One of the things I always look for when visiting Acadia NP during the autumn season is scenes with birch trees and the lowbush blueberry. I always enjoy the stark white of the birch bark contrasted with the deep reds of the blueberry leaves as I think they make a wonderful combination. I had been to this particular location a few years prior and decided to scout it out for some new compositions and this is what I came up with. I moved around and composed this trying to emphasize the V shape of the birch clump.
As always thanks for taking a moment to leave a thought.
Specific Feedback Requested
All C&C welcome. Do you find this to busy?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D800, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, f 18 @ 1/40 sec, ISO 800, CPL, cable release & tripod
Starting by answering your question it is busy, but not too busy. It’s a chaotic scene (not in a bad sense) but to me its very well simplified, The birch trees V gets almost all the attention every time i look to the frame. The only change i would make would be (maybe) to cool down the white on the birch trees to make them contrast more with the surrounding blueberry leaves and remove or burn that with (birch) branch on the URC.
Birch trees are gorgeous and you got a very interesting image here. Thanks for sharing.
Looking through thumbnails I had a hunch this might be yours. I do like this and it is not too busy for me. I really appreciate the pairing of the exposed and hidden birch trunks. The colors look good for my taste as well. I agree with @João_Ferrão and would clone away or burn the branch in the URC. One nit, but not a deal breaker, is the soft focus on the lower middle foreground.
Ed, love this image. I am also attracted to blueberry bushes especially in the fall but also in the spring. Don’t think it is busy as the birches lend nice structure in my view.
Many thanks @João_Ferrão, @Alan_Kreyger and @Mario_Cornacchione for taking a moment to leave your thoughts as they are always appreciated. Here is a repost with your suggestions. I removed that brighter branch in the URC and I cropped a little from the right side and bottom edge to get rid of a few more OOF leaves. The ones remaining I darkened a little so they would not be as noticeable.
Ed, I am a total sucker for birch trees. I really like how you got so intimate with this one, I think this tight view makes the birches become design elements rather than an everyday subject. I also like how the birch is leaning towards the viewer, that also increases the sense of intimacy. The colors of the blueberry leaves look spot on to me, very natural looking. The tweaks in the rework take this up a notch, and helped the image.
The first thing that caught my eye was the way the birch branch is leaning towards the viewer although it wasn’t until I read Ed’s comment that I associated that with a feeling of intimacy. The one thing that was bothering me was the area of bare twigs in the LRC but they’re much less noticeable in the rework. Lovely graphic image.
