One last Redbud image that hopefully shows off the blossoms covered with a very unusually late spring snow.
As always any and all comments are welcome.
Is this a composite? No
f14, ISO 200, 1/160 sec, 90mm
Beautiful illustration of the transition from winter to spring, Alan. Show signs of hope. Must admit, if this was a puzzle I surely would not want to have to put it together. Nicely seen and captured.
Alan,
This is a most unusual take on a redbud and I have to say that I like it very much. You handled the lighting extremely well and it shows with the lovely details in the large version. I guess the snow on the ground was acting like a giant reflector and gave you that subtle light from below. I also like the way you framed the tree with the limbs touching three sides, but not the top.
If I had to make a suggestion; and this is being super picky because this is a wonderful image; would be to clone out the one small limb coming from the bottom of the frame on the right of the tree. Thanks for sharing this unusual condition with us.
Really like how you captured the light hinting through the snow . Very beautiful image!
Thank you @linda_mellor , @Ed_Lowe and @Mario_Cornacchione for taking the time to comment.
The light reflecting from the snow was nearly blinding and good for this type of scene. @linda_mellor it was a spectacular spring morning that winter revisited, this overnight snow was gone by evening and spring returned.
@Ed_Lowe , I appreciate your comment on the bottom branches I was hoping to get some feedback on it. Are you referring to the one coming from the bottom of the frame, the twigs near the main branch or the larger one with a blossom? Or all the above and have a clean frame to match left side? My first thought prior to posting was to have them all removed.
I really like how you’ve controlled the exposure. Shooting a scene like this often ends in under exposure .
@Michael_Lowe thanks for the comments. My attempt one was a little under exposed, I am glad a took a few.
@Ed_Lowe , this is what I initially had in mind, but didn’t take the time in my first post.
I like this a lot Alan, it tells a nice story about really unusual conditions. The backlit snow has a luminous glow to it. I also like the radial pattern of the branches, it makes the image more dynamic. I think the clone suggestion by @Ed_Lowe helps too.
This is a true nitpick to an otherwise fine image. Using a polarizing filter and/or a wide angle lens can create uneven tonality in blue skies. It’s not terribly noticeable in this image, but the ULC is a darker blue, and the LRC is a lighter blue. If you wanted to try to balance the blue tonalities a bit more, here is a link to a technique discussed by @Sean_Bagshaw that can fix this “polarizer sky”. It may not make a major difference in this image, but it’s a technique worth knowing for other images.
https://www.photocascadia.com/how-to-fix-dreaded-polarizer-sky/
Ed,
Thanks for your comments and the link to the Sean’s site. I have other images where it is definitely more noticeable and I will work with this technique. It’s noticeable to me that this is rarely an issue in SE Michigan where we have white hazy sunny or other skies over 90 percent of the time. The Great Lakes add the moisture and bluebird skies are unusual. This has been more of an issue on trips “out west”.
