The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This Dogwood tree is young but is already starting to have colonies of lace lichen. A growth like this will soon have lovely pieces hanging down, and will grow to an ungainly jumble. I shot enough focus steps to cover the entire growth but then decided to process another stack going only partway. I find the mix of sharp and soft to be more interesting, and to show off some of the sharp parts better.
Specific Feedback
All comments welcome!
Technical Details
Very minor tonal tweak in LR, to lower highlights. A stack to Zerene and into PS to layer with the stack that covered the entire depth and a little cloning to combine the best of both – the partial stack layer was on top and I masked it to reveal the water droplet and small lichen on the left from the full stack.
What a cool bit of alchemy you have going here. I think backing off on the total focus was a good idea; something I also do with some lichen photos. Not that you need my validation for this. The URC twig though…oh boy. Hard to get rid of IRL I suppose. But the bg is at once supporting and also subsuming. Looking closer at the rest of the branch I think other kinds of lichen are also colonizing. Keep 'em coming.
Ah yes, @Kris_Smith – I debated about that branch in the corner. Would take literally 1 minute to remove it after the fact. Wouldn’t want to prune the neighbor’s tree… And even more importantly, wouldn’t have wanted to disturb any raindrops as I hadn’t photographed all of them yet…
I put a revision up top – I’m undecided which version I like.
Thanks, @Kris_Smith. Interesting thing about seeing here… I’ve sometimes found some interesting BG patterns in the graceful branches of these trees, which have given some interest to some of the images – so I’m reluctant to squint hard and decide when I should get rid of some of them. It’s easy for a focus stack to start looking artificially perfect, and sometimes a flaw can be a nice (or at least interesting) touch.
I won’t run out of lichen. I have another one for tomorrow, along with a neat trick.
Very nice, Diane. I especially like the repost. The little raindrops are a nice addition to this lace lichen, especially capturing a refraction. Very nice. Sorry, I was out of town for a few days and am late getting to this. Playing catchup now!
