This is not a redo but a revisit. I have tried several looks—wider, different angles, etc.—but I have not found one that was any improvement over the original. So I thought I would try to improve on the original. I went for better placement in the frame, lightening up the fine junk in and under the root ball, adding a little more beach underneath and dropping the sepia toning. It is gloomy, but I hope improved.
This was a cloudy day with pretty good wind. I added some darkening up top and on the left to show this. Was it effective?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
I wasn’t trying to set any mood, just B/W on a cloudy and windy day. I just tried to process it as best I could and let the piece tell the story. Was it successful?
Any pertinent technical details:
Camera Info: Nikon D500, HH
Lens: VR 300mm f/4E + 1.4x TC
Focal Length: 420mm
Focus Mode: AF-C
AF-Area Mode: Dynamic, 25 points
VR: ON
Aperture: f/5.6
Shutter Speed: 1/100s
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure Comp.: 0EV
Metering: Spot
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 1000
88% of full frame
PP in LR/PS CC 2019, Silver Efex Pro 2, Topaz DeNoise, TK sharpen for web @ 40%
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
I think it is quite successful. The B&W processing looks very good with a great range of tones. I like the shallow DOF and there is plenty of great detail to wander through. I might clone the stick? bottom edge toward the right side. This is very enjoyable viewing.
The mood feels good to me. It does give me a sense of cold, batten down the hatches. You might try playing around with bring down the highlights on the stumb a tad. There are also some bright areas in the grass, that might look nice if they matched the parts of the sky that you darkened. Those seem to catch my eye and take away the feeling of depth to the image.
I think you can still get some more contrast out of this.
It looks good to me but I would have left the BG as light as possible and go even darker with the trunk.
A very different take than your previous efforts at this location. I like how you got much tighter and made the stump the star of the image. To my taste, I much prefer the toning here to the stronger sepia tone in your earlier images. It is interesting how many different looks you were able to get out of this one stump.
Phil, this has a fine combination of eye movements, with the angled effects of the root ball and the verticals of the grasses. The contrast in the sky seems fitting.
Kudos for revisiting as you have certainly come away with a much improved view. I like this a lot and you’ve made the roots stand out nicely against the sea grasses.
Yes, I think the darkening is effective and had you not mentioned it, I wouldn’t have really noticed or cared, other than the overall impression of the image is excellent.
I’m not sure this needs any additional adjustments either. Nice job as presented.
