Thanks for doing this Alex. It’s impressive not just for the amount of time you must be investing, but it takes a brave soul to build glass houses where people like to throw stones. I’ve really enjoyed reading your critiques of the wonderful images that have been posted so far.
My experience photographing intimate landscapes is very limited. Looking at your website, I should probably work on that more! This is an image of Vine Maple I took near Trout Lake back in 2017. I took it because it was such a beautiful patch of glowing red leaves, but when I got back home and looked at the channels I decided I actually liked it better as a black and white.
Specific Feedback Requested
I’ve toned this to move it in a metallic direction, and tried to find a balance between the shadows and highlights that is “inviting” to the eye. All suggestions on improvements are welcome.
Technical Details
Nikon D7100
Nikkor 12.0-24.0 mm at 12.0 mm (18.0 mm equivalent)
1/90 sec. at f/16.0 and ISO 800
John, I just love the metallic look you were able to achieve with this photo. My only nit might be to tone down the highlight on the center leaf and also on the third tier of leaves to make that center pop a bit more. I made a quick and dirty attempt below to illustrate. But really, just a fantastic image.
John, wonderful image, the kind that can make you rethink what to expect from a common subject. I tried a similar approach with a fern image recently, but with less impressive results. I agree with the recommendation from @David_Mullin and I like the way my eyes move through the image with the crop as is. It’s possible the small dark gaps could benefit from a little dodging, but I’m not confident about that. A pleasure to look at this.
Hi John! Thank you for your kind words - I hope I’m not breaking any panes in my glass house (mansion, or estate, at this point?) with the stones I’m throwing!
I will echo others’ thoughts that I really love the metallic look you’ve given this, it’s quite striking. David is spot on that there were some leaves that were too bright, because it’s not really a shot about one leaf but about the patterns and shapes created by all of them in unison.
I also really like @Igor_Doncov’s crop - I was going to suggest a square, but his is the same idea. The leaves kind of terminate on the left in a rigid vertical line, which creates a rectangle of darkness in the lower left. The same thing sort of happens on the right, with less straight of a line - the leaves get smaller and messier, and the frame gets quite a bit darker, so 1/5 of the frame on each of the left and right sides feels extraneous - like the entire subject is situated in the center anyway. Igor’s crop highlights that kind of “bouquet” of leaves bursting out from the middle, and by choosing to subtly dodge certain leaves, you could even highlight that shape a bit more to give the composition a more purposeful structure.
Whichever crop you choose, I would suggest darkening brighter distractions at the edges, as there will be messier and more numerous leaves at the edges after the crop, competing for attention with the “main” subject. I wouldn’t do a global vignette though, as some of the edges are quite dark and it would just make those areas even darker, leaving the brighter leaves still brighter in relation to the darkness. It’s as much about evening out the luminosity (effectively lowering contrast) in distracting areas as it is about darkening them.
I had to chuckle with myself about your recommendation David M., in my original posted on my website I went with just about exactly what you suggested, but decided to “fiddle” prior to posting here. Sometimes it’s just better to leave well enough alone.
I’ll play with those crop suggestions, although what I really should do is head out this fall and try to find a better composition to photograph with the full-frame, and then just replace this one.
