Here is an image taken close to my home. I found this group of trees while initially shooting a stream at sunrise. I loved the way the light was hitting them in an otherwise dark scene.
Recently, I corresponded with Eric Bennett via email (thanks Eric!) who suggested I clean up the forest floor of a few branches and clone out some open sky. I cropped the image to a 2x1 instead to get rid of the distracting open sky that showed in one of the corners.
I still feel like there is more interest on the right side of the image, making it feel a bit unbalanced. I would love to get some feedback on what you think! My first post on the network. Thanks for having me!
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Compositional. All feedback welcome!
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
Mostly local dodging and burning and curve adjustments in Photoshop, as well as some cloning (I feel like my cloning skils are poor, so if you notice any errors here, please let me know and any suggestions would be helpful) [Nikon D800, 22MM, f/8, 1/15 sec, ISO 100]
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You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Matt, welcome to NPN. This is a fine look at late spring in an eastern forest. You’ve got the main tree trunks spread well throughout the frame, the greens look very realistic and the speckled lighting makes for a very inviting scene. The hint of sky works well also. The brightness of the top 1/3rd, especially the three bright tree trunks at the back takes away from the inviting view of grove. Some burning-in may reduce that.
Welcome to NPN, Matt! I Love the light here. I love how it is illuminating the trunks, very dramatic. I do wish that the light on the ground near the lower left corner is not touching the edge of the frame. But you have handled the processing really well here. You’ve got the arrangement of those trees perfect in my opinion.
Hey Mark! Thanks for the welcome and for the insight. I do see that bright patch now in the clearing beyond and I think you may be right. I am going to try to burn that down a bit and see what I come away with. Thanks again!
Thanks Adhika! Great point. I actually cropped the bottom a bit, so I may try to change the crop and see what it looks like. Thanks for the suggestion!
First off welcome to NPN, Matt. This is an excellent first post. Forest scenes are by nature very chaotic and you did a very nice job of spacing the trees out across the frame. The horizontal format works nicely here as does the side lighting. My only suggestion would be to echo Mark’s thoughts of toning down the upper third middle of the frame. Beautifully done and I look forward to your participation.
Welcome to NPN Matt this is a great first post. This type of dappled light can be tough to process contrast/exposure wise, but you have handled it well. The colors also look good, the greens and yellows look very natural. As others have noted your good arrangement of the trees has tamed the chaos of this forest scene (that plus Eric Bennetts gardening suggestions I suspect).
I agree with @Adhika_Lie about the bright patch on the ground in the lower left corner (LLC), it pulls your eye away from the center. Bright things near frame edges can often create issues. You may not have to re-crop this to address that issue, you may want to consider burning it down instead. But either a re-crop or burn can make that spot less of a distraction
Welcome to NPN Matt! This is a wonderful first post. The light is warm and beautiful. I think whatever crop decisions you made resulted in a very fine composition. I’m betting you paid close attention to the arrangement and spacing of all the trees; Everything just seems to be in place here.
Processing is excellent as well. Greens are vibrant yet very real. And you’ve handled the scattered light well too.
Hard to be critical here. The only suggestion I have would be to tone down some of the highlights in the background. There’s one especially bright trunk in the far back right of middle. Otherwise, beautifully crafted, processed and presented.
Thanks so much for the kind words, Lon. I agree with everyone after hearing from multiple people about the brightness in the background. It helps so much to get feedback like this. I am psyched to be a part of the community.
Did a little re-edit per a lot of suggestions here. Just burnt down some of the bright spots in the background as well as that spotlight in the bottom left hand corner (just burned down the edge that is touching the frame)
