Yesterday took a walk at McDonald Dunn Forest. And practicing ICM techniques in the woods.
Anything. Also if you like one image better than the other…
Is this a composite: No
The darker image is :
ISO 100
70mm
f/4.5
1/15
The lighter image is :
ISO 800
72mm
f/4.5
1/10
Image #1 is more traditional take on forest ICM’s, vertical movement on trees. The shapes and composition fill a good portion of the frame. I would crop away the tree that’s along the left frame edge, to me it’s a minor distraction. As I commented on in your other recent ICM post, the very bright sky becomes a hot spot that becomes dominant, and distracts the viewer from the rest of the image. A different angle of view, or less of a camera movement might have avoided the sky. This brings up a related point. I prefer to do forest ICM’s on overcast or rainy days, to avoid high contrast situations that can create hot spots like this. The nice, even light of overcast days often does a better job of avoiding excessive contrast, and reveals the more subtle colors and textures in a scene. In this case the inclusion of the sky also influenced your exposure meter, underexposing the bottom 3/4’s of the image. On overcast days these issues become less of an issue.
Image #2 is less successful for me, for one It’s a bit overexposed. This is more abstract than the other image, which I’m okay with, but I have a hard time getting past the exposure. This also looks like it was taken in more high contrast light, which presents challenges.
And now for a totally different take…
I love the second one. The swoopy, curved lines from the horizontal branches give it a very cool texture, and I like the brightness of it. You might consider cropping from the right a bit - that dark tree right at the edge of the frame has a lot of visual weight and distracts from the nice rhythm of the other trees.
The first one is not successful for me. That very bright sky pulls the eye, and the rest of the frame feels underexposed.
I prefer the second image. The lines texture and tones are more interesting. I would probably crop the right side though.
Since I don’t dabble in ICM, I often feel inadequate to comment or make suggestions. When it comes to unhelpful comments though, I’m up to the task. With that in mind, these have a slight “Blair Witch Project” feel to me; they make me think of a photographer keeping the shutter pressed while running from a bear.
@Ed_McGuirk @Bonnie_Lampley @BenM
Thank you Ed, Bonnie, and Ben for your feedback and inputs. Ed mentioned it’s underexposed and I think Bonnie and Ben both think it’s too dark. So the trail I’m on is looking up at this part of the forest and it goes uphill which is why you can see sky and patches of sun on the ground in places. The forest right by the trail is very dark and cluttered with ferns and moss all over the trees, but I have other images and here is just one I’ll throw out , I wanted to create the feel of when you look up through the tall trees and see the blue sky and sun coming through…
About the other image, that was taken on the other side of the trail and the forest drops down abruptly, so it makes it easy to avoid sky, I have one that isn’t as bright and also the trees might be placed better…
