This image was taken during a brilliant sunset as the trees were responding to the arrival of Spring! I used a longer lens to compress the effect of the colorful foliage.
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(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
single exposure, F11, 240mm, 1/5s, ISO100
Alan, this is a wonderful tapestry of color and light. We have recently seen several posts in the landscape critique forum where people were asking whether a scene was better as a horizontal or a vertical. And the advice given in those posts was let the shape of the subject dictate the orientation, such as trees are tall and narrow so generally they look better as verticals. I think this image is the exception that successfully breaks that āruleā. To me this image is really about the light and color, and not so much about the trees. By using a horizontal 16:9 crop you have maximized the effect of the color and light. Great use of telephoto extraction here.
This gets very subjective on my part, but I might consider a slight crop from the bottom to reduce or eliminate the shadowed ground. I think it might place more emphasis on the pattern of color and light. But that is a nit, this image works well for me, the backlight is wonderful. I think backlight like this may be even more effective with spring foliage than it is in fall. The smaller leaves allow you to see more of the trees, and this makes the leaves stand out more.
This comes across as a great abstract. Minor, but I would burn, clone out or crop the bright sapling left edge toward the bottom. Very creative and enjoyable.
Alan,
Wonderful image! First thought? 5,000 piece puzzleā¦ and good luck with that. 
Great job utilizing the long focal length to compress this. In looking at this a bit longer, I think the left half is a bit stronger with the presence of the green and the yellow leaves. I think a square crop of the left would be a fine alternate (note I didnāt say better, but I think you have options here.) This is wonderful as presented.
Like Harley, I found a minor nitpick. I would clone the one little patch of sky showing thru near top right edge. Thatās really picky too. But when youāve got a beauty like this, why not make it even better?
Lon
Thank you @Ed_McGuirk, @Harley_Goldman and @Lon_Overacker for your kind words and suggestions. Ed I did crop a small amount of water off the bottom as it was dark and I thought detracted from the abstract effect. I will give a look at cropping a bit from the bottom.
Harley, thanks for your catch on the saplingā¦good eye.
Lon, I agree the left side is stronger and tried to help the right side as much I was able to. Thanks for the crop suggestion I will give it a try. Itās funny that patch of sky you caught, I saw it and forgot to come back to it. Who would look that closeā¦
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Only another nitpicking photographerā¦ 
A wonderful woodland experience. Even though this is compressed with a long lens itās the suggested space within the woods thatās so inspiring. Yes, itās the light and space within all those trees that has that wondrous feeling and the visibility of the ground below adds to it. I donāt see this as an abstract really. Nice job. What would make this better? Well, space below the base of the front trees would usually be nice but since itās in shadow, the current crop is best.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments @Igor_Doncov. You make a very astute observation about the āsuggested spaceā between the trees in that part of the forest. It is much more open than one might guess by looking just at the colored foliage.
This is a gorgeous display of lines, light and color and the horizontal format shows them off beautifully, Alan. Great call on the choice of the telephoto as it has compressed this woodland scene very nicely. My only minor suggestions are the already mentioned cloning out that tiny bit of sky and toning down the bright area along the left edge. Beautifully done!
I think this is a very successful image, Alan. I really like the darkish tree trunk peppered with backlit young leaves. I might want a sliver more at the bottom to ground the image a little more, but really, just a sliver.
Thanks @Ed_Lowe and @Adhika_Lie for taking the time to leave your comments and suggestions.
No critique from me. I just want to enjoy this one. The light is quite stunning in how it brings out so much detail.
I typically love images like this especially with popping colors as seen here. The only critique I have would possibly help take this image to the next level, for my taste. That would be to find a scene similar to this with one larger or more specific subject in the frame. That may a larger tree, a burnt tree, a clearing, etc. But your intention may have been a repeating pattern in which case, fantastic find no doubt 
Minhaz, thank you for your comments and suggestion. I did have that thought of looking for a single subject within the scene but in this case it just was not available.
