I went out to shoot for an hour the other evening. The conditions were quite foggy but also raining quite heavily. I have had this idea of shooting trees on their own for a while but never found the right conditions/subjects. However I shot three scenes that were very similar in condition and composition, but different subjects.
My cc request is how well do you think these three images work as a series. I am considering selling them as such - something a bit different with the idea that they are framed and hung together.
In terms of artistic feedback, how do you find the images? I think that individually they dont really speak to me but together they do. Do they work as series?
Sony A7ii | Canon 24-70 F2.8L
70mm | f/11 - f/16 | 0.4s - 1s | ISO100
For full disclosure and not being able to get any closer due to a wall being in the way, I did crop some branches out the sky in 2 of the images to help isolate the trees.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Eugene, I’m enjoying critiquing this from a slightly different perspective than usual. I do like how these 3 images fit together as a group. I like having each image with a different number of trees, and with each of them being at a different distance. In terms of the number of trees, I wish the middle one had 3 trees instead of 4, then it could go 1, 2, 3, but to be fair the 3rd and 4th tree are sort of merged together so it can act like 3 trees. I may be overthinking this in terms of maintaining a sense of progression, but a nit I have would be to have the single tree image be the darkest with the most contrast, then the progressions could go (# trees 1, 2, 3), (tree size/distance big, medium, small) (contrast most, medium, least).
As a fan of minimalist photographs, I love the work here. Technically, I see no room for improvement. Compositionally, my only suggestion, and this isn’t a strong one, is whether the sky in the top two shots represents too much negative space. This is easily solved by cropping in a little tighter. Does anyone else concur? In any case, this is a great set of images that work individually or collectively. Excellent work!
Marc, now that you bring it up, I would agree with you about the crop, it might help a bit. To me it wasn’t a major issue when i commented earlier, but it would help.
@Ed_McGuirk yeah that caught my eye too. I like having an increasing amount of trees. Interesting enough these are all taken at about the same distance. The bottom tree is just that much bigger than the others. I tried to shoot all three so i could crop to 16:9 and keep the ground similar in each shot. I actually sacrificed some in the lone tree to create some extra negative space above it, sort of along the lines of what @Marc_McCann is suggesting. I’ll have a play and see if I can balance things out a bit.
I’ve actually noticed that ‘lone tree’ is about 1/3rd of a stop brighter than the other 2 so have corrected.
Thanks to you both for leaving some insights!!
I think they work great together. I’d be tempted to mount them left to right, with an order of 3-1-2, because the second two “lean” a bit.
Eugene,
I think each of these can stand quite proudly on their own. The fog not only sets the mood/atmosphere, but also really simplifies the scenes down to their bare essentials.
My favorites go in order posted 1,2,3 (you didn’t ask…) and I agree with John’s suggestion on ordering left to right 3, 1,2. And these would be better served horizontally, as opposed to stacking them vertically.
Not clear on what you mean by being sold as a set? 3 images in 1 frame? Three framed images hung together - I think that’s your idea.
The only concern I have hanging them together is wall space - in other words, 3 16:9 ratio prints, edge to edge or side by side would be quite lengthy. I do think they would go together well on different walls, or two walls as they all carry a central theme and would go together in the same space; whether it’s all on the same wall, or not.
I suppose another option might be a triptych. You would need to crop each to a square I think for best presentation (in same order as above.) Not sure if cropping improves each as individual frames or not - but perhaps as a triptych presentation.
Lots to work with and lots of options.
Lon
