Only when I reviewed my photos from this outing did I realize the relationship between this one and Remains of a Giant I posted earlier. They’re two ends of the same phenomenon - trees gaining purchase and growing on rocks. These are at the beginning of the cycle and given that they are under some much larger trees, they are probably much older than we think. Maybe someday they will get their time in the sun and tower over river and new seedlings alike.
Specific Feedback Requested
Too static? There is a lot of debris, branches and general clutter on this boulder and I could only clear so much of it. I tend to not mess with tree branches unless they are clearly dead and easily removed, but that wasn’t the case here. After fooling around with tripod placement quite a bit, I decided I liked this framing with the white of the river setting them off. I included a bit of the rocks as well for some atmosphere and general sense of place. Moving more to the right would have put me into more small trees so that was a no-go.
Technical Details
Tripod and CPL
Lr to manage big tonal range, add clarity, texture. Cropped to eliminate left side which had a lot going on that didn’t help.
Photoshop for some distraction removal, masking w/D&B layers as well as a Freehand Vignette.
I really like what you’ve seen and captured here. The story you’re communicating is made clear by the well executed shallow depth of field. Of course this renders the backdrop as informational - or as you mention for a “general sense of place.” Location context, which works perfectly here.
The story for me is indeed the persevearance, the determination of nature to keep on keeping on. These saplings may be small now, but will someday grown to be - and end up like your comparison stump previously. This image captures all that beautifully.
Exposure, processing looks great. My only nit are the dead twigs hanging down in the URC. No doubt this was problematic as you mentioned the situation and removal of the branches was a questionable activity. I get it. (As a side note, over time I’ve become more and more sensitive to this when out in nature. Dead little twigs, cleaning up some weedy stalks in a scene… most times it’s ok. But more and more, deciding what’s ok, and what’s not… is favoring the - don’t do it… So here’s what I’ve been doing for quite a while. If there are elements that I can “adjust” or gently move out of the way… I’ve been known to tie a branch back with string, my belt, a bungee cord, etc… I’ve also taken a light jacket or shirt and gently laid on top of a bush to lower some extraneous, “green” stalks, etc. And when all finished, gently remove all my little restraints and return whatever it was back to it’s normal place.)
Anyway… not sure if that was possible on those twigs in the UR - I’m guessing you explored all those options.
This is well thought out and tells a great nature story.
What I find interesting about this image is that it shows the scene how the eye would have seen it rather than the camera. In that sense it feels very real to me. Since all the bg is out of focus wayward twigs and branches aren’t really that noticeable imo.
Thanks @Lon_Overacker and @Igor_Doncov - it’s not to everyone’s taste for sure, but these little slices appeal to me, especially if I see a story in them, which I did here and seems to come across.
The branches weren’t possible to remove without a lot of trouble, sharp implements and a probable fall into the river. I thought about trying to deal with the one in the URC with Content Aware Fill or something like it, but in the end decided to leave it. Partly because it isn’t overtly intrusive and partly out of laziness.
When possible I too bend and hold branches out of the way, but this was coming from overhead and was a ways out from the camera and I couldn’t stand up easily so it stayed.
