Would love to hear some thoughts on this small series.
I shot these on a recent trip to Mt Taranaki, a picturesque volcano in the North Island of New Zealand. The dense rainforest part way up the mountain fascinated me, maybe more than the mountain its self. The three were shot at 85mm off an a7riii.
@michaelmcgeephotography
Michael,
Of these three, #2 is my favorite and I think the best one. I like the repeating shapes and curvy lines. The sharpness and depth is excellent and the colors natural; processing looks great (on all of them actually.) Minor, but there are a couple of small, sky patches to the right of center that could easily clone-filled in. Not a big deal, but the eye easily catches.
#1 captures quite a bit of this chaotic environment. And wow, I just realized how deceptive this is. My first impression was the center area of the frame was water and a reflection! Upon longer and closer review, nope, just the randomness of the forest. I think the hanging mosses are what threw me. This is more intriguing than I first thought - which is a good lesson in giving images and scenes time to work on your mind. Still I’m not quite sure this has been transformed to “order from chaos.” Perhaps a slightly tighter crop? The bare branches up top see slightly out of place.
Image#3. It appears the hanging moss is the main subject? Not sure, but if the subject is the moss, I might go with wider aperture to throw most everything else is less focus. If it’s the overall forest scene, then it’s all not sharp enough. Not sure if that makes sense.
No doubt these rain forest scenes are so, so challenging to shoot.
Lon
@Lon_Overacker Thanks for the depth of feedback, much appreciated. It appears the sky spots in #2 would be easily clone filled in but not so much when the full res image is over 5300x5300px and clone filling is perceivable at a 100% crop at full res.
That’s exactly the reaction I was looking to get out of image #1!
The hanging moss in #3 is the subject yes.
Thanks again for the feedback and yes, they are very challenging to shoot haha.
I also agree that #2 is your best image. I also like #1 but it seems a bit too busy, although I know what you were after. #3 has that out of focus branch in the ulc that detracts from it. But all three images provide a good sense of what the undergrowth looks like without tidying it up for a composition. In that sense, it works very well.
Michael, I hear ya - and in full disclosure, I haven’t printed a single one of my DSLR images (native 7360x4912) and so I can’t say for certain how a good cloning would fair. It really boils down to not only an individual preference, but also image by image; ie. cloning a small cloud in a clear blue sky could possibly be undetectable… where a CA clone in your rain forest image more problematic.
Having said that, IMHO, only a pixel-peeping photographer with their nose in a 20x30 inch print would ever know… it boils down to what you as the photographic artist is willing to permit.
Lon
