The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Living Large
On the south side of Seeley Lake, is a delightful forest of old growth Western Larch Trees. I could have wandered around this ancient grove for hours, but the sun was low and light was fading. Contained within the James Girard Memorial Tamarack Grove are many very old trees. In fact, the largest Western Larch Tree in the world resides here. At 1000 years old, 153 feet tall, and nearly 23 feet around, it is an impressive sight. After visiting the old tree, known as Gus, my wanderings brought me near this striking scene. I love the legacy that these young Larch Trees appear to be willing to embrace as they live in the shadow of the larger trees watching over them.
Specific Feedback
It almost seems as if the texture of the little trees gets lost. I did increase the highlights on them a little and added a slight vignette over the image. Do you think it works or should I have left the lighting more even over the scene?
Neat view for sure. I like how the small ones seem to have placed themselves to be shown off so well in front of the larger trunks. No doubt it was a light advantage that created this cluster. You ask about lighting and the first thing I noticed about this photo is the flatness, especially mid-tones through highlights. It looks a bit muddy and subdued. Usually there is a sheen on pine needles and grasses, and I see the absence here. You could do it selectively on the small trees if you wanted, but I wouldn’t make the difference too great if you don’t do it globally. A little scroll crop eliminating the top branch works nicely, too.
I’ll have to play around with that. I agree about the flatness. I tried to increase the brightness on just the little trees. It was a lot darker when I took the shot than the image shows. It was quite cloudy and even foggy so there was very little light coming through. Thanks for the thoughts!
If you use Adobe for editing have a go with Point Color in Lr making section - that’s worked well for me when I want to give trees, especially conifers, some modeling and shading. If you use Photoshop and the TK9 plug in, you can achieve something similar with luminosity or color masking. Either one would be quite targeted and probably a subtle way to bring up the lighter tones.
I did try the point color tool, which I LOVE, but it really gave the trees an odd cast. I have T9 and forget about it though. Thanks for the reminder! So many tools and so little time
Paul, this is a fine find, with the clump of young trees nicely separated from the surroundings. I do think that adding some mid-tone contrast would let the young trees stand out a bit more, or you could try some mid-tone dodging on the youngsters…
