The light is indeed beautiful, Mattias. I really like the repetition and the open ended interpretation of this image: I feel some sense of mystery to what’s behind these trees. Also, I do like how they are not uniformly arranged and I like how the trunk gets more and more slanted to the sides. My problem with this image is that the front most tree on the right is out of focus. In my view, that tree is a very important tree. Not only it frames what looks like an entrance to the “forest” it also acts as a stopper from the eyes from wandering off the frame. That tree being out of focus kinda ruins the experience for me. If you have a frame where you have that tree in focus, you can try focus stacking it.
This is a beautiful image that grows on you the more you look at it. The lighting and texture with the subdued colors is what really appeals to me. I agree that the repeating trees in the mid ground, that don’t really let you see the background, adds mystery to shot. The angled tree on the right is in contrast to all off the other trees and is a little distracting to me. Makes me wonder what the view would have been like if it was angled a little to the left to cut out the outlier. Overall very nice
This is exquisite. An artistic rendering of nature. It’s also a bit of a mind bender (to borrow a Lon phrase) in that it’s challenging to figure out which trees are in front of the other. The perspective has been flattened and that’s part of the appeal. Also, dark trees usually appear behind light ones but the reverse is true here. So, it’s kind of a visual curveball.
There is a lot going on here but it doesn’t seem busy, at least to my sensibilities. I can’t think what to suggest. Usually I don’t like grass or branches entering the bottom of the frame like this but it works really well here. I think that without that brush at the bottom this image is much, much weaker. Good job. A well conceived composition.
First of all, thank you all for valuable input and thoughts.
@Adhika_Lie Hi. I am in agreement with you on this one. w/o a Tripod at the time I free handed a two image focus stack on f8 but besides the obvious issues of getting them, aligned I obviously missed that tree.
@John_Moses Yeah, it either either or with that tree. I am not entirely sure what I feel about it and the image but thanks again for your valuable input
@Igor_Doncov Thank you Igor. I think I need this image to marinate a while and see how it feels in a few weeks.
Mattias, I love the soft yet directional light and the strong textures of the tree bark. Your post processing of color and contrast is perfect. It is not too busy for me, it works well as a pattern shot. I also like how you cut off the bottom of the trees which only reinforces the pattern.
Like @Adhika_Lie I am ambivalent about that bent tree to the right, primarily because it is out of focus, while everything else is so sharp. If it was sharp, i would be okay with including it in your image, but it is so soft that I would recommend a crop like this. I had to do a small Content Aware Fill in PS after the crop to remove the corner of the bent tree. This changes the feel of the image a bit, but for me the out of focus tree is a non-starter.
There is lots to like here, Mattias. I think it would work quite well with different crops from the right. The best for me would be to crop just past the closer bent tree on the right.
A very fine forest image, Mattias. The interior light makes it come alive the bowing of the thin trunks you have selected for the sweet spot lends some movement to the image. And I do like the brown wiry grasses, taking up the bottom third of the photo, they not only add a contrasting texture to trees (birches?) but provide a good composition element which can sometimes be difficult to get in these tightly packed images. I did not pick up on the out of focus trees on the right, but my first reaction was that they don’t belong in the image, because their angular trunk shape is at odds with the rest of the group. Ed’s crop works better for me, but the image is very strong with or without them. I thought I would suggest “Impenetrable” as a working title title or “The Herd” ). The image need to be seen as large to get the full effect of the textures within the tree trunks. I think this is a winner no matter how long you marinate it.
It works superbly for me, Mattias. There’s a sense of great energy in the movement of the trunks and the sheer density of forms and textures. emphasised by the play of lights and darks.
Mattias,
Love this! Right up my alley. Quintessential chaotic forest scene and you’ve done very well isolating it to a more cohesive “order from chaos” image. I too love the light here. If anything, I think the light could be warmer, but that is of course a personal choice. And if you wanted you could even exploit the colors a bit. I see some hint of blues in the forward trunks which could contrast nicely with the warmer tones in the bg. Just a thought.
Also agree with Ed and others about the diagonal trunk on the right. It’s not completely out of balance with the rest of the scene, but I think there may be a stronger comp within what you have framed here.
The fun and good thing about this images and ones like it of forest scenes with repeatable/similar shapes, lines, light, etc., is that you have lots of options/alternatives to your original frame. You could crop a little, or a LOT and then tweak any edge issues that come up.
I went ahead and played with this too. It’s considerably warmer and that may not fit the impression and experience you had with the scene. I did crop/clone out that diagonal tree with resulting crops on all sides as well. A little warmth in the white balance and my stock “LAB Color” layer with normal blending mode.
First pass I had the blues up front more accentuated, but not sure if that’s a route you wanted to take. I think it looked good…
Again. Thank you all. Firstly @Stephen_Stanton “Impenetrable” it is. Great name. @Ed_McGuirk thank you for making the crop right. Thats it! @Bill_Leggett @Ian_Wolfenden Thank you for great input. Finally @Lon_Overacker you are a great contributor to this forum and has save me more than once.
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Hi Mattias, this is not the usual sort of image that I would go for nor really appeals to me. Mostly for the reason that it is very busy. I can see why it does appeal so am going to have a go at giving some cc without my judgement being too clouded. I’ll be subjective 
I would try and simplify the chaos a bit. A few people have suggested a crop and I tend to agree, I don’t feels the trees on the right add to the comp. I think they dsitract. Out of all the suggestions I would go with @Lon_Overacker. I creates more symmetry and balance.
My other cc relates to the thin trees in the center. To be the highlights look very close to being blown. I would try bringin down the highlights to recover some more detail. That said having brighter trees at the back does add depth to the image.
I terms of colour I think it works well. Its that drab/bleak/winter woods and I think you have conveyed that really well here. There is a danger of ramping up the warm tones too much in these kind of scenes that give an faux impression of the conditions. In this respect, well done!!