Out on a Limb +crop rework

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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Edit: Thank you so much for the response. More in comment below in thread. I’ve cropped and incorporated some suggestions. Great observations! Thank You!

… literally and figuratively. Literally, limbs of a tree hanging over the rushing Stanislaus river and figuratively speaking - I’m going out on a limb to see if this will resonate with anyone. I was attracted to the almost stark juxtaposition between the detail and contrast of the “divining rod” branches against the soft flow of the river (knowing there would be a soft flow… of course I had to imagine what the flow might do (chimping helps…)

I wanted de-emphasize the terrific flow in the river and processed the water with less contrast in hopes of making the limbs stand out a little better.

I’m more than open to suggestions. What direction would you take this - if you think a change is in order. The color version is similar with the water color pretty much like the hues and saturations of previous posts. I thought the b&w simplified the concept here.

Any and all comments welcome. thanks!

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You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Processing suggestions welcome. Conversion in Silver EFex Pro2 with further adjustments in PS

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Float your boat at all?

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

Nikon D800E, 28-300mm @250mm, f/18 .3s iso 200

Composite in that I painted in some texture from another frame in a small area to the right of the tree extending to the right edge to a little higher than the water mark. The original frame had just some detail-less white water.

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It’s a picture of two textures, not enough going on for me. I need some amount of brain food in an image. An expression or recording of some kind of intelligence or life. Dead tree and a blur. I vote friendly fire. TY

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These river images stir my imagination, Lon. Here I fondly imagine that the branch might suddenly be swept downstream in the rushing waters - there’s a sense of time about the image in other words. Most excellent conversion too.

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I like the soft focus, yet powerful, water versus the sharp focus of the tree. Just wonder what the result would be if the tree were leaning a little instead of standing upright.

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Lon, to me I would assign the title “Defiant” to this image, it feels like the little tree is standing up against the raging river. I’m amazed how much separation you were able to achieve of the tree against the background, the sharp/soft technique worked well here. I think the tree works well because of the strong V, but also because of the twiggy branch on the left, it creates a nice balance in the shape of the tree.

Because my interpretation of this image is that it’s more about the tree instead of the river, I would consider cropping it to a vertical, or perhaps a more square crop. This would place even more emphasis on the tree, yet you still have the nice soft river background to play off against the sharp tree.

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Lon, first thought for me was the diving rod connection with it finding lots of water…:cowboy_hat_face:
The stem and fork provoke a bit of wondering on the starting and ending points on the overall snag or branch here. Which helps with composition interest…:sunglasses:
The only change for me is maybe working on overall brightness, but just a perception issue on my part no doubt…:thinking:

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Lon, the textures are executed wonderfully (as usual) and the B&W is a great choice ! My first thought was there was a bit too much river on the right and why you did not opt for a square crop? Was it to emphasize the flow and river? I think this may work as effectively in square.
I like your processing as presented.

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This works for me. I would crop it off the right to almost square, bring more attention to the tree. Otherwise, looks good to my eye.

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Thank you much for the comments, suggestions and observations. I’ve tried to incorporate some of the suggestions as well as altering others.

First, excellent observation about the flow of the river vs. the detail of the tree. You’re right in that the long horizontal emphasizes the flow of the river, which in turn detracts from the tree. I think that’s what folks are saying. I think you’re right!

@Patricia_Brundage, thanks for the comments and suggestion. I thought the suggestion made sense, but became problematic when also adding a crop. I tried both skewing and rotating to make the tree less upright, but then cropping square, more vertical things became a bit unbalanced. But this give me the idea to skew/rotate the other direction making it even more upright and allowing for a bit more symmetrical crop.

So, first edit was the use of transformation skew and rotation, then crop. The crop is square, but clearly makes the comp feel more vertical - more about the tree than the water/flow.

@stevenm, I much appreciate your blunt honesty. Your observation was the first and in tune with the others. I hope this rendition works a little better. But I believe still, it still boils down to two elements of two textures. Hence, my pre-disposition of going out on a limb with this one.

@Ed_McGuirk, @Alan_Kreyger, and @Harley_Goldman, thanks for the comments and confirming the crop. As mentioned earlier, a square crop, but in combination with skewing a bit ccw. I couldn’t find a comfortable crop as it was. I think the resulting symmetry helps bring some emphasis back to the tree and the water flow is just backdrop.

Another interesting occurrence - The direction of the water flow now could be interpreted for either direction? Do you think?

@Paul_Breitkreuz, thanks for chiming in too and for your comments and observation. You mentioned brightness - but not which direction? :wink: I’m going to assume the suggestion is to darken a bit. I did process a little brighter. I adjusted the white point on a Levels layer and also added a burn layer and liberally painted/burned much of the frame.

Thanks so much everyone for helping improve the image. Not sure it’s a keeper, but it’s better!

Lon

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Yes I agree, I hadn’t noticed it as much in the original, but definitely in the crop. Oddly enough the crop almost creates an optical illusion for me where the water in the URC is flowing left to right, and the water in the LRC is flowing right to left :thinking:

Those California earthquakes must be causing some very strange things to happen…

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Lon, the repost is the ticket for me, especially with the “brightness”. Oh yes, I did fail to say it was too bright…:upside_down_face:
So, the darkening is excellent in getting more see-able detail for me…:+1::+1:

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Lon, thanks for the repost…I do prefer the changes. :+1:

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I think that I prefer the second composition because of the symmetry that it creates. I do agree with you that the contrast between the sharp texture in the tree and the soft flow in the water creates interest.

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I like the simple composition of the first image with the off-center tree. I think the water looks a bit dull though. I experimented with both making the black darker and making the grays lighter, and liked the high-key option better. Now the water almost looks like clouds which adds a bit of ambiguity to the image, I think.

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Thank you @Tony_Kuyper! I was hoping someone might take a different direction with this. I may just have to consider the potential of turning the white water in to clouds! Who would have thought? But I see it! Thanks for chiming in with the possibilities!

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Ty…I need to loose some bluntness.