What got my attention with this image is how the tree seemed to rise out of this debris like a mushroom grows out of a bed of pine needles. I basically liked the composition. The way the dead branches swirled around the trunk and the manner the live branches bent and arced. I exposed to the right in order to not blow out the whites and the trees became unrecognizable in the raw file. But as I raised the shadows it became more clear to me why I made this shot to start out with. It’s a rather uncommon image these days in that it doesn’t look like the sort of thing photographers shoot these days. But I ike it. I reduced the colors quite a bit in this image as I felt they played a very secondary role. This may make a good b&w for all I know.
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Any really. I haven’t yet understood my emotional connection to this image so I’m interested what, if anything, you feel about this image. The orange in the upper branches seems to be a bit too strong. Do you think it should be lowered somewhat? I tried adding some contrast to this image but it started to look grim rather than graceful. I guess that’s how I must feel about this image. There’s a sense of gracefulness in it.
I think the image works quite well as is, Igor. There’s a sense of grace and sensuousness amongst the death. There’s a story about this tree in here…I wonder if it was struck by lightning or something in the past. You’ve been able to take a quite disorderly scene and give it that sense of order and pleasing feel. I think you’d lose something in B&W…
I don’t know why but what immediately comes to mind when I look at this image is one of overcoming the odds and more specifically, I’m thinking of those Ukrainian’s that are struggling to survive in the war. I see hope rising from despair and death and fallen comrades but I also see strength and the courage to overcome and stand tall. The little bits of greenery shows me that life will go on and that all is not lost. I most likely wouldn’t be thinking this way if it were not for all the news about the war but that is immediately what comes to mind with this image. This image could tell a thousand different stories Igor. Really well composed. You are right…this is not an image that most photographers would take and most would not even notice this kind of a scene. You have an incredible knack for finding the uncommon and making beautiful art with your subjects.
I have much the same reaction as David & David - a sense of standing strong and maintaining grace amidst a falling-apart world. There’s not a sense of rising up for me because of the branches that are broken and in the act of falling down/off the main tree. That suggests to me that this tree is older, if not outright dying.
The orange tones at the top aren’t too strong for me. If you want to keep the sense of this tree standing strong, I think the orange tones at the top help that feeling, as they draw our eye upward.
For me, this image works wonderfully.
I try to imagine the pictures printed and whether I would look at them longer, for example in a gallery. Large as a high quality print behind acrylic. At first I have a feeling of chaos which only lasts a few seconds. Then I get lost in all those great details in the foreground and this right-to-left spiral that draws my gaze further to the two branches. Everything seems to be in just the right place, giving the whole picture a nice balance. Which really fascinates me.
This alternation and harmony between the gray wood and the thinner orange branches.
If you start looking at the bottom right and follow the course to the left, the pattern between the wood and the branches (grey and orange) is coarser and is repeated finer and finer in the bark of the branches.
In addition, my gaze is drawn into the middle by these lime green leaves.
It’s great how this picture works WITHOUT the presence of fog, for example, as a reduction for the background.
What do you think, take a little highlights away from the clouds and the blue sky and dodge a little in the foreground.
Just a little bit.
I hope the translation works.
For me it is, as you suggested, an image of arising but also of framing such the when I read this picture I’m moving up from bottom to top but also moving in , from outer to inner. I feel that I’m being drawn into the inner life of this primal world, so there is a very intimate, almost voyeuristic feel to it. Bringing down the colour works wonderfully for me. It might be a good monochrome image but I can’t imagine it would succeed better than this subtle colour version.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. After looking at this for a while now I felt that the image was a bit too dark and morose. I felt that everything other than the clouds was too dark. The image was taken by exposing to the right and the recovery had not gone far enough during the processing. I have made a revision to the original in the top post for easier comparison. The image feels less oppressive now somehow.
