Noticed frost on the leaves on our cedar bark this morning. I do not take a lot of these kinds of photographs, but I always appreciate seeing them in the feed. As usual with my color work, I struggle trying not to oversaturate the image, and sometimes in the process, go too far in the other direction. But I feel by looking at the piece of frost-free bark in the upper part of the photo, it feels like the saturation is fine (the bark is rather bright in real life).
Specific Feedback Requested
Any and all.
Technical Details
Fujifilm GFX 50s II, 1/50, f/5.6, 101.8mm, GF 100-200 f/5.6
Oh this is striking. I love frosty stuff like this so I couldn’t help but bring it into Photoshop for some tweaking -
First a big crop. All the attention should be on those central leaves so I eliminated everything else. Then I did a color cast adjustment because while the bark might have been that red, I found it didn’t suit the subject so toned it down. I also used a color mask for the aqua blue and brought down the saturation almost 100%. Then I put that into a stamped visible layer for some healing/cloning at the edges and painted some color on a bit of bark on the top. Last I balanced the saturation with two masks in the TK8 panel - one to tone down the most saturated bits and the other to bump up the least saturated. Hope you like it since it is truly a lovely shot that has so many ways it can be worked.
David, what a cool scene. I have tried and failed with this type of photography over and over. I think you got it. The colors are perfect and I feel the cold. Well done.
Kris’ crop sets the focus on the center leaves, but I also think it changes the while dynamics of the image. Both work fine in my opinion.
Very lovely capture. I like the color palette here and always love frosted leaves. I agree with Kristen’s suggestion about the crop. As it is, the photo seems a little cluttered. You really want the eye on the gorgeous cluster of leaves in the center.
@Kris_Smith and thank you for taking the time to fiddle with the image. I agree with your crop, but the colors feel a little bit washed out for my taste.
I went out this morning and used a tripod this time to try and get a sharper image. I also got closer so as to highlight the leaves in the middle. I had Kris’ adjustments in my mind as I worked on the colors, etc. In the end, I think this looks about where I envisioned this image in my head.
I love this photo, David. I think the color balance might be a bit warm, but not sure what it actually looked like in real life either. I love the way you composed it.
Thanks @Matt_Payne. Not sure if you saw the new pic I took the next morning? I put it in a post but now I’ve put it at the top with a “repost” moniker.
I love the rework on this one. How cool is that when you get to go back out a second day and get the same scene with revisions in mind? I love those 3-4 central leaves. I might dodge that dark hole in the URC. This is so well seen.
This is a striking composition and the frosted leaves and bark make for a great subject. While I like the crop and the toning down of the brightness, I still feel like something is amiss. I feel the color balance is just off. I think there is too much blue in the scene, and it lashing with the reds. Have you tried to warm it up just a bit?
