Fighting foliage

I took this image twice. The first time i forgot to change the whitebalance after shooting in florescent light earlier. Man this beach was awesome! The weather was pretty nice for this time of year. We got out of the truck, my family started fishing, and i just ambled a little bit down the shore when i found this. I’m visually impaired so when i first took the picture i thought there was only one tree.

Specific Feedback Requested

I would love to hear any tips on improving the composition, and i’m unsure if i over edited the picture or not.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Taken on a 22 mm canon prime lens.

Traycookphoto

Wow, Tray! What an interesting introduction to yourself and your work. Welcome to NPN!
From the looks of this image, you are visually gifted, by your ability to see the “fighting trees” story in this scene. Quite a brawl.
I just had to play with it a bit. To make the “fighting trees” story a bit more obvious to us less gifted sorts, I first tried to eliminate parts of the scene that were not about the fight, by cropping, vignetting, and content-fill the upper left. Then pumped up the red in the brush … nothing says “fight” like red, I think. Then tried to dodge some of the fighter’s branches.

I tried monochrome. While the tree shapes gain interest, I think your fight story is better conveyed with color.

Thank you for the reply! I really like what you did to the photos. I do have to chuckle though because of what you said about me being visually gifted. I’m actually visually impaired. My visual acuity is 2800. I didn’t even realize there were two trees until writing my blog later. Thanks again

Tray,

Welcome to NPN and a very nice first post! I like the composition as presented. The trees are a strong subject, and the shoreline and trees create nice lines that lead the viewer through the scene and up to the really nice sky. This has a nice flow from LLC to URC.

I think your processing looks pretty good as presented. @Dick_Knudson has offered some nice alternative compositions as well.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Welcome to NPN. I also don’t see two trees in this image. I like the color modifications that were made and brightening up the tree. I thought the arrangement of the clouds was one of the better aspects of this image so I would not crop them out.

Welcome aboard, Tray. Fine first post. I like what Dick did here, but I am with Igor about keeping the sky with its clouds. Looks like a fine location on a fine day!

Welcome to NPN Tray, you are off to a great start. I definitely do not think the image is over edited. The term “photoshopped” has maybe given editing a bad name, but frankly there is nothing wrong with using post processing to emphasize certain aspects of the image that appeal to you. In this case I agree the image could be a bit brighter, and you could add some color contrast by warming up the image a bit.

I prefer your original composition, I like how the clouds add to the “Big Sky” look. But critique is a subjective process. If your goal was to emphasize the tree, then a tighter crop helps do that. If you goal was to tell a story about the grand landscape and this trees place in it, then the composition as presented works. I think you could go in either direction, although my personal preference is the comp as presented.

1 Like

I absolutely agree with others’ comments about the grand scenery conveyed by the parts of the original that I cropped out. Really good lines. I was a bit overly focused on the “fighting” story.

thanks everyone for the great feedback and the warm welcome! @Harley_Goldman @Igor_Doncov @Dick_Knudson @Ed_McGuirk @Alan_Kreyger i can tell that this is an awesome community., and i can’t wait to share, and work with you guys more.:grinning: