Hoping some good light would last longer I went out to the forest by the Prairie River this morning. It didn’t, but it was dim enough in the woods to be pretty atmospheric. Plus I found a new way in on the other side of the dead end road I get access on. That will bear exploration since I can get to a different part of the river and the woods is all public hunting so fair game. I don’t like to trespass. People around here have shotguns. LOL.
Anyway…after wandering a bit and not finding good compositions, I happened on this scene. The old downed tree and the leaner seem to be of a piece and I’ve always loved that boulder, but haven’t found a good way to shoot it. Under the hemlock canopy is very dim indeed and it was lightly raining, too. Still the greens were so vivid it was crazy. Carpets of Clintonia, Wood sorrel, ferns and Canada mayflower. Nothing much blooming except for some Goldthread, but it was still a lovely scene. Hope you like it.
Specific Feedback Requested
Colors look ok? I messed with them a bit since the white balance wasn’t quite right.
Technical Details
Tripod & CPL
Three image focus blend in Photoshop - I did this because the lens is sharpest mid-aperture range and I wanted it all crisp. Picked three focus points manually - close, mid and far. Ps did an ok job, but there’s a spot it missed and so did I, noticing it only after a lot more work, so I left it.
Lr for the initial raw work - exposure lift, curves adjustment, pulled the greens down, some texture, clarity, sharpening & nr. No vibrance or saturation. Into Photoshop to blend the three shots and do a little more color adjustment - mostly to get the oranges to stop being so magenta. Used a Saturation mask in the TK8 panel to tone down the most vivid greens. Some dodging on the underside of the leading log and some on the leaner. Clarity action restricted to just that leading log. Freehand vignette to focus the eye along that green tunnel. Decided on a 1:1 crop because of a lot of distracting things to either side - snags, leaners and logs. It’s a messy wood.
Wow, that is a great scene, especially the large version. I think the color looks fine…it feels polarized which gives that nice rich green. The leading line in is great as is the angled fallen tree in the distance. Wonderful image, Kris.
The interplay of the two diagonals is very interesting. The first is a nice lead-in, and then you get the message of the large leaning tree that maybe the forest has closed itself to visitors. (But the right kind of people would be allowed to pass.)
I can’t put my finger on it, but the colors feel a bit too subdued. I wonder if there is too much green in the darks – the histogram shows a significant skew there. And possibly if greens and yellows could be separated more? But maybe the light was just that way and the information isn’t there to work with.
The only suggestion I have is about the choice of crop, Kristen. I think there are some rooms on the right that could be eliminated. I really think the diagonals are very strong and very pleasing.
I find the leading line too dominant, thus making the background angled and straight trees much less significant. The suggested crop below brings the leading line in harmony with the remaining lines and takes care of Adhikas comment of the less interesting lower right quadrant by anchoring that corner with a rock.
Awesome use of the “lead-in” composition - and even better is the dynamic created with the other fallen tree and the play of the diagonals in a vertical world.
Great job with the stack (important given the length of the fallen log and the depth of the scene,) and I like the crop as presented.
Maybe it’s just me, but I was thinking about brightening, and/or adding a slight glow to the bg foliage. But take this with a grain of salt as I don’t have a lot of confidence in my monitor and my viewing setup (evaluating getting a new monitor!) Anyway, I think the color/contrast in the bottom half of the image is spot on, but I keep thinking about the bg deep in the forest above.
I like the crop, @Igor_Doncov, although I do miss the rough bark on the near end of that log. It is quite the presence though and might be overwhelming…I don’t have my regular external hard drive with me so I can’t mess with it until I’m back from South Dakota, but it might be worth a try. I can also play with the colors as @Diane_Miller suggests. It was raining and overcast and with the polarizer, the colors were super saturated and I just didn’t want them to be cartoonish.
