Rise of the Phoenix + Rework

[Jimmy_Arcade]

Re-worked:

Original:

Hello NPN friends,

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, as my wife and I have been fostering-to-adopt and it has been very time-consuming. Additionally, my iMac hard drive crashed and was in the shop for recovery for nearly 2 months. So, I’m just now getting back to post-processing and to NPN.

This image was taken during my one opportunity to chase fall colors, this past fall of 2020. I found this composition on a rigorous hike in Lee Vining, California, along the Lundy Canyon trail. While there were potential compositions in every direction, this particular tree in the center caught my attention. The mix of yellows, oranges, reds, and shades in-between made for quite a representation of the fall color changes. It also helped to have trees that were mostly green and yellow, to the left and right, in order to add some color contrast.

I really missed this community and will try to pop in every now and then, when I’m not busy washing bottles, changing diapers, or taking on a night shift for feeding and rocking the baby back to sleep.

Specific Feedback Requested

This was my first attempt at utilizing mid-tone contrast , as my primary means of introducing contrast into the image. It was also a lesson learned in removing color cast.

Also, a fellow photographer, whom I admire, offered some helpful feedback. One aspect I was unsure of was the vertical nature of the tree. She recommended I straighten the vertical perspective of the center tree, but when I tried to do so, it cut off too much of the part of the image I really enjoy. Also, the tree seems to bend different ways, so I don’t really see a problem with the vertical perspective. I’d welcome any additional thoughts on this aspect.

I would be most grateful for any feedback you have related to contrast, color cast, and vertical perspective, but I certainly welcome any and all feedback.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
My primary goal in processing this image was to allow the center tree to be the star, by reducing saturation and contrast on the edges and sides and letting the saturation and contrast run a bit wild in the middle, without overdoing it. My hope is that I accomplished this in a natural way. I mostly accomplished this by limiting the shadows and highlights, for the corners/sides, by way of a levels adjustment layer in Photoshop.

@jimmyarcade

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

@Jimmy_Arcade

I would be most grateful for any feedback you have related to contrast, color cast, and vertical perspective, but I certainly welcome any and all feedback.

I can see why you singled out this tree, but I’m not sure placing it dead center works with the surrounding trees. There looks to be a cyan cast here (blue tree trunks?).

[Ronald_Murphy]

Looks good to me, other than the cyan cast @Kris_Smith mentioned. I might burn down the trees on the left to more match those on the right and desaturate that red area there too.,

[Jim_McGovern]

Good to have you back @Jimmy_Arcade …what a beautiful scene here. Wondering if there was sky at the upper part of the tree as it looks like it only gets better going up?

As for showcasing your primary subject, there are a lot of ways you could do so. At the end of the day, you’re the only one who needs to be happy with your image, so as you know, my opinions may be in line with my vision of your image, but not necessarily yours.

WIth that said, I would see value to any or all of the following: decreasing contrast and brightness of the leaves and trees on both sides of the image, lifting shadows on the right, and decreasing saturation of the right and left side of the image, especially of the reds as @Ronald_Murphy mentioned. You could consider shifting the hue of the yellows on the edges more toward green to further make the yellow/orange/reds of your primary subject pop against the neighboring trees.

As for the color cast, that is a matter of taste. At this point, there is a pretty heavy cyan cast to all shadows, including the tree trunk. It looks a bit strong to my eye, so would support reducing that if its in line with your overall vision.

[David_Haynes]

As the other have all mentioned, there is a blue/Cyan cast in the shadows, particularly the tree trunks. I tend to get these every time I shoot aspens. Not sure what it is but it happens every single time.
I really can envision the tweaks that @Jim_McGovern has mentioned in his reply to you. If you really want the center tree to stand out and be showcased, I think these revisions would be great.
Glad you were able to get out for some Fall magic in the Eastern Sierra Jimmy. It sounds like you are going to be very busy in the coming weeks and months ahead. Congratulations on your little one and going through the whole fostering-to adopt phase. We need more people like you in the world.

[João_Ferrão]

Welcome back @Jimmy_Arcade

Glad you got back and with such a gorgeous image. I woulnd’t change to much, i do see the cyan colour cast but i kind of grew in me, maybe correct it slightly but not totally could end up in a great compromise.

[Igor_Doncov]

The tree as depicted has similarities in appearance to the VIrgin de Guadalupe here in Mexico. To exaggerate her saintliness she is often portrayed with several full body halos in vivid colors, similar colors to your tree. I think dead center is appropriate for this subject. I would darker the sides, particularly that left side to make the tree more ‘holy’. I would see how it looks with a white trunk but if you are comfortable with leaving reality then blue is fine in my opinion.

[Michael_Lowe]

This image works very well for me. No nits except for the cyan cast as mentioned. I always like a mix of warm and cool colors, but it might be a tad strong here. I also like this crop.

[Jimmy_Arcade]

@Kris_Smith @Ronald_Murphy @Jim_McGovern @David_Haynes @João_Ferrão @Igor_Doncov @Michael_Lowe Thank you, all, for your helpful feedback and the “welcome back” gestures. It’s much appreciated! I have posted a re-worked image with adjustments based on some of your suggestions.

Well, the elephant in the room that I was not able to fully see was the cyan color cast. I knew the shadows and tree trunk/branches had some blue/cyan tones, but I didn’t realize they were as saturated as I’ve now become aware of. In my re-worked version, I reduced the saturation of the blues and cyans tones, resulting in what I think works better for this image. While I appreciate those who wanted to give me license to be creative with the cyan tones, I’m much happier with those being significantly reduced. The only aspect I’m now questioning is whether or not this change made the tree trunk and branches of the center tree too bright. I’m on the fence about it, but open to any further feedback.

@Ronald_Murphy, I also took your advice to burn down the trees (in Photoshop, not literally ;-)) on the left and take care of the red area in the upper left. For the red area, I did a selective hue/saturation adjustment and changed the tones to match the yellow in that area. I think it works much better and doesn’t pull the eye away from the primary points of interest.

@Jim_McGovern, thank you for your kind comments and for going into such detail on suggestions for improvement. You had some great suggestions and I used some of those to attempt to improve the image. To answer your question, there was really no sky in the upper part of the image. Had I included more of the upper part, it would have been other trees and it would have bled into some of the bushes on the mountainside, in the background. I don’t disagree that it did get better going up, but I wanted to isolate this little patch of trees and zoom in on the details a bit more. It was also one of my first fall color chase and my first time sticking with my telephoto lens, exclusively. I had planned on eliminating the sky and other distracting elements from most of the images I planned on taking. Had I included the top, I would have had to zoom out and settle for a smaller version of the tree. It would have been a compromise, either way. If I get a chance, I may post a vertical photo I had taken, which shows the upper part of that tree.

I also took you up on your advice to further decrease the contrast and brightness of the leaves and trees on both sides of the image and lifted the shadows on the right. I didn’t decrease the saturation on the sides, but by using lifting the shadows with the output levels slider, it naturally desaturated the colors a bit. I do like the outcome and hope it reads better for you and others, as well.

I like the concept of shifting the hue of the yellows on the edges, more toward green, but I wanted to maintain the fall color change theme on the edges. Also, by desaturating the cyans, the greens on the edges seemed to come forward a bit more, so that may have naturally added some further greenery.

@David_Haynes, thank you for sharing your experience with getting those cyan hues when shooting aspens. This was my very first attempt at shooting any kind of fall colors, so I wasn’t quite sure if it was a camera calibration issue or if I had botched my attempt to remove the initial, strong yellow color cast, in post. I’ll certainly keep that in mind for the future! And thank you for the “congratulations” on the little one and foster-to-adopt process. That’s very kind of you!

@João_Ferrão, thank you for your kind feedback and confirmation on the cyan hues!

@Igor, I did not make any connection to the Virgin de Guadalupe, but after doing some research, I really like this connection you made. Landscape photography is certainly spiritual, no matter which religion or philosophy one follows. I may just use this idea and rename the image to something aligned with it. I also like the concept I read about, regarding “El Secreto de sus Ojos”, if you’re familiar with that aspect. I also appreciate you confirming dead center is appropriate for this subject, as I also agree. I did darken the left side on my re-worked image…whether or not it makes it more “holy”, I’ll leave for you to decide.

@Michael_Lowe, thank you for your kind feedback and for taking the time to do a re-worked version, with a different crop. I can see the value in that crop, but it doesn’t quite work for my vision. I also really enjoy the wings of the center trees and this crop would cut off the wings on the right side.

[Ed_McGuirk]

Jimmy, this is awesome tree, and I think we have had some great suggestions and discussion so far. I think the rework has included some nice improvements.

If your goal is to really emphasize the wonderful fall colors, my subjective personal taste would be to reduce the cyan saturation even further (but not to the point where the aspen trunk is a neutral white). In terms of composition, I think the dark bare patch in the lower right corner (LRC) slightly disrupts the “halo” effect by looking so different than all the rest of the edges of the frame. Here is a possible alternative crop, 5x7 horizontal, that reduces the impact of the “bare” LRC. I also reduced cyan saturation even further, after starting from your rework. This is a really nice image that’s well worth experimenting with some tweaks to see where you can take it. @Michael_Lowe rework crop also helps reduce the impact of that dark LRC patch.