This image was taken on a hike to Pe de Cabril mountain on Geres Natural Park. I’ve photographed that green patch some times but never from above. One of the days exploring this was the view I found on the verge of the second plateau.
Does the composition suit to you guys?
And how does the PP and colour feel?
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)
It’s a single tripod shot.
1/6s, f/11, ISO 50 @105mm
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Great tree standing out there alone. I might experiment with some vignetting to provide even more of a spotlight effect on the lone one. Very well done.
The lone tree below is a wonderful subject. The big hillside behind is a fine backdrop for it. I think you could add drama to the composition by cropping out some of the bottom, say over 50 percent of the distance from the bottom to the clearing. The resulting placement of the tree generates tension.
Maybe some exposure tinkering … The top left is distractingly bright. Try a graduated decrease of exposure. No sense drawing eyes to that corner.
You might also deepen the hillside exposure, at least the shadows. .maybe leave some light areas to suggest filtered light or clouds. Maybe darken the bare trees as well. My thought is to make the hiilside a foil for the wonderful tree in the center.
Enjoy playing with this image. Let it talk to you as you proceed.
Thank you @Harley_Goldman, i reworked the image and added a bit of spotligth effect to the center, just a bit more saturation and highligths to make that center pop.0
“D1ck” Knudson
First of all welcome to NPN hope you enjoy this forum. I thing it would be better if you changed the nick for tagging, “D1ck” is bloqued by the filter of the site when tagging you, if im not wrong.
Thank you for such a thoughtful critique, indeed that ULC was a bit over and distracting, i added the filter you mentioned and its much better. Also added a graduated on the hillside to create a bit of mood on that zone.
The crop is a improvement, i have been back and forth with that crop but thoose rocks dont add much indeed.
Here is the rework, also i warmed the image a bit, was a bit cold (maybe because of my non calibrated monitor):
Joao,
The vantage point works rather well and shows off the clearing very nicely. What I find particularly appealing in this image is the wonderful light on that solitary tree showcasing it beautifully. I do have a radical suggestion for you. For me this just seems to work better with 1/2 of the BG mountainside cropped off. To me this is all about that clearing and I think the crop would place even more emphasis on that. Just a suggestion of course. Thanks for sharing.
I agree with others, in that I would remove most of the top of the image. The best stuff is at the bottom and the image should focus on that. A 4x5 crop (or even 1x1) would work nicely I think. I also slightly prefer the cooler tone of the original post as well.
A nice find and beautiful capture with outstanding light.
I agree with those who suggested cropping from the top. A square crop, anchored at the bottom would accentuate the good stuff in the foreground, as well as highlighting the lone tree. The processing in your re-work looks really nice.
–P
Beautiful shot Joao, I love how the light is hitting that lone tree. I would agree with a slight crop off the top and some burning of some of the mid tones to bring out the highlights and the one lone tree.
Fabulous location and color here. I can see this as a square crop. To me the bg mountain and trees don’t add much. It’s all about the lone tree in a sea of green. If it were mine, I’d play with various square crops or 8x10s. Way to go with climbing to this perspective!
ML
Very nice image! I like your composition. I scrolled through the thread and saw your repost as well, which I think is an improvement to an already stellar image.
@João_Ferrão this is a really nice image. to your question the PP and color look fine, even great in the bottom 1/3 of the image. I agree with the others about cropping to get a composition that emphasizes the bottom. To me all of the interesting color, light and shapes reside in the bottom half of the image, and are the rightful stars of this show. You technical data sows this was shot at 105mm, especially if you were hiking and only carrying a few lenses, I can understand why you included this much of the top.
Unless you plan to print this large, I think a square crop of the bottom half has a lot more visual impact to the viewer for the reasons stated above.
With that said, this is a nice image, i just love that little spotlit tree.
Thank you so much everyone.
Indeed the square crop is a better option, i was preserving the 3:2 just to give some scale to the scene. But now i see its not necessary.
@Blake_Randall thanks for the tip on burning the tree, i added some saturation (just a bit) and lowered the highligts of that tree and it poped a lot more.
@Ed_McGuirk it was, and is, my longer lens (looking to invenst in a 100-400mm soon) that’s also a reason why some of the hillside was included on the image.
