The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I had to travel far to capture this image. I got up early to beat the sunrise, went out the front door and traveled about 15’ to the edge of the front porch and setup the tripod. I do not know if this will be everyone’s cup of tea, so I would really like your opinions on this image.
It was early so I decided to stick with the cooler tones as I already had some different compositions that are a little warmer. You can also see that the sun was just beginning to come up and light up the BG trees in different areas. I also decided to shoot at f9 and go with a three image stack to try and get most of the redbud in focus while trying to keep the BG trees as soft as I could.
Specific Feedback
The couple of things I am mainly interested in are how the cooler tones work for you along with the DOF. If you notice anything else please let me know as I value everyone’s opinion.
Technical Details
Nikon Z7, Nikon 24-200 @ 200mm, f 9 @ 1/8 sec, ISO 100, Kase Wolverine magnetic CPL.
An amazing image for me, Ed. I think you did a great job with focus stacking, thereby getting all the delicate blossoms perfectly in focus, while the background is nicely blurred. Furthermore, the color contrast between the cooler and warmer shades makes for an appealing tension to my eye. Finally the branches provide a firm structure leading me through the whole composition.
Gorgeous!! I love the cool reds against the subtle warm tones in the BG!! The stack looks perfectly done and just right!!
I’ve been thinking of a similar excursion to my neighbor’s house for their Redbud. It’s a bushwhack of about 400 ft. Also needs to be early to beat the sun and wind.
Hi Ed. I think that this is a beautiful image and what I like most is the fairly saturated blossoms against a fairly low saturation background. This creates a really pleasing aesthetic and eliminates the potential of chaos and too much going on.
Overall, I think that the shallow DOF works nicely and I also opened the image up in Photoshop to experiment with the colour temperature. I tried comparing a warmer version to your cooler one but I personally can’t say which one I prefer more. Both work for me equally well.
Hello, Ed. I think you’ve done a strong job processing this one, colors are solid. I generally prefer cooler tones to warm tones so I’ve got no issues with the white balance. DOF surely doesn’t hurt this image. I think having it sharp all the way through would have distracted from the main subject here. There are two things that jump out at me, one you can easily fix if you so desire, the other I’m not so sure about. In the background on the right hand side there is a gap in the redbud branches. Between those (small triangular shape) the warmth, saturation, and brightness of the out of focus area pulls my eye…easy fix if you’re so inclined. Second issue is more challenging…and maybe it is just me. To my eye, there is a very prominent diagonal line that runes nearly the entire image from nearly the top left corner through the main branches of the tree and then almost connects to another branch that runs from the trunk out to the right side. Straight lines in nature draw my eye because they are so rare, but again, this may be more me than the image…
Sweet shot, Ed. The colors, subject, composition and oof bg all add up to a fine image. I see David beat me to it about the straight line across the image. I saw it this morning and decided I would comment on it later tonight. At first glance I thought it was a electric line, but I know there’s none there.
@David_Wallace, you are not crazy. It’s the first thing that jumped out at me. I may be crazy though as I see two straight lines. I think it can be fixed but certainly a challenge for sure. Otherwise, this is a beautiful image. Glad you were able to plan out this remarkably long trip and get what you were hoping to get, Ed!
Your depth of field is perfect. Good thinking in the field to plan for that. Your stack of the red buds looks great and that blurred out BG works really well. I think the colors are rendered just about right but I can see why @Tom_Nevesely would think to try and warm them up.
Beautiful image Ed. The cool tone of the red buds against the warmer background works for me. Only minor nit is I wish there were more red buds in the center of the image. They are so beautiful.
Quite a lovely image. The DOF is perfect, and color/tones look great too. I enjoy the subtle texture in the tree trunk and how the limbs form interesting shapes, as a secondary element to the beautiful redbuds.
I noticed the straight lines too, but decided not to bring it up. Both could easily be broken up with just a few spots of cloning. Such a gorgeous image it’s worth a bit of experimenting.
@David_Wallace, @Michael_Lowe and @David_Haynes: I had not noticed those lines before you pointed them out. That’s what so great about NPN; all the extra eyes helping out. I will have to play around a little and see what I can come up with to try and break them up a little more.
@Diane_Miller: How did the bushwhack of 400’ to your neighbor’s redbud turn out?
@David_Haynes: Yeah, I thought I would never get there.
Beautiful capture of the redbud! I’m quite impressed with the journey to get to this too!
Excellent method and use of the focus stacking. It’s a great technique to use the focus stack with a moderate aperture to keep the background soft-er. I think you’ve succeeded well here.
I too noticed the straight line; but the more I study this, especially the larger view, it becomes less prominent.
The colors? beautiful. The redbud are rendered beautifully and I also like the softer colors inthe background that are allowing the blossoms to stand out nicely. I would agree with the open area with the brighter yellow/greens. I think selectively reducing the sat could mitigate that a bit. But that’s minor.
Beautiful image. My weeping Eastern Redbud is now leafing out…
Thanks so much for the kind words @Lon_Overacker ; much appreciated. So glad you enjoyed as well. I hope you are able to capture some images of your Eastern Redbud.
Gorgeous image, Ed. Glad you survived the long trek. This really jumps out at you (in a good way). It grabs your attention and lures you in, which is exactly what you want. The straight lines mentioned by others is obvious at such a small size, but when it’s viewed at the largest size, it becomes readily apparent that it’s just an illusion and it’s separate branches. The way the branches splay out from the bottom is lovely and the mildly warmer colors in the BG really complements the presentation. Well done!
Good company!
