I came along this spot during a walk last weekend. It is a narrow strip with a variety of trees, that stretches as a finger in some grassland. The low angle sun came more or less from behind, maybe an angle of 30 degrees with the lens axis.
I decided to shoot the scene, although it is chaotic, but I like it somehow.
All feedback is welcome, I like to read your comments.
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Pentax K5, Sigma DC HSM 2.8-4/17-70 @70mm, ISO400, f/8, 1/25sec, handheld.
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2 Likes
Han, in my view it’s a fine image in spite of the chaos as you call it. The only remark that I can make . Take away the green grass and there you have a well balanced image.
I agree with Ben: Crop out the grass at the bottom. I like the color, but could see the yellows and reds brightened up just a bit. The saturation in some of the green leaves looks a bit over-done.
I like the composition, except for the foreground grass. The trees have nice lines, and I like the sunlit fall color.
–P
Thank you, @Ben_van_der_Sande and @Preston_Birdwell. I was hesitating of cropping out the grass too, glad you mention it.
Preston, do you mean the dark green of the trees up front, or the light green leaves? The saturation of the light green leaves is a result of the transmitted light from the back, but you might prefer it if I turn it down a little.
Han,
Love this - love the title too as there certainly looks like there might be some heat in the background.
Order from chaos. I think you’ve seen and captured this beautifully. I would agree with Ben and Preston about the grass at the bottom. Two things there, there’s just barely enough included to warrant keeping it and if you did, I would dial back the saturation quite a bit. The alternative would be to crop out. I could see cropping the bottom and perhaps a little off either side, especially the brighter area on the right - but that’s pretty minor.
I think you did great with the exposure, colors, etc.
Lon
Lon, I like the suggestion about desaturating of the grass. As I said, I hesitated about cropping: I like it that the grass tells something about the environment and that the grass works as a boundary to the subject. I deliberately included a bit of it in the frame when I pressed the release button. But it is also distracting.
I desaturated the grass and the image looks better.
The light through the trees that lights up the different colours is very nice. I would just totally lose the grass line and zoom in a bit on the tree details as suggested by some.
The grass line to me makes it look like it’s not in the woods (which it’s not, it seems to be on the edge) and that takes away a bit from the mystery the woods always hold for me.
Grt, Ingrid.
Thanks to all who made their valuable comments.
I cropped out the grass, kept the aspect ratio 2:3 and therefore lost a bit on the left side; I prefer to keep the trees on the right. I removed the light spots between the trees in the upper right.
