Early spring color in Massachusetts. A rainy, foggy day made for the perfect conditions to show off the the delicate colors of spring foliage. This location is only a couple miles from my house. It’s not every year that the left tree still has it’s white blossoms at the same time the maple tree on the right has a lot of its red buds, but the timing worked out well in this case.
Specific Feedback Requested
any critique or comments are welcome
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 5D MkIII, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens, at 200mm, ISO 100, 0.6 sec at f11
I just love the muted contrast along with the soft colors in this image Ed! You did indeed have the perfect conditions for this shot. The foggy, soft, low-lit background works in harmony with the newly emerging foliage and flowers from these trees. The dark bark adds interesting, converging lines. It’s like a group hug! It’s chaotic but nicely composed. Really well seen Ed!
Ed,
I knew this one had to be yours from the thumbnail. A beautifully balanced composition and the colors are just right. I like that you have the water peaking through at the bottom as well, it offers a subtle framing without being distracting. Bonus that it was a few minutes from home!
What a pretty scene. You are indeed fortunate to have this close to home. The brighter tones of the leaves on the left was a great idea because having the left the same tonality as the reds on the right would not have been as effective.
A great scene. You found the right composition in this chaos of branches, a beautiful image. A kind of color gradient: from green on the left side, via white to red.
I understand that this is a spot where you return to each spring, and I see why. As so often, well-known regions provide good images, because you know where and when to go and you are not “intimidated” by too many new impressions.
Thank you all for your thoughts and comments, I appreciate you taking the time to do so.
I posted this image this image yesterday in anticipation of going to revisit this location today, in order to see how it was coming along this year. Sadly the red maple tree had fallen over since last year. This scene is now gone, I’m glad that I was able to get it in such nice conditions in the past. Nature is ephemeral…
Gorgeous colour palette and textures. I don’t imagine many others would agree with me but what I love about this image most is how it presents itself so beautifully as an abstract fractal field of colour, texture and line. For that reason I would be tempted to crop from the bottom up to the river bank so that is it just the fractal field. The problem with that approach, from my point of view is that it would result in a rather odd aspect ration and I can’t see anywhere that I would want to crop from the sides that wouldn’t reduce the overall impact. I thought maybe from the left but all that green lichen would be lost and that is an important part of the field. Anyway, I’m just thinking out loud here because it is a wonderful image.
Ed,
You are making up for the late spring color in a big way as this is a simply gorgeous image full of mood and the delicate colors of spring. This has a wonderful zen like quality that I find very soothing and relaxing as I could find myself meditating to this scene. You have just the right amount of fog to slightly soften the BG and make the spring leaves even more prominent. This would look fantastic hanging on the wall. You are the fog master!
Thank you all for your kind comments. Kerry, I agree that I actually would have preferred to just show the fractal pattern. The sky was just above the top of this image, there was no more room to point up. And I’m not sure this works as a panoramic. What do you think ?
Ed,
I scrolled back and forth a couple of times and I still prefer the original as I would not want to lose any of the mood with a crop. Everything in the first post is perfectly placed around the scene and I would hate to lose any of it.
@Ed_McGuirk - I really like it but, as I said in my original post, a panoramic aspect ratio really doesn’t feel right for this kind of image, which is actually more intimate. I suspect, under the conditions that you were working with, your original post is the the best possible compromise.
