What is the image about, what does it mean to you, and what motivated you to make it?
We hiked Mount Monadnock one day back in June and saw this tree on a small hill while having an ice cream reward. I shoot a lot of Infrared which isn’t to everyone’s taste but spring is a great time of year for it. I liked the way the tree’s limbs were spreading and the way the sky had bands of clouds. I wish there was more sky than clouds but that was out of my hands.
Equipment information:
Sony A6000 converted to 720nm infrared, Sony E 18-135mm lens f/3.5-5.6 lens, Tripod
Camera settings:
43mm f/8.0 1/500 sec ISO200 +1 1/3 EV
What specific feedback would you like?
Composition feedback and any other general feedback would be great.
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This looks really good. The IR presentation really pops. I like the centered tree and seems to be just the right amount of foreground. No suggestions here. Very enjoyable.
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I’m not a big fan of infrared but I really like this. The combination of the lacy white tree and that moody sky is just remarkable. My only nit is the grass. I would like it in focus like the tree. If it is in focus then more texture.
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I tried shooting some infrared film many years ago, and my results were not near this nice.
I love the tree with it’s lacy branches and leaves. The tonal values work very well. I do agree with Igor about the softness/lack of texture in the fore ground grass.
All in all, I think you did a very nice job on this one, Hali.
-P
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Hali,
I think it is a great and well balanced composition for the subject at hand. The amount of land anchoring the image is perfect. I do agree that maybe just a little more blank sky would have given the overall contrast of the image a boost, but its still nice as it is. The one thing that I would try to do in processing is to try and get more tonal detail in the leaves of the tree. The leaves are very bright as presented and they all seem to just blend together.
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Thank you everyone. I will rework the image and see if I can add back the texture in the foreground grass, I also see what you mean about the detail in the leaves of the tree Youssef, and I will also see if I can change that. Infrared is like that though, I shot it back in the film days and it always had that glow-y look, things were soft and often lacked detail, I’ve tried to reproduce some of it here but I will have a go at reprocessing it without.
Hali,
This works great as a IR. The tree, leaves and the spread out canopy is clearly the main story here and the IR really brings that home. Composition wise, this also works very well, especially because of the IR. Alternatively, this could also be a great “tree on a hill” broader landscape - But of course I don’t know what else is around, if that was possible and then sky would then be crucial and IR might not be the best choice. But I really like what you’ve presented here.
While more blank sky might have been better, I like that the clouds are muted so to speak as to keep the emphasis on the tree and leaves.
Lon
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Sorry for the delay in responding Lon, life, as usual, has forced my computer time to be nil. Thank you for the kind words and the critique. The area to the left had more trees that were, to my eye, cluttering up the composition. Hopefully I will go back to have another climb up Mt. Monadnock and visit this area again.
