Live Oak

I apologize for my lack of participation here lately. I hope it’s not too much to ask for critiques on this image. All kinds of inputs are appreciated. I captured it in March this year but was only able to work on it last week and I think I am ready to hear your feedback. Thank you in advance!

Early morning walks with a camera are getting rarer and rarer…

Processing note:
Captured this with my 500mm handheld, burst mode. I stitched the images from the burst as a panorama in LR because my hands were not steady enough to capture the frame that I wanted. Experimented with @Tony_Kuyper 's linear profile but I have not fully grasped the power of it, yet. In PS, I warped the image to align the parts at the bottom and top where the two “main” trunks merge.

D500, 500mm, f/5.6, 1/1250, ISO 560

Revision: Cloned out the OOF band at the bottom of the frame as suggested below.

@adhikalie

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This is a great image with the light, tonality, {lack of) colors, overall structure, tree trunks pattern and the symmetry. Nothing to improve here.

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I like very much how it rises out of the shadows. In fact that was one of my favorite observations during morning walks. If you there is information to the sides I would perhaps widen this just a bit. I like the composition and the overall color cast in this image.

Adhika, the tree trunks and their surroundings look great. The paired trunks with rough mirror symmetry are striking and very nicely lit. The oof foreground does add a nice 3D feeling, although I think that cropping the darkest band at the bottom might be an improvement.

Adhika,

The lack of colors and oof foreground add an interesting mood, and I like this effect of looking through the underbrush as you approach the very photogenic tree.

I agree with @Mark_Seaver and might crop the lower darkest band.

I love the light and the beautiful trees with the symmetry. The OOF foreground elements really don’t work for me. I find them fine at small size, but when I zoom in all the way, not so much.

Thanks, everyone for the great feedback. I am glad to hear that the color resonated with all of you. I struggle with colors a lot some time but this one flowed out quite naturally.

@Igor_Doncov: Unfortunately, I don’t have anything on the sides. The panorama mostly stretched the image just a little bit on the top.

@Mark_Seaver and @Alan_Kreyger: Good critique about the band. There is a solution to this that maintains the aspect ratio and that is cloning out that band. I have included a revision in the original post to address that.

@Harley_Goldman: Thanks for bringing up the issue of OOF foreground. I have my reservation about OOF FG element in general but I find that there are cases where it may work. In this situation, I don’t know if there is any other way around it because of the shooting conditions but that’s something I’ll keep in mind in future opportunities.

Good to see and hear from you again Adhika. The cloned version is quite a bit better and good of @Alan_Kreyger to notice that band. The colors are very harmonious in this image. I agree with @Harley_Goldman about the OOF foreground. When viewed small I actually really like it but when I clicked to get the larger version it becomes a noticeable distraction. Not hugely so but enough for me to think that this might be better with less foreground height that is OOF although I have to say that it is artistic. I love the how the tree rises out of the shadows as @Igor_Doncov mentions and that is what grabbed my attention when scrolling through the thumbnails.