A characteristic of the higher elevation forests is all the dead wood that’s laying around. Whether it’s due to a short season that doesn’t all enough time to rot or just not that much undergrowth to begin with. What ever it is, the forests of the High Sierras and Cascades are littered with logs and dead branches that have lain so long that they’ve lost their bark. I like to walk around and design compositions with them. Here is one that fits this weeks challenge.
Igor, I see lots of down timber in the rare example of a mature eastern forest also. Something I read recently suggested that the lack of fallen trees was used 40 - 50 years ago to justify lots of cutting. “Need to avoid all of that wasted wood.” At the time, we weren’t aware of how much value that fallen, rotting wood provided for the soil and the small things that live in the soil. This is a fine look at the fallen wood as it leads to the broken stump and lots of greens in the top 1/3 rd. The cluster of smaller branches on the right add well to the scene and to the eye movement.
I like the comp overall, the bleached branches in the foreground are really interesting.
I’m personally not a fan of the colour balance you have chosen, there is too much blue-green in the highlights. I did a half-assed edit by pushing up the magenta and then adding some warmth to the lighter areas with split toning, which is starting to look more natural to my eye:
Thank you, Michael. That does look better I guess. I actually added the cool look because it was in the shade but you’re right, the blue logs looked a bit unnatural, particularly the one in the urc.
I love the lines in this image, Igor. I do think the color balance in Igor’s rendition works better. I hadn’t noticed it until I saw the two images and went back to the original, but all the grayed out branches looked pretty blue.
I think that Michael’s rendition removing some of the blue cast looks better but I also like the blue. Maybe something in between. Great leading lines with both the larger two fallen trees on the LLC as well as the small branch on the right that is critical to balancing the image. Well done for including that. Both of the downed trees are pointing at the two main focal points (the larger tree and the tiny stick up) and the small branch on the grund in the LRC is pointing at the Large tree. There are so many leading and converging lines, each pointing exactly where you would want them to point and lead the eye.
Well seen and composed, Igor. I am liking @Michael_Schertzberg 's repost. No other suggestions come to mind.
Hi Igor,
Comp is wonderful and agree the Michael’s treatment of the cyans and blues did the trick. Well done…Jim
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