The limb that has fallen from this enormous tree is bigger than most of the others around it. When I saw this giant off trail I was drawn to it, but felt so humbled by it that I didn’t think any photos could do it justice. I did my best and hope that others will have a go as well.
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I remember this photo - you posted it before haven’t you? If I recall, my thought was that even though the fallen limb was larger than most of the other trees, it didn’t look like it so much in the photo. So, my thoughts for processing were how to make it look bigger and to be the main focus of the scene; also, I figured a less cheery luminosity would be more apt for the scene. To that end, I did the following.
In ACR:
Darken the lower left open area so it didn’t feel so empty.
Increase the detail (clarity/texture) in the tree and the log.
Cool the entire image (to temp 4100) except for the log which I warmed. The intent was to make the b&w conversion more striking for the log.
In PS:
Two b&w conversions, one for the cool toned background and one for the warm log. Intent was to make the background darker, the log lighter.
Dodged the background large tree just to bring some detail back.
Curve to darken most everything except the big tree and log, brushed some off the background so the big tree would stand out more.
I like your edit Kris, but I went a bit of a different direction just for fun. I tend to lean more towards dark and moody, probably not your cup of tea, but that’s okay
I used the object selction tools in lightroom to separate the trees from the background and darken the background significantly to give some separation. It’s sloppy, but gives you the idea. I went a little crazy and flipped it too in order to help the flow. Along with making it square to eliminate some empty space.
Interesting how everyone has a different take on your image. Here’e mine. I wanted to highlight the soft dappled light on the foreground in the lower right to highlight the tree limb…maybe it works, maybe not…
I have to say, this was a fun image to work on so thank you for sharing this @Kris_Smith ! Here’s my take on it. Since everyone chose to make this image a B&W I decided to try a colour version.
Woo hoo! This is so fun. I love seeing what you guys come up with for this image. Sometimes we get boxed in by our experience in the field and so that also boxes up our processing and editing, too. With this one I did get a bit fanciful and wondered if that was from my feeling of awe when I saw, approached, stood next to and touched this wondrous tree. I guess maybe a little of that presence is filtering into the photo itself. Thanks everyone! Maybe I’ll stick another one up and see how that one goes.
