Pirouette

Image Critiques Landscape Critiques
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Critique Style Requested: In-depth

The photographer has shared comprehensive information about their intent and creative vision for this image. Please examine the details and offer feedback on how they can most effectively realize their vision.

Self Critique

I am currently working on a project about “dancing trees”. These trees burned down in a fire and are now standing in bizarre shapes in an empty marshland. When the conditions are right they seem to come alive and due to their shapes many of them seem to interact with each other.

The snow and dense fog helped me to isolate the trees and highlight their shapes by excluding most distracting elements.

Composition wise I deliberately put the tree in the background in the triangle of trunk and branch of the foreground tree. Also I took care, that it does not overlap with the young, living tree to the left.

I specifically chose this picture for the image critique because there are still some distracting elements/branches in the foreground, since I did not want to clone anything out. Unfortunately I could not avoid them by moving around as I would have lost other important elements of the image. I brightened and desaturated them to make them less distracting. I wonder if it is okay to leave them in or if you have any ideas on how to make them even less distracting. In regards to NLPA is it okay to work with techniques such as brightening elements?

Furthermore I would very much appreciate a feedback regarding the color work on this picture. It was a bit tricky to find just the right tonality for the white snow, as it is a very fine line between too blue and too yellow…

Creative direction

Specific Feedback

This picture will be part of a series of 8-10 images of “ballet dancing” trees. I wonder however, if the dancing movement comes across or if it is just me :wink: Also, even though I very much like these pictures, I wonder if it is just my emotional attachment to the images or if also from an objective perspective a series like that could work. The shapes and “positions” of the trees are completely different in each picture and many of them consist of more than one tree interacting/dancing with each other. However the colors and context in all of the pictures are quite similar and I am not sure if a set of images like that would still be interesting to a viewer who is not as emotionally attached to the pictures as I am :slight_smile:

Also I would very much appreciate feedback on the color work and the approach to deal with distracting elements since these are topics relevant for all the pictures of the series.

Technical Details

Settings: 1/125 Sec at f/9, ISO 160, 53mm
Camera: Sony A7 IV
Lens: Tamron 28-200
Processing: processed in Lr and Ps, trying to get the colors/whites right, brightening and desaturating distracting elements, noise reduction in Lr, sharpening

Description

Walking through the marshlands I could only see ahead like 5-10 meters due to the thick fog. The burned trees, covered in snow, appeared in front of me very suddenly. It was kind of an eery atmosphere. Due to the shapes and interaction between many of the trees they looked either like fighting or dancing trees. Since the world has enough negativity and fights in it at the moment, I for sure chose to see it as dancing movements. Immediately I saw many ballet-positions in the trees and the Idea of a series titled “ballet of the living dead” was born.

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2 Likes
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Hi @Ronja!

I’m a huge sucker for dancing trees, so these images are always a joy for me.
For NLPA it is totally find to leave in the minor distractions and it is usually better than removing them if you can help it, but if you do decide to reduce their impact, then yes, increasing the brightness or something similar could work and is allowed, but I think it would not be a good choice for this image because it would force the viewer to look down there. You could reduce the contrast though, especially the tree at bottom right!

I honestly can only see a few things I’d like to see improved - one is the separation between the left part of the trunk and the smaller tree - I’d like to see more space between those two elements.

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That sounds like a great project, and I really like the dance analogy. If all the trees have this much character I do think it could work, and it will be enjoyable to see your end result.

I don’t find the other elements distracting; I think they add a nice bit of perspective and interest to the image. I think the color also looks just about right.

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I love the simplicity and the loneliness I see in this image. Beautiful Tone !!!

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This is quite lovely. I’m a sucker for trees, and this is a fantastic specimen. I agree with Matt that a little more separation between the limb and those smaller branches of the other tree/bush would be a minor improvement. I think you could also slightly boost the lighter tones to give this a “brighter” presentation but if a more somber mood was your goal, you achieved it. Sounds like a fun project and I look forward to seeing other images from it.

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Thank you @Matt_Payne for the helpful pointers! I will definitely try again to mitigate the distracting tree at the bottom right by reducing the contrast. Thanks for pointing out the brightness issues! Good point about the separation between the branches, this one was a bit tricky to compose in the field.

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Thank you @John_Williams for your kind comment, that is great to hear. Indeed the other trees I’d say have even more character than this one. I really hope the series will work out in the end =)

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Thank you @Gill_Vanderlip and @Bret_Edge for your kind comments, I really appreciate it! I will try and see how it looks with a bit brighter presentation, maybe it fits the dancing theme even better. I was going for the more somber mood as I still was influenced by the eery atmosphere I experienced in the field I guess :wink: I might post this series in the project critique section once I finally have edited them all.

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Wonderfully evocative tree in this quiet scene. I love it. The freshly fallen snow sprayed across the trunk and limbs gives this scene great contrast. Your idea to do a project on dancing trees is such a great idea because who doesn’t love dancing trees. This tree has so much character. It’s like it’s asking it’s child for a dance, reaching down to that little tree beneath it. I think you did a terrific job spacing all of the elements in the scene and I’m not bothered at all by how close the low branch of the main tree is to the little tree. I think it tells a better story having their two “hands” almost touch in preparation for the dance. I can’t recommend a single thing to make this better. Well done and beautifully composed and seen.

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This is very fine, Ronja. I’m with David H - I wouldn’t change a thing. I also see the little tree as a child, with the large tree reaching down to it, maybe getting ready to tickle it’s chin. Perfect.

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Thank you @David_Haynes and @Bonnie_Lampley for your kind comments. I appreciate them greatly. What a wonderful way to see the relationship between the two trees, I love it!

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Hi Ronja,
This is quite lovely and I definitely see the correlation with dancing trees. I am also loving the high key minimalistic look you created with this image. I think you did very well in placing the elements around the scene to minimize distractions. My only suggestion would be the same as @Matt_Payne with allowing a bit more seperation between those two trees. Good luck with your project and I look forward to seeing more images from it.

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There seems to be a wonderful story here based around the main characters in the scene: The tall tree and small tree beside it. It definitely feels like a hand extending down and the small tree reciprocates with its’ extended branch. Rather than separate them and reduce the connection, I feel like this is the strongest part of the story and perhaps the title could reflect that to help the viewer with that connection? Lovely image!

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thank you @Ed_Lowe for your kind words. I might post the project in the project section sometime when I finally have edited all the images :smile:

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Thank you @Viktoria_Haack, I really appreciate your kind comment. That is a great idea and I will think about the title again! I saw your wonderful presentation at the 617club the other day by the way! I enjoyed it a lot, very inspiring!