Early spring

Just enjoying an overcast spring morning in a local hiking area close to home. Trying to see what’s all round when there is no dramatic light and grand landscapes.

Specific Feedback Requested

Not sure if the crop is too tight. I have some room on the left and bottom in the original .

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
1/5, f16, iso400. 150mm on a 70-400 lens. Trying to balance ISO and movement of the leaves in the slight breeze.

1 Like

I like this a lot. The subtle colors and amazing textures look great. I think it could use a tad more room on the left but no biggie.

Nice work with the subtle colors of spring here Bryan. The color of the yellow buds is a nice delicate pastel hue. I think the amount of space at the bottom works well, no need to add more there. I could also see adding a slight bit more to the left, if you have it in the raw file.

I would suggest trying to get a bit more separation of the yellow buds from the background. Here is a rework where I darkend teh entire image, but used a TK Color mask (yellow) to mask the darkening away from the buds, leaving them as originally presented. I admit it is a subtle change, but for me the buds pop a bit more.

The chaos backing up the trunk and leaves works very well. I had the exact same thought as @Ed_McGuirk , and really like that subtle change.

@Michael_Lowe @Ed_McGuirk and @John_Williams.
Thanks for the feed back. Some things for me to think about. I’ve uploaded an updated version. I could do it in PS but did a quick edit in LR with reducing the exposure by about .25 and then increasing luminance of yellow and green (+20, +15). Luckily there is not much other yellow/green in the image so masking wasn’t critical. Also the advantage of working in the raw file where you had to work with the JPG. I’ve given the image a bit more space on the bottom and the left. If I included more on the right it starts to pickup buds from another tree.