Edit: I’ve reworked more towards Diane and Kris’ suggested edits. It would probably be best to rework from scratch, but I just tacked on edits to my working file - which is huge!
I’m curious to know if the edit went too far? Or does it still look reasonable?
Thank you all!
Critique Style Requested:Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
One of my favorites from a vacation to Victoria, BC my wife and I went on last September. Of course a must see when visiting Victoria are the Butchart Gardens. With the crowds and traveling with another couple, lugging a tripod around and getting to engrossed in photography probably wouldn’t have gone over well… but sometimes we can’t help ourselves in wanting to photograph! And being in a gorgeously beautiful place really raises the inspiration bar.
Now I’m a creature of habit. I almost always naturally navigate to trees. Anyone who’s followed my work ever since I’ve been with NPN will know this. I love photographing trees. One thing I appreciate and like about this image, it could have been captured anywhere. Who would know this was in the bounds of the very famous Butchart Gardens? So it’s actually irrelevant to tell you that’s where this was taken!
Anyway, very curious if you think the processing works? Is the comp too static, boring? Your comments most appreciated.
Specific Feedback
Any and all feedback, suggestions for improvement
Technical Details
Nikon Z7ii with 24-200mm at 105mm. f/8 1/200 at iso5000, handheld
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Everything about this works, @Lon_Overacker. Your composition, the processing, colors, tonalities - all perfect. There is subtle light striking the moss in a few areas and it really makes it pop, which is quite nice. I can’t tell if the blurred area in the near center and bottom left are background elements far enough away to be blurry due to aperture of if they’re artifacts of some kind. Looks like I need to add Butchart Gardens to my list of places to visit.
Hi @Lon_Overacker, This is quite a lovely image you have shared with us. Such sweet chaos. I really love the color and texture of the moss, and the twisted form is really wonderful. I know what a task it is to get just the right depth of field to make the detail of the branches and needles fully sharp and yet still isolate them from the background, especially hand held, but I think some of the areas of background tree needles have just enough form and a little too much brightness to be distracting. Particularly the window just up and to the left of center. Perhaps a bit of negative clarity/dehaze and a drop of the highlights would subdue them? Otherwise it is delightfully seen and well processed.
Hi Lon,
This worked out quite nicely with the constraints you had. I think you framed the tree perfectly and let the branches radiate outward filling the frame. The soft subtle light was perfect for showcasing all the wonderful details in the leaves and mosses. My only suggestion would be to remove that green spot about two thirds of the way up toward the left edge of the frame. Beautifully done.
Agree with Diane’s idea to make the moss sing - I bet a color mask with the TK panel in Ps would target it well. There’s great light here that you could accentuate with this technique. Oh heck, let me just do it -
Of course this might not be what you envisioned and if you try the RAW file will be more flexible and subtle, but you get the idea. Hope you don’t mind. It’s a gorgeous tree with its mossy coat.
It is always a joy to see your work, especially your trees. This one is just magical. I like how you processed it, the dark treatment of the Oak against the specular highlights in the background makes the oak the definite star of the photo and really accentuates the contorted branches.
But I also like what @Kris_Smith is getting at , but maybe not as far as she went, maybe somewhere in the middle.
Thank you all for the comments and feedback. Looking at this now after the suggestions, the original almost looks dreary… And so thank you @Kris_Smith for putting up your suggested re-work.
re: fuzzy thing just above center. Yeah, that catches me too. I’ve stamp-cloned in ACR; it’s rough, but one could only tell if they’re looking closely…
I’ve attempted to brighten, bring out the mossy trunk more thru a number of new layers, including color and tone masking. Also added a Smart Orton layer and low opacity - Thanks Kris!
cloned out the “green spot” on the left - thanks Ed!
re: the background. Yes, there was oall vegetation behind the tree, directly behind and at distance; in fact the tree is in an elevated position and quite a ways away from very colorful sunken garden area. So very busy bg. F/8 doesn’t have great depth, so much of the bg was blurred anyway.
Thank you again for the comments and suggestions! It feels great to be back!
Sorry to just now be chiming in on this terrific image, Lon. I’ve always loved your Yosemite trees and this one is no different. I think you’ve created great mood with your use of light on the moss and the “Structural” components of the image and this is a terrifically expressive tree. Your shallow depth of field has worked wonders to soften the clutter of the background while retaining the solid and sharp structure of the trunk and the glowing moss. Your rework is even better than the original and I loved the original. You’ve cloned a couple of blurry eye magnets and adjusted your tonality perfectly. Removing most of the highlights and adding some light and a little warmth to the trunk and mossy sections makes this sing. I can’t add much to help with this image except that maybe, just maybe, the four corners are just a smidgen too dark with vignette. It might even be natural but I can see it. Cheers Lon!
Yeah, thanks David. I was wondering if anyone would mention the corners, especially the URC. I do have a vignette and think I might adjust, dodge a little bit. Great suggestion and thank you for the comments!
This is such a Lon Overacker image. We used to see these types of images quite regularly on NPN 1.0 but not so much any more. I think you do this of work just about hi as well as anyone. It just has your feel about it somehow. Last year I saw a tree in a courtyard in Honolulu that had that look about it. The crown is not an arrangement of lines as photographers like to compose but had space within. We were looking through the tree as in this picture. One looks at the tree and through the tree.
