The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
A hand-held high-resolution shot looking into the woods on the Ringle Segment of the IAT. I don’t often use this feature of my G9 M2, but since it’s a setting I can get to more quickly than on the M1 version of the camera and it has handheld setting, I am remembering more often. The level of detail in the 100mb file is impressive and I don’t add sharpening at all with these. What happens is the camera takes about 1/2 a dozen images at once and combines them in a single RAW file. You can also set it to take a regular RAW image at the same time. The image stabilization makes handholding work and the processor takes care of any motion blur by magic. Well not really, but it seems that way.
Anyway…I was caught by this scene for its overall beauty, by that little sapling in the front and by the relatively organized nature of the way the remaining trees stood. The greenery is Maidenhair fern which was all over in this part of the woods. I took several versions standing in different places, but this one works best to show the small tree and its neighbors.
Specific Feedback
I’m a bit conflicted about the tree trunks - are they lifted too much? It was a contrasty scene, but our eyes adjust so rapidly that it appears worse in camera and I didn’t want to over compensate.
Technical Details
Handheld w/CPL
Lr for global adjustments to improve general contrast and color. Transform to fix geometry. Slight crop. Mask selection for darkest areas in tree trunks to raise the highlights there. A couple distractions removed. Reduced orange luminosity slightly in HSL panel.
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
I love this scene Kris. It is really difficult to find a composition in the forest that is clean and compelling. You’ve achieved that very well with this. The vibrant fall colors are wonderful. You’ve lifted just enough shadow to get good detail out of the trunks and keep them dark enough to frame the scene well. The sapling in front is not that noticeable as a stand alone element of this, but contributes well to balancing the overall colors. The orange/brown carpet of leaves with the maidenhair ferns provides a nice solid base for the whole setting.
I love the yellow autumn canopy along with the dappled lighting in this image Kris. The shadows on the tree trunks look very natural and just fine IMO. The way the trees are organized and the ground sculpted out it almost looks as though there was some kind of road through there at one time. Looks like the perfect day to take a stroll in the forest and savor your surroundings.
Thanks Eds! @Ed_Williams & @Ed_Lowe - glad the trunks look reasonable to you. Sometimes you look at a photo so long you can’t see it anymore. Probably this was a logging access point in the past since basically every square inch of Wisconsin has been heavily logged for 100 years or more. That and the absence of conifers is a dead give-away.
What a cool feature!! And a lovely and inviting scene to show it off! The light is gorgeous and the carpet of leaves gives the scene a sort of curated look, like maybe its a Hobbit habitat.
My taste would be to pull even more tonal detail out of the trunks, but maybe the backlight was too strong to go further. Wonderful as it is!
Thanks @Diane_Miller - glad it resonates with you. It was a golden paradise that day. I’ve figured out that for ever hour or so you drive south here, it’s like going back in time in terms of seasonality. When I shot this, the peak was done here so driving down that far got me to peak again. If I’d driven all the way down to Madison or something, the peak probably wouldn’t have hit quite yet. It’s fascinating in a way. In spring, when we don’t have bud break yet, Milwaukee or areas south of Madison, trees will have tiny leaves out. It’s neat.
