Blairs Wood in Forres is one of those rare well managed pine forests that has trees growing at just the right density to allow life to teem beneath it. I ventured out on a misty late summer morning and was delighted to see flowering heather, just turning bracken and a variety of birch, pine and other coniferous trees all at different stages of their life cycle, bursting with colour and oozing with life. Very refreshing and the scent of the heather was divine.
Fuji GFX50S, (Std Neg profile) GF100-200mm zoom, 3 shot focus stack, f/16 at 1/5 sec, ISO 100
Am wishing for Smell-O-Vision right now! I bet it was as wonderful as you describe. I agree that the heavy canopy gives the shot a more oppressive air than the undergrowth and fog implies. You could crop a bit and maybe lighten the greens somewhat depending on how far you want to take it. Seems there is an overall magenta cast as well that can be addressed to provide some color separation that I bet would be amazing. What a wonderful find - if I lived anywhere near it, I’d be there all the time! The tree on the far left has such a presence. Great anchor.
Great use of Light Ian. I love a nice soft light like that. It creates great depth with the atmosphere. I also think you did a terrific job with your tree spacing. I can’t find any trees that are of the utmost importance to the scene intersecting with one another and that’s not easy to do! The only adjustment I’d make to the composition is going a little wider or scooting back to bring in more space to the left of the tree on the left.
I really enjoy the content here. But the tree on the far left is way too bright, it’s stealing all of the attention from the rest of this beautiful scene. I would recommend trying to reverse that, by darkening that tree and brightening up the rest of the scene a bit. That fog has room to go brighter. I did this rather sloppily but something to this effect:
This is gorgeous! Really unique setting & composition. That big tree on the far left is positioned very near the left border and that creates quite the “tug” in that direction, but the cascading branches from above & refreshingly vibrant (but not too vibrant!) colors in the mosss & heather on the far right all combine to create some entertaining eye movement throughout the image. Really well done!
Wonderful! Ok, not fair to compare, but the previous image was pretty magical! This is too, but not to the same level. But, that doesn’t take away from the beauty and mood this image has captured.
I really like Eric’s edit; it’s like there’s a bit of a glow in the interior of the forest now which is quite nice. Maybe even a slight vignette would highlight that even a little more.
Beautiful image. I’m with Kris too - sure wish we could experience all the other senses that you got to enjoy. I guess we’ll just have to settle with the visual. Thanks!
