Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
I was out photographing simple nature ideas and shot this …
Composition was not my main goal on this photograph. I love the Tone and Simplicity …
200 ISO Shutter 100 f16 or 18
Hi Gil! I love pine cones. There are so many different shapes, sizes, and textures. You really did capture this one nicely. A couple of suggestions: 1) Consider getting rid of the stick below the pine cone, which really is a distraction (that would clean up the composition, which works well with the diagonal tree branch and opposing direction of the pine cone) and 2) lower the contrast a bit. IMHO, it is so harsh that it takes away from your goal for the image. With that said, in all, nice seeing and concept!
Thanks for showing interest. The sun was really bright so I did use burning tool to help give tone and texture.
Hi Gil. I love the gritty look to this and I think you should go whole hog and make it B&W. There are some areas of the cone and lichen patches on the supporting branch that look blown out-Idon’t know if you can recover them in the raw file or not, but it’s worth giving it a try.
Thanks for showing interest. I used vibrance filter to go more towards black and white. It really looked cold to me so I left a little color in the background and warming filter on the cone. Just a slight change to make it pop out some. I tried different editing ideas and as of now I thought it was my best effort. But I can see it going different ways. I may try another approach tomorrow. I learned a new burning and dodging technique from Cole Thompson. And using levels. So I’m always learning and trying different things. To be the best “ Photographer/Composer I can be.
Peace to everyone and thanks again. 
Gill, for a moment I thought this was B&W, but then when I enlarged it I could see the green pine needles, which to me is a bit distracting coming in from the corner, and oof as well. It might not be as bad if the whole image were a true B&W image, I don’t know. I agree with the above comments from @Susanna_Euston and @Dennis_Plank . That is good that you are learning what you can from different ones, both for editing and photography. I try to do that as often as I can.
Yes I left a touch of color in background. And slightly warmed the cone. I may go back and change to black and white. Thanks for showing interest.
I also thought leaving the leaves a slight green gave more Tone. You have to look real close on the edits I did and experiment with Tone. Sometimes a slight green can bring a new tonal idea. Just my opinion. For Fun.
Thanks to everyone for showing interest in my photo. Reading the comments really helps and got me thinking.
Is it a good photograph if you use slight color in a black and white basic photograph. Use slight natural color as a tone like grays. I hope this will make good conversation on the Network.
