a 135mm prime lens on a full frame camera @f/10, ISO 64, 1/200 sec. The most near foreground is out of focus, but I don’t seem to care too much about it in this case.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Love this image for its vitality. You could try cooling it. Sometimes that brings out the yellows even more. However it will make your greens cyan and I don’t think that would be good. The only critique I have is the block of darkness on the left. But it took me awhile to see that so maybe it’s my issue and not the image itself.
Thank you for the feedback. I had the same feeling for the dark patch when processing. It is much less dark that what it used to be. But I see the point that I could brighten it further.
I like the colors and texture in this photo! The yellow of the three birch trees’ leaves is a nice contrast with the greens in the background, and I like the presence of some brown/orange accents in the grass and bark/sticks.
One thing that occurred to me, to your point about the balance of the composition, is the rule of odds, which suggests that having an odd number of subjects (i.e., the 3 on the right) would be more balanced. So I might play around with cropping out the tree on the left, but personally I don’t mind it that much and you could argue it is a nice contrast to the main three.
To your point about white balance, I’d say it’s worth playing with it, and also playing with the color mix and grade. Personally, I almost always shift tint to be more magenta, which could bring in some nice color contrast here since you have a dominant green color. To your point about color separation of the yellow leaves, maybe if you play with the green hue in the color mixer, you could get more contrast.
About tonal contrast - I like it where it’s at. The darker background and shadows give it a nice sense of depth.
Thanks for sharing, what a beautiful group of trees!
I was attracted to this right away but never got back to commenting. I think @Igor_Doncov has a point about the dark area. Here’s a very crude sketch to show it lightened and warmed a bit. Then I wondered about toning down the tree on the left – again very crude but just to toss out the idea. And hmmm – maybe lighten the dark shaded limb to its right? You have a gorgeous image in any case!!
