Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I struggled with the title here. “Elemental” simply because of the basic elements of a tree - trunk, branches and leaves. duh. Any better suggestions?
This was one of the first images I captured on our recently concluded NPN group trip to Yosemite. Six active and one former NPNer met for 3+ days in the valley . While we had mostly drizzly, no-epic-light conditions until the morning we all departed… this was an epic trip getting to know one another. More on this on other posts as images get posted! Looks like I’m the first!
Hilarious stories along the way… On this first day a group of us were photographing along the busy trail to Lower Yosemite Falls. I was playing with ICM’s while others had found a liitle pine sapling with a uniquely cureved trunk nestled among the granite boulders. Of course when tripods are out, the tourist get curious. Most thought we were photographing wildlife and they wanted to know if there was a bear! When someone learned we were photographing trees and rocks, they seemed dissappointed and literally said, “oh, so you’re just practicing?” That pretty much summed up our trip! We did a lot of practicing!
Anyway, I had fun with this Incense cedar while people wondered what the heck I was looking at.
Specific Feedback
I’m very curious to know how this works and your impression.
Most times I like abstracts where it’s a bit of a mystery as to what it might be. This one however, clearly is a tree. The greenery - ie. “leaves” are actually from an overhanging Big Leaf Maple, and not part of the cedar - but in the end it looks like they all belong together? Or do they?
All comments, suggestions and impressions welcome! Thank you!
Technical Details
Single ICM exposure
Nikon Z7ii, Z24-200mm @85mm f/9 .5s iso31 handheld
Cropped square from a horiztonal frame
Backdrop is all granite. Processed a little brighter than the actual scene
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Oh man, what a great trip we all had, Lon. Yep, the stories we shared and the tourists wondering what the heck we were photographing were knee slappers for us. They were so disappointed.
This one definitely works for me. I love that you have two totally different trees intersecting and creating what looks like one tree. The barren branches coming off the main trunk add tremendously to the image and the very subtle blurring of everything is just right. To me this looks like pencil art. My wife does pencil art and this is exactly what it looks like. The colors are also just right. This is well seen and executed. Was this a large crop or did you actually frame this up and see it in real time. If that’s the case, you definitely have an incredible eye for this kind of thing. Processing looks great.
Thanks again for sharing your campsite. What an epic trip.
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Lon, how wonderful to see you back!! How did I know instantly that this was yours? 
You have created a gorgeous and fascinating image, with just enough abstraction and the two trees interacting in the most pleasing way. The green leaves feel like a willow and for me it evokes a Japanese garden.
Aren’t tourists fun!??
Great to hear the trip was a success – I’m sorry I missed it but my back issue (or enough of it for now) has just been resolved with a minor procedure (that should have been done 3 years ago!) and I may be back on my feet again!
Gorgeous, Lon. I agree with David that the horizontal branching adds to the image. When I have attempted this kind of a photography, the horizontal branching seems awkward, but not so here. I think the gray background with the green of the maple really make this special. As for a better title, I’m not sure:
- “Essential” maybe? It is, after all, the essence of the forest, and with granite, it’s the essence of Yosemite (minus water).
- “Ethereal” perhaps? Since the ICM gives it a dreamy vibe.
Regardless of name, I love it. I love the long vertical aspect ratio too. It suits the subject and the location.
Regarding tourists, the idea that photographing something small that is not moving or a tree as “practicing” cracks me up. Then again, we do see things they do not. I suppose most people need to practice seeing instead of moving or looking only at things that move.
ML
I love this Lon! Ditto the comments from others. It was a great trip! Great people and good laughs about the tourist comments (among many other subjects)! Your “practicing” resulted in a great ICM abstract. But I don’t see the bear catching the salmon in the middle of the meadow. You must have cropped that out. The photography conditions weren’t exactly perfect but it was great fun anyway.
I have a friend who is doing pencil colouring from photographs she has taken and this reminds me very much of the work she is doing. She finds it relaxing. ( I 'm too impatient. ) That’s the beauty of ICM. Your image is delicate and dreamlike. I love the trailing green/yellow.
It sounds like you had a wonderful trip and getting lots of practice.
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Lon, sounds like a great fun gathering. Having caused a YNP “Bear Jam” while waiting for the sun to come over a ridge, I get the fun of causing trouble for all of the folks whose knowlede of nature comes from TV shows.
While it clearly a tree trunk anchoring the frame, I too am highly attracted to the ghostly branches reaching out to the sides. I also like that the greens don’t extend all the way to the bottom, that helps tell me that this is a forest scene, but not done “in the ususal way”. Your result is nicely painterly, especially the tree trunk with it’s swatches of solid color in various shades of brown.
Hi Lon, I am enjoying your image It all goes together nicely. It is quite amazing that it so closely resembles a color pencil/crayon drawing. The subtle faded branches and the granite and green second tree background are wonderful. Soft color pallet is very complimentary. Given your backstory I suggest the title “Coloring Practice”
Thank you so much @David_Haynes , @Diane_Miller , @Marylynne_Diggs , @Steve_Kennedy , @Glenys_Passier , @Mark_Seaver and @Stephen_Stanton for your great comments,
Not a big crop really, actually just the full sized digital format, cropped from the right (and some left) to make square. But to say it’s framed “real time”, I would say no. You know, it’s a random movement of the camera and you don’t know what you get until the image review pops up. That’s when you heard me go, “oooooh, wow…” If something gets me interested, then I’ll play with that scene, trying different movements, maybe a multiple exposure, etc. Looking at the Raw’s, I captured 16 images of the scene; this one was the 10th in the series. I have a couple others worth posting, but they’re similar, so I’ll probably wait.
@Diane_Miller , thanks for the comments and welcome back! Sorry you couldn’t make it, but so glad to hear you finally have some relief. Perhaps you might want to try a fall trip back to Yosemite! I’m thining about it!
Admittedly, I will cause trouble too by actually asking them if they see the bear! It was uncanny how many people asked the question, but for sure, if you’re on the side of the road with camera on a tripod pointing perpediculr in to woods, someone always stops to ask what you’re photographing and almost always thinking it’s wildlife.
Love it! Thanks for the pencil drawing reference too (and @Glenys_Passier too). Gives me the thought of convering to b&w for that charcoal sketch look.
Thanks again for all the comments!
Lon,
Sounds like you all had a ball on the trip. I love messing with the non-photographer tourists in the Valley. Sometimes I will stand on a main trail with my tripod set up and camera pointing straight up and wait to see how many people look up into a blank blue sky!
You are quickly becoming the ICM king around here. This photo definitely does have a pencil drawing like feel to it. Overall, I think what I like most bout it are the ghosted branches that give a hint that this is a photo about a tree and not just an abstraction. I also like the subtle tones that are not over-saturated.
Looking forward to more stuff from the trip from you and the others who were there with you. Sorry I missed the trip, but hopefully I will get a chance to get out there in the next couple of weeks, to catch what I can of the early spring in the Valley and now that Glacier Point Rd is open, the southern high country.
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My thought exactly, Lon. It is one of your nicer ICM’s. Well done, sir!
-P
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Thank you @Youssef_Ismail and @Preston_Birdwell for chiming in. Much appreciated!
We (well me for sure) missed both of you on this trip. Granted, crowds overboard for you Preston… Parking at Yosemite Village store is now “30 minutes only”
Glad you enjoyed the ICM. More to come.
Lon, amazing image! Love the lines and textures you were able to create with ICM, the processing is spot-on, and the colors really work here. And the title is perfect I hope you will share more images from this trip.
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Congrats on the EP, Lon!
-P
Thank you @J_Fritz_Rumpf for your comment. I’m glad you got the title reference; oh so basic. ha ha.
Thank you @Preston and Thank you for the EP! Much appreciated!
