Lit Up!

Critique Style Requested: Standard

The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.

Description

Trees are always hard (IMHO), but they’re irresistible in the fall. My favorite is to see them backlit like this.

Specific Feedback

Is it too bright?

Technical Details

1/60, f22, ISO2000


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1 Like

Connie - I like the yellows here, and the angled trunks. Seemed a little bright, so I played with it a bit and came up with this:

  • a little off the top, since those leaves are not adding much.
  • a bit off the bottom
  • whole image darkened a bit - this brought out the star better, too
    See what you think.

This is really bright and sunny fall image that brings out bright and sunny fall feelings Connie. I like @SandyR-B’s suggested edits.

Gorgeous!! Wonderful shapes, colors and light!I think @SandyR-B has a good suggestion, but I wouldn’t cut any off the bottom. The center tree just barely has a base as is. If anything I would try to add a bit more at the bottom, and darken and lower contrast on the trunk to the left so it doesn’t pull the eye out of the frame.

Hey thanks! I was thinking I got a bit carried away….
@SandyR-B , @Ed_Williams & @Diane_Miller

Hi Connie,
The autumn yellow leaves of the aspen trees always make for a wonderful subject as do their white trunks. The sunstar is a nice bonus also. I do like @SandyR-B rework with bringing down the overall brightness. It elevates an already wonderful image another notch IMO.

Connie, this is warmly bright and inviting. The “dancing” tree trunks are a delight. I think a bit of burning-in from the sunstar up would look good and add some pop to the sunstar.

How cheerful and uplifting this is! I love the delicate pattern at the very top with the darker leaves up there. My one suggestion would be to adjust the color of the white trunks. They look sort of muddy yellow because of all that yellow light reflected from the leaves.

I took a crack at that, using the TK9 panel to choose the trunk color to make a mask of just the trunks, then I reduced the saturation by about 13 points (in PS, I should add). Then I added a levels layer, clipping it to the Hue/Sat mask and brightened the trunks. Then I chose the bright yellow color of the background leaves to make a mask of that so I could brush off the above adjustments where they had bled into the yellows (the yellow leaves are perfect, IMO, and I didn’t want to adjust them). It worked reasonably well. I think, even though the overall yellows were a bit changed:

Screenshot 2024-10-24 at 2.44.28 PM

1 Like

Wow Bonnie, thanks for the effort in working on this. I didn’t really ‘see’ the yellowness in the trunks until you mentioned it. I know I worked on them to get them whiter than they were, but this really makes it happen. I do have TK8, but not the nine. I’m not real skilled with it, but I shall give it a try. Thank you! (The picture of the layers panel helps too :<)

1 Like