Autumn 2020 photo project - taken 10/14/20 in Lincoln, Massachusetts
After being inspired by @Bonnie_Lampley recent cottonwood tree posts, I decided post one of my own. We don’t have many cottonwoods here in New England, usually they just appear near rivers. These trees were along a river with the water being hidden by wetland grasses. A light mist on the river provided a little atmosphere. These same trees were the subject of my “Summer Fantasy” series of images from July 2020. In summer, these grasses contain large masses of purple loosestrife flowers.
Specific Feedback Requested
any critique or comment is 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 f13
Oh my! This is just great! These layers of pastels are tremendous…geez.
I actually don’t mind the brighter leaves on the distant hillside through the trees. Pulls me through the frame on a 2nd look and is not so bright as to be a distraction.
I do wish the trunk “leaving the frame” in the LRC were able to be managed…not sure if that’s able to be successfully removed…but that would be the only recommendation to consider.
Lovely photo Ed. Regarding the trunk in the LRC, I think removing it would be a mistake. I think it balances the composition and it does not bother me at all.
This is really good, Ed. This may be your best image from last fall although there’s one other I liked a lot. Although these are cottonwoods your style is different than Bonnies.
See the trunk at the bottom right area? The short one at the very edge? If you could remove it the comp would be stronger I believe.
Very nice image, Ed. The soft approach is beautiful, grass layers set the stage for those great tree shapes. Not too bothered by the short trunk in the LRC.
Such a wonderful photo of these cottonwoods, Ed. I keep coming back and looking at it again and again. The soft colors, at least for me, reflect how fall feels. Also feels like a very quiet and peaceful place I would love to visit. Very nicely seen and captured. Thanks for sharing with us.
Don’ have much to add on the beauty of this image. About the trunk leaving the frame on the right, you could crop a bit on the left to get a trunk leaving the frame on the left as well. That would add a little symmetry to the image and possibly more ‘balance’. But for me the image is perfectly ok as is.
Lovely soft image, Ed! Very pastoral. I really enjoy the colors. As for the LrC trunk, I’m in the camp that it would be ideal without. Seems hard to do as composed with the limbs interacting with the larger tree next to it. Maybe a crop? To my eye, I’m less distracted by a tree leaning in than a tree leaning out. I downloaded and cropped for example. Might change the message you’re trying to convey though. Regardless, a beautiful image and I’m going back and forth on the LRC which has me feeling like it’s splitting hairs a bit. Cheers!
This is a beautiful display of nuanced color and texture. For me, the foreground, tree stems, tree leaves and hillside are playing in symphony.
I can see that without the LRC trunk you would crop out the beautiful upward sweep of the rhs tree.
But I noticed that, because there is no obvious horizon, the image ould be rotated ccw a tad and you might have other options.
An excdellent small scene, Ed. The colors are just wonderful, with the foggy transition zone in-between and the tree trunks and branches adding structure.
Thank you all for your comments, I appreciate you taking time to comment on my image. @João_Ferrão I did not think of the flag reference until you mentioned it, but you are right.
The debate is about the trunk leaving the frame in the LRC. I guess I took my cue from Ansel Adam’s Yosemite Snowy Tree image and didn’t pay enough attention to frame edges But joking aside, as Tony and Igor pointed out in that discussion, maybe we sometimes obsess with frame edges unnecessarily.
I’m actually okay with it as presented. But I’ve posted two reworks back up top with the original, just to see if anyone has further opinions after seeing them. The first rework is a difficult clone job. It was not really working well, until I realized I could use TK Frequency Separtion to clone in some texture from other parts of the image. I superimposed the texture over fog that I cloned in over the tree and leaves. Does this look realistic to you ? And rework #2 is a counterintuitive solution, I actually had more image to the right that I originally cropped away. does this alternative work for anyone ? I now actually sort of like the extra space on the right.
Thanks for your reworks…I prefer the expanded crop actually. There’s something about the volume of tree now that makes it seem more like it belongs in the image.
Oooh, this is gorgeous! And you have mist - I’m very jealous. That trunk in the LRC doesn’t bother me that much. Sometimes when I have a strong feature leaving the frame on the right, I’ll flip the frame horizontally. This is an “anonymous” scene, so flipping it is unlikely to be noticed.
But joking aside, as Tony and Igor pointed out in that discussion, maybe we sometimes obsess with frame edges unnecessarily.