Hi - I like the icy base of this tree…snaky or dragon-like. I caught it just at sunset (sun from behind me).
Specific Feedback Requested
All and any feedback welcomed, feel free to download and play with the image if so inclined. I feel like there is is more colour to be had in this photo - my recollection is that the tree and icy base just popped out from a saturated (blue, wet!) sky in the viewfinder. I worked in Lightroom and applied a sky filter to bring down the exposure just a bit (-0.43), and then a linear gradient filter to bring down the foreground snow but still let the icy branches stay white. I went all in on the "Presence"sliders with some texture and clarity (+15) and vibrance (+28). I shot at ISO 200 at f4.0 and ss 110 sec and I feel the image is pretty sharp but the icy branches were a little muddy to me. Maybe I expect too much of my aps-c sensor handheld!
I think this has come out rather well. The colours are subtle but capture the sense of isolated exposure and cold. The snow in the lower portion of the frame seems to have a magenta cast and you might consider going more to blue if you want it to feel even colder. You did well considering the picture is taken hand held in low light. It looks sharp enough to me. There is some noise as well as slight haloing and artifacts around the edges, probably because of added contrast, texture and so on. But, really, you have to enlarge it quite a bit to notice it much. My main suggestion would be to crop from the bottom up to where the left edge of ice base exits the frame and I’d also crop from the top. You have 2:3 aspect ratio now and I think this would work better around 5:7 or 8.5:11. Cropping in that way, will bring more focus onto the icy “snake” at the base of the tree but also to the isolated elegance of the tree itself, highlighted by the lovely orangey glow on the horizon. I like that bit of land protruding from the right of the frame at the horizon - it feels almost like an iceberg.
I just want to add that, boy do I ever recognize this spot. A couple of years ago, I was down along the spit in freezing weather just after a wind storm. Water had been blown off the lake so that every tree and rock was hung with ice. The cold was hellish but it was absolutely other worldly.
To me, the primary elements that I find appealing in this image are the delicate colors, the lacy shape of the tree , and of course the cool looking ice “snake” at the base of the tree. I think the most interesting colors in the sky are from the top of the tree down. I would suggest a crop of about half of the sky from the top of the tree to the top of the frame edge. I think such a crop would also place more emphasis on the tree and the snake.
I also hope you got some other images where you got in real tight on that “snake”, I think it has a lot of potential to carry an image almost by itself.
Thanks Ed and Kerry, appreciate the feedback and will play with the crop. I was trying to balance the sense of space with enough focus on the “snake”. And hand held yes, and no (!) I didn’t get in for some closer shots but did have that thought after the light was gone - a lesson in mindfulness in shooting as I kind of panicked and took too many of the same. But the tree remains…I may head back. And Kerry I agree Thommy Thompson is a very cool place in winter and cool all year around as nature heals and turns waste rock into natural oasis. Thanks again both for the comments.
