This was taken on the same day as my earlier post. Once I left the fog and mist behind at Franconia Notch, I headed to nearby Crawford Notch where the sky was mostly overcast, but the sun was breaking out for brief moments. During one of these breaks the sun created a spotlight on this stand of birch trees. But what really intrigued me about this scene was the red ground cover beneath the birches, which I think was blueberry bushes.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any critique or comments are welcome, have at it !!
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 5D MKIV, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, at 127 mm, ISO 400, 1/60 sec at f13
Ed. witch words shall I use to do right to your image ? Everything in this portrait of nature is It. Composition, colors , contrast and then there is the light !
Beautiful light and color. I would be inclined to crop to pano and eliminate the brighter pines, an alternative view, mood and feel. Either way, really nice.
I sort of agree with Harley’s assessment on using pano here. These compositions in the natural world always draw the eye because of their contrast. Bright colors on a dark background often get my attention. The issue here is the left side - how the trees sort of slide to the left and out of the frame. This is a problem we all face when shooting - trying to decide where the margins should be. I usually consider how much cloning will help and from there decide whether to make the shot or not.
Thank goodness for those patchy clouds Ed. Gorgeous light, terrific shadows, and those layers. The top to bottom layers and the side to side layers are what really captured my eye. The tonal variation in colors is so complimentary towards one another. I am thinking along cropping out the little notch in the upper left corner as it definitely draws the eye up and right out of the frame so maybe more of a pano affect although you clone out that dark wedge and keep your framing the same. I also see where Igor is talking about the trees pulling your eye out of the frame on the left side so maybe a crop from the right side to the trees would balance this a little better and net you trees framing both sides of the image. Mostly just thinking out loud about this and really a very MINOR nit for sure.
@Harley_Goldman@David_Haynes@Igor_Doncov@David_Wallace@Ben_van_der_Sande
thank you all for your comments and input. I knew the light and color here would make for a good image. But I posted this because I struggled somewhat with the composition, I did have concerns about the left side, but did not want to bias the comments by mentioning that up front.
Harley, I agree that a crop away of the sunlit parts of the spruce would be effective as an alternative. But I liked having the color contrast of red and green, and did not want to lose the green. I am going to have to ponder that suggestion for awhile, but I think it works. I n my rework, I took this more pano, but left some green,
This is a good case study of what Igor was talking about on compromises in cloning vs. edge placement. Here is the real world challenge the left side presented, those shadowed maple trees competed for attention, and would require a significant amount of cloning. Also shown is an attempt to clone, darken and de-saturate the problem area on the left. Does that work ?
The grass ends rather abruptly where you cloned. I’m probably aware of it because I knew that area was cloned. It may actually look natural. I mention this because I play this game myself when I clone. “Does it look cloned or am I just oversensitive because I know where the cloning took place?”
You nailed it with the last repost, Ed! The light and colors are flat out gorgeous and I love those diagonals with the sloping banks as they add some visual tension to this lovely scene. The side lighting has brought out some amazing details in the trees and on the landscape; particularly the reds of what I assume is lowbush blueberry. Was this close to the rail station? I ask because this looks vaguely familiar. Anyway, this is outstanding.
Just superb Ed. I’ll just fall in line; your last edit is amazing. Wonderfully seen. I just love what the light is doing here, and this has such great lines and color!
Amazing shot @Ed_McGuirk
I honestly have nothing to contribute after all the comments and the rework i love the one with more to the left and think the clone job is perfect
I just wanted to say reading through this image’s thread was a great learning experience thanks to you for sharing and to all the others for the great comments
I agree, the second redo is better. Having some real estate between the trees and the edge on both sides really balances the composition. Regarding the crop of the top, the dark area on the left doesn’t bother me at all and I prefer having less of a pano, so would vote for just adding the space between the trees and edges on both sides and leaving the top as is. Another option would be to clone in some of the trees over the dark spot on the left. And one last suggestion, entirely in the subjective category, I wonder if just a bit more shadow detail in the dark trees would improve things. That all being said, it is a fabulous image as is. Very well captured and edited!
I slightly prefer the second image. I’m late to the party and a lot has already been said about this image but I like how you’ve kept the shadows dark. The tonal contrast is great
