It was all autumn and cold this morning
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Well the title says it all! Beautiful light streaming into the forest here, it nicely illuminates some of the autumn leaves!
Great light rays, I really like how the light touched leaves are a bit more saturated than the rest of the foliage. The only small nit I have is the leaves in the URC to the left of the closest tree on the right look like they could used a touch more saturation.
Nice, tranquil scene. The processing looks good to me, and I like your composition. It would be nice to see some detail in the very dark tree trunks, but I am not sure there is much thee to work with. In any event, this is a nice image.
-P
Ben,
About all I can think of to say is, Oh My! Just gorgeous…
Yes, sure, I think it would be nice to have at least a little texture/detail in the two main trunks - but wow, does the lighting and glowing leaves really make up for it.
Love this one - Congrats!
Lon
Very well done Ben, this is a very pleasing image. While you obviously have really nice light and fall color working for you here, I am am also impressed with your composition, it is very well thought out. The spacing of the trees is really strong, with no overlaps and nice framing along the left and right edges. Very nice work on the composition here 
I also like that you elected to to keep the shadowed green hues slightly cool, it creates a nice contrast with the backlit leaves.
If this were mine, I might consider doing a second version of this applying some strong Orton Effect for a soft glow. This image reminds me a lot of the type of images I saw at Charlotte Gibbs portfolio website, she shoots a lot of forest intimates like this, and then enhances them with soft glow. I was thinking something along the lines of this. This has a TK Orton Effect at 100%, and some increase in luminosity of the mid-tones and highlights applied. This may not be to your taste, but after seeing Charlotte’s work yesterday, it inspired me to try this effect on your image, I thought it was a perfect candidate for this type of processing.
Wow. What a fantastic image @Ben_van_der_Sande! I absolutely love and am always on the look for compositions with leading lights on certain areas of the frame. I also liked the fact that the bottom corners are darker than usual leading my eye to the center of the frame. Just wondering how would the image change if the tree barks were a little more brighter.
Also the image that @Ed_McGuirk has presented is also great but looks more like a painting to me and little more glow than I would have preferred 
I like how the trees guide you through the light…wonderful composition, have come back to it a few times to ponder why it works so well. It’s nice to dwell in it.
Beautiful work, Ben. I also like the fact that you stressed the warm colors and desaturated the greens (and cooled them).
Thanks, Ed. I kept calling it her style without understanding how she achieved it. Thanks for the explanation. I like both versions, each for it’s own sake.
@Lon_Overacker, @Ron_Jansen, @Ed_McGuirk, @Igor_Doncov, @Preston_Birdwell, @CharlesV, @amithmohan, @David_Nilsen. Thank you all for your wonderfull comments and the small nits. And especially the version Ed made of it. I love it all !!
Thanks Ben for sharing your wonderful image. The light and composition are extraordinary; giving you many directions to go with it. Thanks also to Ed, for sharing his expertise with us. Both spectacularly done.
