Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Ferns and fallen leaves are just so great this time of year and when I saw this in a shaft of sunlight I couldn’t resist even though sweat was running into my eyes it was so hot and humid. It represents a lot of what I like about early fall - the green and gold contrast, a fallen leaf (especially on a fern, something I do whenever possible) and the forest floor opening up to sunlight as the trees shed their foliage. I’m pretty sure this is Ostrich fern which is the kind you eat as fiddleheads. They are not evergreen ferns and so eventually turn gold and die back. The leaf is probably from a sugar maple since the state is dirty with them.
Specific Feedback
I hope the arrangement works as a photo - forest understory is notoriously clogged with stuff that can make composition tough. At the same time, I want the complexity and the time of year come through in some way. Did it work?
Technical Details
Tripod
Left the exposure alone but brought down the highlights in Lr as well as the blacks and slightly the whites. Raised shadows and added texture only. Wb shifted cooler. Triple masks to emphasize the light on the fern, but not below it. Only added some vibrance. Photoshop to declutter somewhat so that the chaos was reduced. A slight rotational crop.