I captured this on a foggy hike this morning. The density of the branches extending towards the ground caught my eye and I had to try documenting it. Thoughts on the composition? I liked the structure and I do tend to naturally create images that are split in half visually because I like how they can balance each other out visually and tell a story visually.
Is this a composite: No
I like the idea here but you have some composition issues. It’s an image of 2 halves.
What a neat foggy scene, you have great shapes to work with here. And I like the softness of the fog, I think your processing of this scene is right on the money, just the right level of contrast and softness for me.
Some folks would say the conventional wisdom is to avoid splitting an image into two halves, otherwise you will get the dreaded “it’s really two images” comment in critiques. In my opinion, the avoid the 50/50 split “rule” can be successfully broken when each half is equally interesting visually, or if the split creates an interesting contrast. I think you come close to that here, but not quite.
I think an image of just the bottom half is too busy as a standalone image. I think there is potential to create some contrast here by having some space above the bottom half that contains less density of branches, which was probably part of your original concept for the image. but I think the upside down U-shaped branch at the top has a lot of visual weight , and is a distraction (partly because it gets cut off by the frame edge).
I have done a rework with a crop from the top, to get rid of the very top branch. This leaves you with some less dense space above for contrast, and I think it still adds some balance to the image without having to go 50/50. The way the branches exit the two upper corners is not ideal, but this is meant to be more illustrative of a concept, rather than a recommended change.
Kyle, you’ve got a fine image with the mix of branches and fog. I agree with Ed, that the whole frame works pretty well and that some processing changes could tie bit parts together better. Ed’s crop is an interesting idea. My thought would be to burn-in slightly the big branch coming down in the middle and the branch that comes from behind it. Having those two branches with more contrast will let the viewer’s eyes follow them more strongly improving the connection between the top and bottom sets of branches.
Here’s a crop recommendation. The issue is with the lower half. The upper half plays nicely between a strong framework of darker branches against the faint background branches. That’s the idea I would promote. There are crop refinements of that central idea one could experiment with. There is some nice faint directional light on the central branches you could
Kyle,
I can see why you were attracted to this scene as it does have a wonderful air of mystery to it with the fog and the twisting branches. It is split in half visually as you already mentioned, but I am finding the top half more interesting as it seems a little less cluttered for my tastes. I really like the direction @Igor_Doncov was taking this with his crop as I think it still retains the mood from that morning. Nicely done.
I didn’t notice the split until someone brought it to my attention. Yes, I can see it now, but overall, the impression is that this is just a cool abstract. The light and layering is what draws my attention.
