Fog is a photographer’s best friend and I was out in it for a little bit at the end of February as a storm came in. I was on the side of the road in Iowa county for this one, in a biting wind, but I had to give it a try.
The whole scene made me find a place to turn and go back. Good thing there are wide shoulders because the hill was steep. The line of the fence leading to the tree behind was a key element to manage in the composition. Luckily there wasn’t anything else in this particular field.
Specific Feedback Requested
I worked this one pretty hard and hope it works. It’s foggy and there was hardly any color so I did a b&w conversion despite the tonal limits. Any suggestions for improvement are welcome. I tried to get separation with one of the gate posts and the bare area around the tree, but couldn’t. Should I clone stamp up there to add more snow? Hm…
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Lumix G9
Lumix G Vario 35-100mm f/2.8 lens @ 48mm (96mm equiv.)
f/8 | 1/640 sec | ISO 250
Handheld
Lr processed for a little exposure, B&W conversion, curves adjustment, texture, clarity & dehaze (but not much of any, just enough to give some definition). Cropped to straighten horizon. I also flipped this horizontally since it seems to flow better that way. Ps to remove stuff in the snow, Smart sharpen (which I think was too much, but have a look) and a few TK6 masks to enhance tonalities.
Really good job on the composition, the curved line of the fence is very strong visually. And you effectively dealt with one of my pet peeves about leading lines, I like to have them end at something of interest, like the second ghost tree in the background here. Leading lines that lead nowhere tend to bother me.
I don’t think you need to clone anything here, I actually like the bare area beneath the tree, it draws me into the tree. Overall this is very well done, and is a classic winter scene. For suggested tweaks I would actually dodge and soften the top half of the big tree. And I would use a darks mask to apply TK dehaze to the closest part of the fence, so that you get it sharper up front, which emphasizes the fade to softness as you move down the curve of the fence. When I de-haze, I often find it helpful to apply it through a darks mask, which keeps the lighter stuff softer. I also gently dodged the top 1/3 of the image.
I think @Ed_McGuirk’s tweaks are very effective for such a subtle image.
I wouldn’t clone over most of the bare spot, just the small area behind the top of the post. The technique I use for cloning in an area such as around the post is to select the post and then inverse the selection, so you can paint away with the clone brush and not paint over the post. An often effective way to make such a selection is to start with the Quick Selection tool and select the object as much as you can without too much effort. Then hit the Q key to see the selection as a translucent overlay. Use the brush tool to paint added areas or erase (switch the brush between black and white to paint and erase). Then hit Q again for the selection and inverse it.
If it’s not an area where you can start with a selection tool, you can just paint it from scratch by hitting Q to get into quick mask mode. In some cases you may want to change the defaults for QM Mode to be for selected areas instead of protected – double-click the QM icon at the bottom of the tool bar. You can change the overlay color and opacity there, too.
Very nice image Kristen. Snow scenes, like desert scenes, are a bit easier to compose due to fewer elements and this one is a good composition. Fog helps as well. I would never have thought of making Ed’s changes to the tree. I guess if you work with fog a lot you figure these things out. The gate post is a minor issue imo. It only becomes so when someone draws your attention to it. But yes, it would make a difference. I thought it might be interesting to emphasize more that horizon line between snow and clouds but it would be difficult.
After seeing this on the big screen I take back the comment about the horizon line. I also prefer the original over the rework. This image is virtually perfect to my eyes. Good job.
I enjoy very much the quiet drama of this scene. It stimulated a good discussion. Ed’s dodging tuneup works for me; I am not bothered by the gate area at all.
I wanted to try cropping, as the framing seems a bit centered. Attached is one result. Seemed to me that a portion of all the edges contained white that did not enhance the quiet energy of the scene.
Thanks @Ed_McGuirk, @Diane_Miller, @Igor_Doncov & @Dick_Knudson for you comments, suggestions & re-imaginings. I like the softening of the tree, Ed. I’d never have thought of that either so quite valuable. Glad the post isn’t a glaring issue since all my efforts at cloning more snow in around it have been pretty terrible. I’ll give Diane’s suggestion a try as well as a bit of Ed’s arborist treatment. Dick, you could be right about the crop, but I’m on the fence (groan). Does it need ‘breathing room’ or tension? Hm…I’ll have to try some things this afternoon.
Really beautiful image, Kris. Ed’s softening works, but its effect is so minor for me, not sure it is worth it. Otherwise, I love the image as presented. The gate post looks absolutely fine the way it is. Really a fine image.
I love the image the way it is, and I think the re-works are very minor changes worth trying or not, depending on where you are going to use the image, ie, social media, competition, enlarge and frame… Great discussion on differing points of view. I was struck by the image, so I opened the discussion to see what was being said.
Such a wonderfully moody image, Kristen. I love foggy images and this works perfectly. Initially, my thoughts were the crop a little off the left side to reduce the negative space other there and I took just a little off the top to maintain the same perspective. I thought doing this would place a bit more emphasis on the tree itself. I also applied a very small amount of contrast in order the just slightly differentiate the tree a wee bit more. After doing that I read the other comments and it looks like Dick had the same thoughts.
Don’t you dare. Lol. Please reconsider. All that white is not wasted imo. This image to me is not about the tree and fence. It’s a tree and fence in a sea of white. Reducing the white changes the image.
I’ve been fooling around in Lr comparing crops side by side and I agree that the extra space and fence on the left helps complete a wrap around the subject and emphasizes the lonely aspect of this bit of southern Wisconsin.
Overthinking and its resulting over-editing is a feedback loop that gets me tangled up sometimes and recognizing when to quit is all part of our growth as artists I think. Some of that is not editing to a popular standard or technique. Some is sticking to our guns when it comes to our vision. Weighing and evaluating others’ opinions is part of that growth (so we don’t get stuck in ruts or blind spots), but those opinions shouldn’t outweigh our original intent or execution if it’s coming from a place of strength.
Hi Kristen! I really love this image as is. It looks like a pencil drawing. And even though it’s a snow scene it feels very cozy to me. It makes me want to go sledding down the hill until I get too cold to feel my fingers anymore!
I won’t! I promise.