The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Out searching for natural beauty a friend and I came across a fairly large stand of aging moss covered trees. I believe most of them are birch but not sure. Many had ferns growing from the trunks and lumps of gorgeous moss, some ferns fully grown and some just sprouting and there were many to explore. I definitely want to go back before the vibrancy of the scene begins to fade with the coming of drier, warmer weather. The experience has me considering a longer lens…This was taken at 200mm, the limit of my current arsenal of lenses…this is about a 50% crop to 16x9. Getting closer just wasn’t really possible and wouldn’t have allowed this eye level perspective. There was a lot of clutter such as twigs that I took out with liberal use of the Remove Tool in PS. Please take a look and let me know what you think. Was my first try using the tool so if you have any advice to make better use of it that would be great. Also if you want to express your opinion of such heavy handed editing tools please share it with me. Some of my friends are more puritanical in their photography than I am and I get it. To me it’s all about disclosure.
Specific Feedback
-overall impression and advice
-evaluation and opinion on removing objects
-I’m thinking it might look better a little darker? But monitor settings do differ.
Technical Details
Nikon Z7II
Sigma 70-200/f2.8 Sport
Singh Ray Warming Polarizer
OK since sharing the photo I found some editing problems in the LRC but don’t see a way to delete the post and repost the fixed version. It baffles me how I can miss such obvious issues like that…
What I do is to click the pencil icon on the original post to edit it, then I delete the reference to the old and upload the new in its place. See if that works for you.
Great find, capture and also a great nature story. The details are wonderfull and I like the selective focus/dof where the bg is just soft enough to separate. The colors/sat and general processing are excellent; you’ve portrayed the mosses, greens and yellows perfectly.
I used to be that way back when shooting film - ie. you get what you get, send the slide to the lab and get a print. Not many chances to “edit” an image so to speak. But also, I look at moderate cloning like this: If I were a documentarian type photographer for say journalism, botany, zoology, etc. etc. , then cloning and edits should be limited, if at all. Where I play, “fine art” nature photography, then I have less of an issue… mind you as you correctly say, with disclosure.
The only small critique I have would be the bright, bare areas at the bottom (mostly) and the small area up top. For me anyway, the good news is that this is a very tall vertical and my suggestion would be to crop top/bottom to eliminate those areas. I don’t think this changes the image much at all and certainly the details and story remain. But of course, we each have our own views and I really like what you have posted here.
What a great find by you and your friend, Bruce. I love this color of fresh green/yellow fern and moss that seems to permeate the PNW. The colors seem a little warm but it looks great! There is just enough fall off in depth of field to separate the main tree from the background clutter but perhaps opening up to f/2.8 or f/4 would have given you a little more blur on the background to separate the main tree smoothing the chaos. The composition is interesting. I tried cropping the top and the bottom and found that the tree trunk itself is interesting enough to keep it as is. I do find that the very bright lower section of the tree trunk grabs the eye as does the upper left portion of the tree trunk and to a lesser extent the ferns along the left portion of the trunk. I also find the reddish two trees in the background on the right edge of the frame grab my eye. I hope you don’t mind but I brought this into LR for a quick test drive and came away with this rendition below. YMMV.
Uncropped
As for your question about the use of heavy handed tools, I agree 100% with @Lon_Overacker’s statement. I’ll even go a little bit farther and that is to say that if you disclose what you did, I’d say that you can do pretty much whatever you’d like. As you say, it’s all about the disclosure.
I’m finally catching up to come back to this one Bruce.
I love the mix of Licorice Fern and moss that we get, and that is a wonderfully dense patch. I can see the desire for a longer lens; it looks like there might be some tight crops in that to play with.
I think your editing looks good. I’ve been trying to do less cloning, replacing it with luminosity adjustment when I can, but sometimes it can really improve an image to remove some of the eye grabbers. For me, disclosure is the key. I agree with the above that if you are trying to document, it’s a different story.
I really like @David_Haynes’ uncropped version and the changes he incorporated.
David thanks for the thoughtful comments. Of your 2 versions I prefer the uncropped…toning down the 2 white spots is a definite improvement. I shot a few at f5 and f6.3 and I felt that the outer sides of the ferns were a little soft so I settled on f7.1. I have a similar a scene that I cropped to square and like it enough I might make a square version of this. Yes it is warm. I used a warming polarizer and liked the effect so much I warmed it just a bit more in RAW.
Thanks for the good words Lon. I’ve had some conversations about altered photos being “fake” and I like asking, “do you think photography can be art?” The answer is almost always yes. Then I ask, “OK so what does art have to do with reality?” You’re right there’s a big difference between Documenary and Fine Art Photography. However I have seen some product photography that borders on art.
Yes these types of compositions are tough. I see them all the time and pass on them. If you had some vines that went up and down it would support the elongated vertical frame. And the background seems to always be a distraction which is hard to avoid. On the positive the colors are rich and inviting. Green is such an agreeable color and you display it wonderfully.
Hi Bruce,
I am a little late to the show, but better late than never. I quite like the greens of the ferns and moss clinging to the tree and the soft subdued light is perfect for showcasing all of the details and textures in them. I am going to be the oddball here as I like the cropped version very much as it gets rid of some less attractive areas of the tree. IMO it makes all the wonderful moss and ferns even more prominent. Anyway, very nicely done and great job isolating this section of goodness.
@David_Haynes had the same ideas I did, and his reposts are spot on. Unlike him, I do prefer the cropped version. The color palette is wonderful and there’s so much here for my eye to explore. It’s like a hidden treasure hunt. Great work!
I quite like the greens of the ferns and moss clinging to the tree and the soft subdued light is perfect for showcasing all of the details and textures in them. I am going to be the oddball here as I like the cropped version very much as it gets rid of some less attractive areas of the tree. IMO it makes all the wonderful moss and ferns even more prominent. Anyway, very nicely done and great job isolating this section of goodness.