Playing with light , colors and composition

Just playing to get a nice image.

What technical feedback would you like if any?All feedback is welcome

What artistic feedback would you like if any?Very curious if you find it a good play

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

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

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Pleasant image. I like the layers here with the FG nicely separated from the BG. My only suggestion would be to have used a polarizer to cut down glare on the FG leaves. Still a very nice image.
:vulcan_salute:

Ben,

That backdrop is gorgeous. Almost looks like wallpaper (meant in a complimentary way…) like it’s one dimensional. My wish would be to get in front of those bushes and just shoot the forest!

The colors and processing look great. However, I just can’t get past the bushes - like they’re blocking me from that beautiful scene behind. I get the juxtaposition between the two elements, but for me, the bushes are just too dominant and there’s not much interest there.

Only suggestion I have would be to crop sides and bottoms and bring a better balance between fore and background; even if it’s 50/50.

Just my .02.

Lon

Ben, I love the color palette that you used here, orange and green seem to work very nicely together in this scene. I also like the soft painterly feeling you get from the diffuse appearance of the background. I also like the V shape in the foreground vegetation.

I agree with @Michael_Lowe that it looks like you may not have used a polarizer to remove glare from the green leaves. In a rework I used luminosity masks to make a Lights 2 selection, and darkened only the highlights in the green leaves with a TK burn layer. This sort of helps with the glare, not exactly the same as a polarizer, but close. I also agree with @Lon_Overacker that a crop from the bottom to show less of the foreground would help. Unlike Lon, I would not crop any from the sides, I like it as presented. So I would got for a more panoramic crop instead.

@Michael_Lowe @Lon_Overacker @Ed_McGuirk Thank you for working with me on this image.

You used a magic word for me Ben: “Playing.” Lotta folks get all serious about their photography, while there’s still magic in exploration and experiments, leavened by a sense of discovery and joy. I’m not sure I can offer changes to this image, but I most certainly find it engaging. There are a lot of elements at work, and small changes in comp (screen crops in my case) dramatically affect the relationships.

I can accept and enjoy it as a finished comp, but it’s also engaging to dissect it into its parts. In that regard it’s almost like my own walks in the woods looking for compositions. It may seem an odd way for a photo to engage a viewer, but that feeling of transport into your woods is strong.

Thank you for playing with me on this image @Hank_Pennington,For me is photography and processing it, always playing. And learning comes with that. Also keeping my mind working.