I took this image yesterday, 9/25/20, as autumn is getting off to a surprisingly early start in New England this year. Here in Massachusetts we had near record cold in mid to late September, and it has jump started our foliage season to be about 10 days early. Swamp Maples are always the first trees to turn, and they often have particularly brilliant colors, due to their proximity to water. This maple was along the shores of a river in a local National Wildlife Refuge. There was a lot of fog and mist coming off the river on this cool morning, which helped add to the mood. The thickness of the fog kept changing, and I waited until it got especially thick for this shot.
Nice, Ed. The fog really elevates this image. No nits or suggestions from me. I think the fall is going to be weird around where I live. Usually there’s not a hint of color yet. I was driving around yesterday and occassionally would see a single tree in a field of green trees, that had already turned completely orange, red or green. And then none again for miles.
Nice image, Ed. I like the balance of the image. It’s an effective story to show the trunks reaching out across the image into the fog. There’s really nice variation in the foliage which make for a very interesting subtle contrast within the leaves. The fog adds a wonderful layer to it as well.
If I were to consider any change, it might be to zoom out–to include a little more negative space for the branches to reach into. Or you might consider just the opposite–to bring the foliage fully across horizontally and vertically to simplify it even more–though this would change the story the image tells. But, I think it does work well as presented. Looks like a gorgeous morning to be out. Thanks for sharing!
No arguing with that color, and once again you’ve used the fog to add so much to the mood of the image. (I really enjoyed “Lost in a Fog” by the way; thanks for that article!) I’m really curious to see what fall color does here in the PNW. We had the opposite and have been warmer.
The two main trunks add a lot of character and definitely improve the image. They do feel a little crowded to the right to my eye. (This may be the flip side of the coin of Adam’s comment?) Admittedly not a big deal.
@John_Williams@Adam_Bolyard@Diane_Miller@Michael_Lowe thank you for your comment s on my image, I appreciate your thoughts. Adam I agree with you about the left feeling a little tight, I do have room in the raw file to add some back, and debated whether to do so before posting this, so I guess that I should have !! John, I don’t disagree with you about the right side, and I have some room there too (I generally compose a little loose to leave myself flexibility). But to the right there are a lot of gaps in the leaves with bright sky behind, I’m going to have to do a cost/benefit exercise on the cloning required.
And @Michael_Lowe and @Ed_Lowe you might be interested to know that foliage is so early that color was peaking on 9/26 in the Franconia / Twin Mountain area (at least 10 days early). Tomorrow I am off to the White Mountains on my earliest foliage expedition in 25 years of chasing leaves. I plan to do day trips for the next 2 or 3 days, it’s more driving than I’d like, but I’m not ready for hotels yet.
A nice blast of fall color well presented. I would agree with the suggestions for more breathing room, but it sounds like you are already on that.
Hard to say what autumn will be like in the Sierra. It has been a dry year and rather warm up there. The forests are closed due to fire danger and the air is foul with smoke anyway. A tough year in so many ways.
