I tried to capture the essence of an ancient forest landscape…moss covered logs and trees appeared as ancient mythical creatures.
Type of Critique Requested
Aesthetic: Feedback on the overall visual appeal of the image, including its color, lighting, cropping, and composition.
Conceptual: Feedback on the message and story conveyed by the image.
Technical: Feedback on the technical aspects of the image, such as exposure, color, focus and reproduction of colors and details, post-processing, and print quality.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
I would appreciate any advice on enhancing the mood or if there are technical faults.
Hi Diny,
what a beautiful little forest scene. I like this green moss and the overall mood of the picture very much.
If I wanted to change something, maybe I would use the vignetting effect just a little less.
The upper corners are a bit too dark, and the moss in the middle foreground is just a tiny little bit too bright in my opinion. But I wouldn’t adjust much.
Hi Diny, welcome to NPN. I know you’ll get a lot out of this community. I also look forward to your contributions. I think this is a very solid image. The light on the moss brings it out nicely. I agree that maybe reducing the vignette some would open it up more. As for colors, composition, and processing, I think you’ve done a superb job. Really looking forward to seeing more of your work.
Aesthetic / Conceptual: Such an inviting image to explore and wander through. The number of paths to walk through the image is great. There is a lot of character here.
Technical: I’d love to see more tonal separation in the image. I did a quick edit in PS just doing some simple dodging in areas to lead the viewer and break up some of the more monochromatic tones.
When I opened the image in PS, I noted that it had an Adobe RGB color space embedded. For maximum consistency for viewers, it should be in the sRGB color space.
Hi Diny, welcome to NPN. This is a wonderful image. The moss is represented very well. I love the moodiness about this image and how it goes from light to dark. I like it just like it is. I think lightening the dark tones will take away the mood. Very well done. I look forward to seeing more of your images.
First off welcome to NPN, Diny. Great first post! Forest scenes by nature are cluttered and chaotic, but you managed to find this moody mysterious gem in all that chaos. I do like the tweaks that @Keith_Bauer made with brightening up some of those luscious greens of the moss covered roots. Looking forward to your participation on NPN.
Welcome, Diny! Terrific first post. This certainly represents the essence of an ancient forest scene. You have terrific, soft light in this scene and wonderful highlights to lead the eye through the clumps of moss covered branches. I love your title as it instantly gets me thinking about serpents rising. I love the tonal separation that was achieved with @Keith_Bauer’s rework. My only nit would be the LRC. Because there is nothing in that lower corner my eye keeps getting drawn down there. I wonder if stepping the to the left before taking the shot would have helped in that regard. Totally possible it would have made things worse though and also a completely different perspective as well. Just a small nit but I love the image. Can’t wait to see more of your work. Keep em coming, Diny!
Hi Diny and welcome to NPN. This is well seen and I love your tale of mythical creatures.
The one aesthetic thing that catches my eye is the large-ish triangle of forest floor feels in the lower right corner. Even though there also is a triangle shape in the upper right corner, the one in the LRC doesn’t have the tangle of branches and such, so it feels more geometric and out of place with the very organic shapes in the rest of the frame. If you want to keep the entire frame, perhaps making the vignette even stronger, to make all the corners more alike. Here’s my idea (I also brightened up the creatures).
Welcome to NPN! Great to have you here - and kudos for a gorgeous first post!
Love this image - and as so many already know - it is so difficult to create something in the rain forest - creating order out of chaos as they say. You’ve done a fantastic job seeing and framing this. And I too see those mythical creatures! Several of them. This is very engaging. Well done!
I’m gonna put in a vote for enjoying this exactly as you’ve presented it. Before reading any comments I was thinking how much the vignetting (natural or enhanced with processing, doesn’t matter) really helped define what you saw and have presented - ie. focusing on the main elements of the moss covered ancient tree stumps, roots, etc. I think your processing is excellent! (agree with Keith though to make sure your jpgs for web display are saved in the sRGB color space.
Welcome aboard! We look forward to more images and your participation in the forums and galleries!
The tones and colors here are extraordinary. I love how the background is so much darker than the vibrant moss in the foreground. My only nit - that tree in the upper left is a little close to the edge of the frame. Perhaps a little more room there for it to breathe? Also, welcome to NPN!
This reminded me of Thor’s battle with Midgard (One of the Pagan gods from Viking times and Midgard, a serpent from Norse Mythology).
I like how the one on the right in the top third of the frame appears to be a two headed serpent (that’s just the way I see it).
I really like the depth created by the gradient in brightness and color tones from front to back, the darker color tones and darker or lower luminance really works well in this image.
Mood seems pretty subjective to me, my perception of mood might be very different than yours or others.
One thing you might consider (if you’re willing to crossover into the surreal side ), is adding a very mild diffuse glow but just on the serpents and with a diffuse color just slightly brighter than the brightest green already in the image. Of course, that might completely change the mood, I’m not sure it would enhance the mood already present in this presentation.
I should add that if you need any assistance with anything like effects, post processing, site navigation, etc., feel free to ask, we’re all eager to help.
Welcome to NPN, Diny. What a wonderful first posting! To me the image works perfectly as presented. I have only one minor comment and that is that the LRC is a little bit boring compared to the rest of this fantastic scene. The only way to get rid of it would have been to shift position in the field, and I guess that where not possible since something else unwanted then would have come into play instead.
), is adding a very mild diffuse glow but just on the serpents and with a diffuse color just slightly brighter than the brightest green already in the image. Of course, that might completely change the mood, I’m not sure it would enhance the mood already present in this presentation.