A couple of years ago there was a request for ideas for Weekly Challenges. I suggested that we use Emotions as topics. This is what I had in mind.
This sort of scene is very common in Baja California. Most people pass it up as an unsightly tangle of brush. It usually occurs within or at the edges of an arroyo. When there is a drought it takes on this form. This was shot very close to the previous image but has more of an edge to it.
Is this too chaotic? I warmed this up a bit as the original had a more magenta look to it which I didnāt like as much. What do you think of this color cast?
It doesnāt look as if there is a cast here. I do wish the trunk on the far left was either cut off more or included more. The way the branches seem to be desperately reaching for water that isnāt there is interesting, but as you say, chaotic. Not sure thereās a way around that. Nature is what it is. I find the top of the tree more interesting than the bottom strangely. I like the riot in green.
Wow, this is wonderful! One does get a sense of impenetrability from the branches obstructing the apparent path of the drainage way. The cool/greenish color cast, flat light, and relatively low contrast set a mood that is not hopeful, adding to the sense of impenetrability. The only nit I have, and it is a very small one, is that teeny bit of dark bark showing on the white trunk along the middle of the left edge. Easily cloned out.
This is very nice and sure as your name on itā¦
Your composition is very beautiful, but I find it a little unbalanced with that larger whit trunk on the left edge; without that it would be perfect.
Thank you for your though Joao. I had experimented with that left side quite a bit and decided that cropping it does more harm than good. If you crop from the left
(a) you bring the white trunk below it to the edge and have introduced a new problem.
(b) the central part of the composition is an arc flow from bottom left to upper left to across and upper right. If I crop the left I lose much of the beauty of this image.
Please make your suggested changes and post. Maybe Iām wrong but thatās how I see it so far.
For some reason that dark area below it has never sat well with me completely. I tried cloning it out but that resulted in a large patch of white, which I liked even less. So I raised the shadows in that area and I think I like it better. I see so many optional changes in this image that it could go through many iterations. You could easily add contrast here to make this more sinister. Itās not how I saw things but it is a valid direction.
It is, at least for me, very chaotic, Igor, but I like it because it is chaotic. It is forbidding, saying āstay away,ā āgo backā or ādonāt come in here.ā Also, for me, the somber colors reflect this feeling. I think youāve captured the emotion very nicely.
Love these type of comments and interpretations. Itās my biggest attraction to photography. I like them because it confirms that Iām getting my point across and that viewers see more than just a bush.
This is pretty chaotic, but whether itās via processing or the original nature of the scene, the background colors here are so muted and un-saturated, that the background recedes visually, allowing the white "arc " to cut thru the chaos and stand out.
Iām not getting a strong sense of emotion here, but the white arc reminds me of lightning bolts, and I am getting a strong sense of energy, which for me is more than enough to make the image interesting.
Regarding the left side, I think the white branch parallel to the left edge could be slightly burned down to reduce itās visual impact (and it would would make the V of the arched tree more prominent). This might partly address @joaoquintela concern, without resorting to a crop that I agree would mess too much with the flow and shape of the arched tree.
This certainly has your fingerprints all over it. I like it BECAUSE itās chaotic. It has to be seen large to appreciate it though. To me, it looks like a desperate fight for survival. You have the green tree on top that is reaching out, overtaking, smothering and clawing itās way to survival over the tree on the bottom that looks like it has died. By the way, itās the two distinct looks between the top green tree and the bottom white gray tree that contrast so nicely and also tells the story. The clash of the titans with only one winner.
I really love the horizontal branches reaching across the image. One very small nitā¦There are two branches rising vertically in the left center of the image that goes against the grain of all the other branches except the trunks. One is almost black and the other is almost white. Not sure about cloning those out particularly the white branch. Just a thought. Could be very difficult to do and itās a very small nit. otherwise, this tells a great story to me.
I find this very compelling. I think @linda_mellor hit it on the head for the feeling I get. Itās chaotic but one interesting feature occurs several places that I find hold my attention ā the unusually curved branches that are similar to the Greek letter omega, although each is slightly unique.
I quite agree with your assessment on this. Not having the white vertical branch would fairly significantly impact this image. Unfortunately there is so much āstuffā both in front of the white branch and behind it that PS doesnāt even come close to rending a satisfactory content-aware fill. So it has to stay. I donāt think itās a big issue but more one of those āit would be nice ifā¦ā issues.
