This is a photo I shot back in 2012 while on my annual trip to Zion National Park. The maples are so fun to shoot, and that year they had a pretty good showing. I am hoping that this year will also be a good one for the maples.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
Anything that comes to mind. Please be honest.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Anything that comes to mind. Please be honest.
Any pertinent technical details:
Fuji Velvia 50 8x10 film | Ebony RW810 Camera | Nikkor 450mm Lens
Allow other members to download your photo to demonstrate processing examples only?
I really like this. Great color and the contrast is great. If I would suggest anything is crop some of the darker bottom because my eye is getting pulled that direction despite the more interesting areas being further up.
Ben, This is very nice. I think the back lighting makes the intensity of the leaves really work here. For me the big draw over just the wonderful light and color is the black tree trunks and limbs. They really seem to give this scene a bit of extra visual structure to the elements involved. …
I do think I might “fuss” with the right side green patch in mid level height there. Not any big deal at all but for some reason has my eyes wandering a bit too much right there. A very slight crop or a variety of other approaches might be worth a try for an additional look. …
This is working quite well for me. I might try pulling down the green saturation on the lower leaves. I find they compete with the yellow and pull my eye there (Which is what I think Paul was saying). No other suggestions.
It’s so great having you post on NPN again. Despite having sold all my LF gear a few years ago now, I still continue to have a huge respect and affinity for the big film cameras - and always awed by your use of the 8x10. I actually miss being under the dark cloth and that whole process…
Love how you’ve filled the frame here and can only imagine how this looks on the light table. Great combination of trunks and leaves; and while there is no single point of focus, that means the focal point IS the scene as a whole, and it’s beautiful.
My feedback is pretty minor. To me, it looks like the area in the middle, right of center from the bg trees looks a tad magenta to me. Of course I can be confusing that with the orange/red mix… And also the bg behind the lower left area slightly cyan. Of course this is all subjective and you just may like it as is.
Great image Ben and I love how you’ve filled the frame. I think a slightly tighter crop where you take off a small bit of the right side and a small bit of the bottom would stop the eye wandering around the frame a bit.
Thanks for the feedback @TJ_Thorne@Richard_Wong@Paul_Breitkreuz@Harley_Goldman@Lon_Overacker and @Sam_Ison One of the things I love about this site is how you gain a different perspective of a photo by posting it for critique. This is a photo that I originally disregarded because there was a very annoying bright spot in the middle of the photo. Initially I tried to clone it out and it looked horrible, so I forgot about it. After having the photo drum scanned, I had enough detail where I could simply burn it down and keep things nice and natural. I appreciate the feedback about the green leaves and the right side of the photo as well. That is stuff I will certainly work on when I eventually print this one. Thanks again!
Funny enough @Ben… I noticed that bright spot too but didn’t want to be nit picky and it wasn’t a HUGE distraction for me so I didn’t mention it. It was this spot here. Not sure if it’s the same one. But yeah it’s nitpicky.
You nailed it @TJ_Thorne! That’s the exact area I was referring to. It was mostly just the background area with the green and the surrounding orange that was too bright. I should likely take down the brightness of the yellow in that area too. You should see what it looked like before. Trying to recover detail from the highlights of slide film can be a bit tricky, and I was right on the threshold. Not bad for a film with about 4 to 5 stops of dynamic range.
