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I rather thought this little tree looked like the star of the stage, but I’d be interested to any reactions.
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Image Description
The little tree backlit by the spot of light caught my eye, but the shapes and textures of the clouds were wonderful, too. This was on a workshop with David & Jennifer last week, in Utah.
Technical Details
Handheld, polarizer on. Processed in ACR only. Mostly targeted adjustments, toning.
A couple of things catch my eye here and that little tree silhouette is one of them. The other is that big, black ominous cloud hanging right above that tree throwing shade and also light. This was well seen by you, Bonnie. By the way, great to have you back!
The sky is pretty magical in this scene. Little white fluffy clouds intermixed with dark and brooding clouds make for such incredible atmosphere. But yes, it’s that small tree perfectly frame under that dark cloud that screams look at me. And it should. It’s so well placed and perfectly timed.
You might want to look at dodging that dark spot in the ULC above that cloud. Other than that, I love this as is.
Yes, welcome back! Great to see an image post from you.
What a glorious sky! Great choice going with the B&W and great job with contrast, highlights and shadows.
The treetop certainly grabs attention sticking up in to that bold sky. My next thought was wishing there was more of that tree against the sky instead of the darker landscape. I love how the treetop fits nicely in the little gap/hole in the clouds. Very cool. I expect not much could have been done about getting more of the tree given the vantage point you had. Not a big deal though.
I keep coming back to glorious. That’s my impression.
This strikes as an image of a mature photographer. By that I mean it isn’t reliant on a common composition. In fact composition seems to be of secondary importance here. What I mean is that the comp is great but this isn’t a ‘design’ image. What’s my first reaction? I guess hope and determination. But on a more basic level I just like the tonal gradations.
Btw. The cloud in the upper left corner? Thumbs up.
It looks as though you’ve gone in a different direction a bit. Is this purposeful or just an opportunity that came up. Either way I like it.
Hi Bonnie! The image immediately drew me in. I’m a fan of warm B&W, so I had to go check out your other work as well. Peeping Through the Apples was unexpected in a good way, and I enjoy the range of styles and subjects you photograph.
The tree is perfectly highlighted like it is on its own little stage.
I hope you don’t mind, the image inspired me to play around in Photoshop. I wanted to see the foreground in more detail and I tried a different crop to match the heavy horizontal framing of the dark cloud above.
Thanks! I see what you mean about the dark area; might darken the rest of the top sky to match. Will check it out.
Yes, there was no way to get more of that tree. Well, at least without rappelling off the very tall bridge we were on! That’s a good word for this sky - glorious.
I do feel more and more mature by the day.
As far as composition, my mode is to just do what looks good to me. Sometimes I think about the rule of thirds and such things, but not very often.
This is different than what I was doing (more or less) lately. The light was just so striking (glorious!), it felt like the photo needed drama and to be b&w, as the color was irrelevant. So, I guess it was both purposeful and opportunistic. The scene presented itself to me and this is my interpretation.
I’m glad you liked Peeping Through the Apples - it really struck my funny bone.
Your pano crop does emphasize the breadth of the scene, for sure. I didn’t bring out the foreground as I was thinking more of a silhouette style. And I didn’t crop the lighter sky as it was the sky that really thrilled me. The wispy light clouds above that dark solid cloud was quite interesting to me.
I see what you mean about the dark area; might darken the rest of the top sky to match. Will check it out.
