I captured this image at El Capitan meadow in late afternoon. My wife and I were on our way to Valley View when I noticed the light beaming through two peaks and illuminating the cottonwoods(I think) in the meadow. I knew that the light wouldn’t be on the trees for long, so I jumped out of the car and ran through the meadow to find a decent compostion. Once I got set up, I realized that somewhere along the way the screw knob for my QR clamp had fallen out. I had to place the camera in what was left of the clamp and squeeze it as hard as I could to try to maintain stability. Luckily, the image turned out decently sharp. As for composition and and all of the other details, I will take your thoughts and opinions.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Any you are willing to give
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any you are willing to give
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Taken with a 5DMkII, 24-70 2.8L, 24mm, f11, 1/13
This is a blend of two copies of the same exposure. One warmer for the trees and foreground, one cooler for the shadows and background. Other than that just basic contrast adjustments and mild saturation adjustments with luminosity masks in photoshop
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
A perfect spot to spend the late afternoon. I’ve spent several here watching that sun pass through that gap, sometimes from a parked car and others on the meadow.
I like the branches of the fallen tree but not so much the trunk going off the screen.
Andy, I like the warm/cool processing approach, it adds some nice contrast. The light coming through the gap on the right, and the way it falls on the trees looks wonderful, and your processing of that looks good. I would crop a bit off the top, to eliminate the two small sky patches in the upper left corner (ULC). These patches are very bright and keep pulling my eye away from the interesting light on the right side of the image. I also agree with @Igor_Doncov about the fallen tree, I love the branches, but the trunk feels too cut off, I’d like to see more of it. I think shooting from a few feet further back you would have been able to include more of the tree.
Some beautiful lighting on those cottonwoods. Processing looks good and the trunk going off frame does not bother me. I do think this would work much better cropped to pano with the bright open sky areas eliminated.
Andy,
Ahhh, I know these trees well and you caught them in full glory! I was there in early November but alas, most all the leaves were gone by then. Great timing with the light striking the grove of trees - and I believe these are some species of cottonwood, but I could be wrong.
I would agree with the others about the patches in the UL. You can knock out a couple issues with one adjustment. By doing a transform/skew on the left you can straighten out the pines that are leaning in. By doing so you can also eliminate the one patch in the corner. Then you could crop down a little and if you don’t want to crop all the way to eliminate the other patch, CA cloning would work well. You might shave a little off the bottom, say up to the black knob. This also lessens the dominance of the big trunk at the bottom. But agree with others, I like the branches anchoring the scene.
Overall, excellent capture and processing.
Lon
Nice. I love the light throughout. I too would like to see more of the fallen tree, bt this works well as it is. I agree with Lon’s ideas.
This is one of my favorite groups of trees in the valley. Yes, they are Fremont Cottonwood.
The ‘notch’ is known locally as The Gunsight.
–P
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