The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
I saw these limbs on a morning hike and liked them.
Feedback Requested
I wanted this one to be simple and somewhat painterly. I suspect that some people would prefer a tighter crop but to me the vertical expanse seemed integral to the composition.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS 90D
Lens: EF70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS II USM
Focal length: 129mm
Shutter speed: 1/3s
Aperture: f/11
ISO: 100
Processing was fairly minimal.
This is quite interesting. Well seen and composed. The colors and contrasts create a sense of mystery and foreboding. I wonder if increasing the luminosity of the light green and pale branches would enhance this feeling, separating it more from the dark background. I think it would also look nice rotated to the right into a horizontal composition. A fine abstract.
Thanks for the comment, Robert. I experimented with increasing and decreasing the luminosity of the branches. When I increased it any more than this, the photo began to seem wrong to me, so I stopped here.
Absolutely marvelous image, Don. It’s so evocative. This time around I feel turmoil. I don’t see anything sinister here. I also like your choice of color balance. And also the fact that all colors are offshoots of one color. Just an excellent image.
Hi Don! This is a wonderful image! “Like Green Fire” is a great description. As Igor said, the colors and color balance are excellent. Very well done!
It certainly does have the painterly feel you are after. I would say it has a dreamlike quality that is very evocative - almost as though under water. I particularly like the active energy of the central branches atop the subtle tonal shift from dark to light and blue through green/yellow. I confess, I would tend to crop some top and bottom to accentuate the horizontality of the branches but, at the same time, I fully understand your choice for a more vertical framing through which the branches pass. Nicely seen and fine work in post.
Don, this image caught my attention and held it. I love the painterly effect and I’m especially drawn to the dark branches “reaching out” like arms. I could project a lot of different feeling on to this image, which is why it held my interest. Nicely done.
Alice
This is wonderful, Don. I love the monochromatic aspect of it, the fact that it’s all shades of green makes it feel like we are seeing something in the dark that is luminous and mysterious.
The feelings I get from this are close to what Igor said. It’s like waking from a dream set in a medieval forest, but it doesn’t feel threatening or negative, just mysterious maybe. I think of scenes from literature: Dimmesdale and Hester meeting in the woods in The Scarlet Letter, or perhaps Frankenstein’s creation in the wilderness. Both novels have an ominous story line, but these scenes are moments when the depth and vulnerability of human nature is on display in wilderness–partly as a way of associating us more with nature than culture.
Anyway, a bit of a ramble from a retiring lit professor, but any photograph that takes me into a history of cultural associations is a powerful photograph. Nicely done.
ML
For me, this is great. Colors, texture, composition. The darker bare branch is a great contrast to the lighter, wispier, busier branches/etc throughout. A fine crop that works well. Nicely seen. Or as I like to say, five stars, no notes.
Wonderful imagery Don! All of the above! Painterly, simple, yet full of detail, even mystery. Love this Don!
I won’t beat the vertical thing… I think by now you know my thoughts on that. But one thing is for sure, I totally respect everyone else’s preferences, which of course means there is no right or wrong with any of it. And I appreciate the notion of wanting to keep the verticality of what you envisioned.
If I had any suggestion, it might be to reduce the “whiteness” of the cluster in the lower left. Not the luminosity, but the color/hue to blend more with the rest of the frame. Then again, you might like the contrast… what do I know? LOL
I am late to the party, as usual, but I love this, Don. I think it’s the best of your Palo Verde tree images. I really like the dynamism here. No nits. Nicely done!
-P
Don: Far and away my favorite of the Palo Verde images. Love the color palette especially and one can get lost in a good way savoring all the details. Really well composed, captured and presented. >=))>
