Hi everyone! This is my first post on the new NPN website. The new website looks great! I would like to say thank you to David Kingham for all of the work that you have put in to the new site! Thank you for having the vision to invest in NPN. It’s hard for me to overstate the value of NPN to my photography.
I have been a bit preoccupied lately with buying a new house and everything that comes with that so I haven’t had much time for photography.
This is from a recent trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway and GSMNP at the end of October. I had a lot of opportunities to shoot in foggy conditions. I often struggle with finding a pleasing composition with these kind of shots due to the busyness of the scene.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
I’m interested in your thoughts on the processing. I am striving for a naturally vibrant appearance in my processing. I pulled some contrast back from the RAW file, but obviously this was a fairly low contrast scene due to the fog.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Most of all, I’m curious about your thoughts on the composition.
Any pertinent technical details:
50 mm
f/11 @ 1/15 sec. ISO 100
Basic RAW processing and sharpening; set black and white points with levels adjustment layer, adjusted mid-tone contrast with TK luminosity mask, and adjusted saturation with TK vibrance masks.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Brian, this is a nice first post at NPN, foggy conditions like this make for wonderful conditions. Forest scenes like this have a lot of complexity and chaos, but I think your composition has done a good job of taming the chaos. There is a nice balance of tree shapes and color. One suggestion for improvement would be to achieve a better tonal balancing of exposure, I would reduce exposure in the brightest sky highlights in the top third of the image, and I would increase exposure and add midtone contrast in the bottom third of the image. But overall I like what you have here, nicely done.
Moody and mysterious; I like this Brian. Forest scenes are tough to shoot; at least for me; but you succeeded rather nicely IMO. I do not think it would destroy the mood, but I could also see this working with an increase in exposure and contrast in the midtones in the bottom half of the scene. This is well worth a couple of small tweaks.
Wonderfully moody, Brian. It’s really hard to judge the composition without knowing if this was cropped from a larger image, but overall, the composition works but is a little weak. I might consider cropping some off the top just to tighten it up a little. The overall issue (for me) is that tree images that don’t include the trunk seem to work better if it’s a more intimate view, such as a single limb with great foliage, etc. This is a pretty wide vista and thus it appears somewhat “cut-off”. Again, that is strictly the way I see these types of images; other may, and probably do, see them completely differently.
I think the comp works pretty well, though I’d like to see a bit more of the understory, I think, to provide some more foundation to the colorful leaves and branches. This is kind of drifting towards abstract with this mid-level crop. That’s certainly OK too. I do like the image overall.
Welcome back Brian! A great return post; wonderful mood and atmosphere. The fog/mist really holds this semi-abstract together. Initially I was torn with going back and forth between the left and right and was considering a crop, but going with either the right or left would make a weaker image, I think, and the broader view tells a much better story.
I like the soft mood as presented. The color still looks saturated (but not overly so) due to the moisture, but it fits the mood. These kinds of forest shots a re tough to pull off, but I think you did well.
-P
Very nice composition and I like the subdued colors. For a fog scene I would go lighter. I downloaded this and found that if I raised the shadows and the darks but lowered the highlights it got closer to what was good for me. I also did quite a bit of dodging in the llc area. I also got rid of the black border which I felt was adding to the heavy look. This is the general idea. These changes could have been done better with luminosity masks.
Thank you all for the feedback on this image! You have all provided some helpful critiques. Here is a re-worked version that is somewhere between my original post and the re-work that Igor posted. I brightened the overall exposure from my original post and darkened the brightest highlights using a luminosity mask adjustment layer. I did not go as far as Igor in brightening the shadows because I liked the contrast provided by the darker foreground trees. There is detail in the shadows in the full resolution image, but that may not be as evident in the web version. I may yet brighten the shadows, but for now this is where I am landing.
Regarding the composition, I appreciate all of your feedback. My thinking with this image is that there was a lot of clutter in the undergrowth that I was trying to avoid so I opted for a tighter comp. I also wanted to emphasize the contrasting red and gold color in the trees. The lines in the foreground tree branches also form a “W” pattern which I think helps to tie it together a little. I was hesitant to share my thoughts because I didn’t want to bias the comments on the composition. I appreciate all of the feedback even if the composition wasn’t to your taste. Overall, I am pleased with the composition, but I realize that I have a lot to learn about composing these kind of shots so I’m all ears when it comes to feedback! Thank you all once again!
