Last week I visited several waterfalls in central Massachusetts, but we have had so much rain this year that the water flow was still so heavy that it was hard to get pleasing images. As I was driving home, I did manage to find these apple blossoms surrounded by peak spring color, so the day did not end up a total bust. I like how the two trees with orange leaves surrounded the apple blossoms.
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Any comments or critique are welcome
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 5D MkIV, Canon 70-200mm f4 IS, at 200mm, ISO 100, 1/15 sec at f 13
I really like shapes and geometry of the color patterns throughout the image. The shapes and color work their way from front to back quite nicely, making a very pleasing image.
Because of the especially wet weather this year, the spring colors are vibrant, especially the greens. I do wish for a little more saturation in the greens and a pure white on the flowering tree. The view from the top looking down makes this an exceptionally interesting composition.
Certainly like what you saw and there was good reason to stop and photograph. I think in contrast to your previous spring colors image where you had diffused light and the colors were rich, here looks like pretty much direct light which as you know pretty much flattens and dulls the colors; especially front lighting. That’s what I see, as this being a bit flat, especially the greens/yellows in the bg.
As you’ve already noticed I took liberties and boosted things a little bit. First a crop. The bg greens/yellows are flat and look a little soft in general. And the greens were taking up some real estate and I think taking away from what attracted you.
So the crop. Then an adjusted LAB Color layer (A+B channels) to pop the color. I used TK’s yellow and green Channels adjustments to target the upper greens with both a Levels and then H/S adjustment layers.
I’m guessing your presentation was pretty close to reality (which is why we often post what we do…) I just thought it needed a little boost.
YMMV (I think the yellow/greens in the center I went too far…)
shows the mood you were in after all that rain.
I hope you will become a bit more happy after seeing my adjustments.
I took away the gray by using levels and curves. I gave the foreground a boost in saturations. and did some minor adjustments in the background. After that I put in some haze in in ACR, then selected the greens in the background to put the haze there. (using TK7 panel).
@Lon_Overacker@Ben_van_der_Sande@Patricia_Brundage@Harley_Goldman, thank you for your comments, I appreciate your input. One of the best things that posting at NPN has taught me is to be restrained with saturation. But after seeing what both Lon and Ben did has convinced me that I was much too conservative with this image, I especially like how they boosted the saturation of the rust colored trees, and the yellows in the background.
Lon you don’t miss much, you are correct that this was taken in somewhat direct light on a morning when the foliage was not wet, thus my initial rendering of this really needed a boost in vibrance. And I also really like Lon’s crop, it both simplifies and strengthens the image at the same time. Very helpful critiques and reworks offered on this one, thank you folks.
First off great eye to spot and isolate this colorful spring scene, Ed. This turned out to be a wonderful Plan B when the waterfalls didn’t pan out. I think Lon’s small tweaks with the crop and boost in saturation have elevated an already beautiful scene another notch. As you mentioned this is a great site for getting feedback and input from fellow photographers who are willing to share. This would make a nice companion piece to your last spring post.
This is a fine mix of spring colors, Ed. The variety of colors keeps my eyes moving and the details bring them back for further exploration. The alternative treatments show how different everyone’s “view” is. All three have their own merits.
Ed, I love the composition and @Ben_van_der_Sande’s crop, too. But I like the original processing although I feel that the green leaves in the BG are a little muddy. I am not sure if it is just compression or something else.
@Ed_Lowe@Adhika_Lie@Mark_Seaver thank you for your comments. Mark, I agree that all 3 versions each have their own merits. Like Adhika, I prefer Lons crop. But after further reflection on the reworks, I now prefer a saturation level that is somewhere between my original and the reworks, but perhaps closer to the reworks. It is easy to grow accustomed to a level of saturation simply because you have been working on an image for a while. I view NPN posts as a reality check on stuff like saturation, in this case I think the consensus is clear to boost it in the yellows.
