Well, three brothers from the forest - but each from different families… 
Image from Happy Isles in Yosemite; captured just 15 min or so prior to my previous post. For some reason, I really like this, but for sure it’s not a great composition, nor do I think it makes “order out of chaos.”
Spring was way late in the valley and unfortunately the Pacific Dogwood up front just had a few blossoms. The dogwood, cedar and black oak are pretty much crammed in this comp. As I recall, for whatever reason, background or my position, I couldn’t move to the left to give them any horizontal separation. But somehow, the diagonal of the cedar and the scraggly nature of the oak are all stacked together… I dunno. Am very curious to your comments and reactions.
thanks!
Specific Feedback Requested
Processing of course as well as your response to the arrangement and comp.
I think I should take care of the bare trunk visible through the oak.
Technical Details
Nikon D800E, 28-300mm @40mm, f/14 2s iso100
Single frame
2 Likes
Lon, I love this image. Very meditative and very well processed, too, IMO. The dogwood blooms are icings on the cake. I have no nit except wanting to see more from this trip!
Lon, I agree that the dogwood blooms are a really nice touch. This needs to be seen large to really appreciate it. The three different varieties of trees contrast nicely with each other. This has some nice, soft light that allows the entire depth of the scene to come through. I don’t know that I can articulate all the reasons I like the image, but I do like it and that’s enough. Well done.
There are several things to like about this Lon. First is the leaning cedar tree which immediately catches the eye. Not only the angle, but the rich rust coloration of the bark stands out and anchors the scene and provides a little bit of tension. Second, you have beautiful, soft lighting hitting the dogwood leaves that gracefully intersect and overlap the trunk of the cedar which is important providing softness to the cedar trunk that would overwhelm were it not partially obscured. They blend well together. Also, the light green leaves and white blossoms work well to balance the darker and more muted looking green from the black oak. The twisting and gnarled trunk and branches from the oak give the left side of the image some depth while also appearing (not true) to be helping the cedar from falling over. The three trees are intertwined and work really well together. For you to see this out in the field while shooting is impressive. This i extremely well composed in my opinion. There is a lot going on in this scene and you have reduced the clutter to three completely different trees working so well to balance the composition and make it unique and interesting.
As for suggestions, there is another pine tree that’s peaking through the black oak and while you don’t need to remove it, you might consider desaturating the red and lowering the luminosity just a tad. There is another cedar (some sort of pine tree) peaking out from behind the dogwood near the top of the frame. Much less obvious but the same can be said for this one. Other than that, this is a really nice image Lon. Love the title too.
Great image. For me this is about the dogwood leaves and flowers against the cedar. Lime green on cinnamon. The remaining trees are background and as such don’t need to be perfectly arranged. In fact you could argue that if they were perfectly arranged the sense of forest chaos would be lost. And that would not be good.
PS. I also like the overall bluish green color cast the image has.
I Just wish I could envision and capture this in the forest…
The DOF is very nice, highlighting the dogwood against the tree.
The comp makes sense, hard to do.
Wow, thank you so much for the comments and response. I think one of those images that is not glaringly pretty, impressive or impactful… but more importantly appreciated by fellow photographers.
So I thank each of you, @David_Bostock , @Adhika_Lie , @David_Haynes , @Igor_Doncov and @Dan_Kearl
And Dan - I think we each have the ability to find these… I know I certainly didn’t envision this ahead of time, but really it’s all a matter of slowing down and just looking all around.
Lon,a bit late in my reaction. I found your image in my style of working. I had to try something with it…
After a rather long time to make a rework that made sense to me. I read the comments of others and I got my doubts about that rework. Still I will show it to you here.I brought in a bit more contrast between the for-and background. What just made my feeling about the image better to me. I hope you can value my try
Of course! all opinions are of value and appreciated! I do like how you’ve been able to separate a bit more, the dogwood from the bg forest a bit better. For me, the increased contrast doesn’t reflect the more gentle lighting in the woods here, but I do like the dogwood! thanks for taking the time Ben!
1 Like
I like Ben’s adding contrast. For me, the higher contrast keeps me in the image longer.
