A few weeks ago @John_Williams and I took a 4 day photo adventure in southern Washington to shoot fall color and waterfalls. This shot is from the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge very near Latourell Falls. The rain had stopped but wind was pretty strong. It blew away a good portion of the canopy top, which created a nice view of the sky through the trees and leaves.
Specific Feedback Requested
All comments welcome. I’m especially interested in processing comments but welcome any others.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
D850, 16 - 35 at 16mm, 1/40 sec @ f/13, ISO 64
This is always a nice perspective, and I can smell the autumn in the air just looking at it. It’s a little tricky with the blue sky, because I think that actually washes out the gold in the leaves a bit, but I don’t reckon anybody will complain about a clear sky in the PNW this time of year!
The ferns and moss on the tree on the left side is very interesting to me, and I find myself wishing for a composition that isolates and highlights this part of the scene. It would be a challenging composition to get just right, however.
I like how you used the moss to add a slightly different twist to a “looking up at autumn trees” image. it’s a nice element to add into this scene.
These type of images can sometimes be difficult to process for dynamic range and shadow detail. But your processing has handled both shadows and highlights well, with details in both without losing too much contrast. The yellows look vibrant but not over-saturated. Color is subjective, but I wish the blue sky was slightly bluer, to add more color contrast and make the leaves stand out more. You could maybe try to use a PS selection based on the blue channel, to try to tease a bit more blue color and or saturation out of the sky.
My only other nitpick suggestion is a slight crop from the top edge. The way a couple of the branches exit the frame in the top left bothers me slightly, and a crop may help reduce this. @jefflafrenierre this is related to some of the edge distraction discussion we had in your 3 image glacial lake series.
One of my favorite images from the trip, yours or mine. I love the combination of the fall color, the green moss/ferns, and the blue sky above with just a tad of cloud interest.
Knowing how much brighter the sky was, I think you’ve done a great job of taming that contrast. On my monitor, it seems slightly too magenta? I agree with @Ed_McGuirk about contrasting the sky with the fall foliage, but another way to get that would be a bit more pop in the yellow. Here’s a clumsy attempt at those two suggestions:
@Ed_McGuirk and @John_Williams , thanks for the comments and suggestions! I used TK8 panel and used a color mask to darken the blue in the sky, then opened LAB color space to remove the slight magenta cast. Then went back to Lightroom and added some pop to the yellows. I think these changes made a big improvement. Thanks for the help!
@jefflafrenierre, thanks for the comments! Your crop suggestion made me curious so I had some fun. How does this look? It isn’t a replacement for the original so I posted it here rather than the top.
The rework 's approach from two angles has gotten the leaves to really separate and pop out. Very nice…
And your just for fun stab at a crop for the moss is kind of cool too. It’s not something you expect to see in an autumn image, which makes it interesting.
