I looked out a window a few minutes ago and saw this scene and ran for a camera. I had the 600+1.4X still set up for hummingbirds and quickly rotated it to portrait orientation and shot a panorama. I didn’t even take time to change the settings except to go to Av and underexpose 1 stop. The camera was set to the near range of focus and I quickly did a manual focus and held down the focus hold button on the back of the camera. By the time I made a second set the light was fading. The camera was set to ISO 1600 at f/13. Definitely not needed here but I didn’t want to take the time to change even that much. Av at -1 gave 1/160 sec. and that got the picture. Just cloned a few light spots at the bottom and pushed Vibrance a bit.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
If you would like your image to be eligible for a feature on the NPN Instagram (@NaturePhotoNet), add the tag ‘ig’ and leave your Instagram username below.
Good to see your image here, Diane! I have been busy lately and have not been here as much but I still want to say welcome!
Gorgeous silhouette and that is a beautiful sunset to accompany the trees. The whole scene looks almost like a dance of some sort. I think the “darkness” on the LLC is somewhat heavy, do you think there is a way to bring out some of shadow details there?
Thanks guys, and good to “see” you again, Adhika! Agreed about the LL but I’m not sure a lot can be done. Maybe a very little crop, but I don’t want to lose the gentle slope of the branches toward the frame. Maybe clone in some of the light spots – the trees there are solid but I’ll see if I can find some lighter spots. At least there is the visual weight of the orange on the right to somewhat counterbalance it. I have another idea – I’ll play with it when I get a minute. You may see that tree on the left again – the mess of branches on the left is (or was) a hawk nest. An egg shell appeared below it what was probably a Red-tailed, but I’ve seen a Red-shouldered in the tree – spring will tell!
Diane this image has an elegant simplicity to it, those silhouettes are wonderful. I do think the darkness in the LLC is too heavy, and draws too much attention. In terms of how I perceive the image, I do not see the LLC being counterbalanced by the color in the LRC. I wouldn’t try to bring up more detail in the LLC, because I think this images impact derives from having pure black silhouettes. I agree with @John_Williams I see your point on slope, but I think a crop from the left would be a net positive.
Thanks everyone! Here is a V2 – added a few light spots and cropped a bit from the left. Then I did a view-camera type distortion to remove some of the dark mass.
