Fall Tamarack tree in a bog.
Shot at 400mm from a boardwalk in a bog with limited options to move for different compositions
This is my first post so I’m still learning my way around the NPN
First off welcome to NPN, Bryan. I think you will find the photographers here to be a wonderful group of people willing to share their knowledge and expertise. This is a very beautiful and colorful first post. It looks as though you were able to catch some vibrant fall color at it’s peak. This has some nice layering with the lowbush blueberry along the bottom and the Tamarack above.
My only suggestion would be to try and clone some of the yellow tamarack over a couple of the areas of the bright tree trunk in the BG along the right side as it does catch my eye a little. I hope to see more of your images as well as your participation in the future.
Welcome to NPN Bryan, this is a great first post, it’s good to see you diving right in !!! I enjoy shooting these trees in autumn myself, so I am glad to see a nice tamarack post.
I think the black point of the shadows on the tree trunks look good. Your mid-tones here are primarily the red blueberry bushes, and yes I think they could use a little more vitality. While the color of the tamarack looks good, it does overwhelm the reds as presented. I agree with @Ed_Lowe about the white birch being a distraction, my suggestion would be to to burn those whites down. If you wanted to draw more attention to the center of the image, I could also see adding some vignetting to all the edges except the bottom. I’d also clone away the small fallen branch at the base of the tamarack. Here is a rework reflecting my comments. To boost the reds I used a Photoshop Selective Color layer to reduce cyan (adds red) to the reds, and boosted red luminosity a bit.
Color can be pretty subjective, and a matter of personal taste. But with nice reds like this, I think they can be pushed a bit without detracting from the tamarack.
I look forward to seeing more of your work here,.
Welcome Bryan!
This is beautiful, and well done, especially at full size where the sharpening is perfect. (Those fine details get a little lost in downsizing.) Great suggestions above, and @Ed_McGuirk changes are just the ticket.
Welcome aboard, Bryan and a fine first post. My first thought was the same as Ed (and others) on the white birch. I would be inclined to clone it out or at least burn it down. I find it pulls my attention there. No other suggestions. Ed’s repost works well, but so does the original.
I look forward to seeing more of your work and reading your insights into the work of others.
Thanks for the feed back. I’ll take a more detailed look at the post processing of this image and try some different things.
