This image was taken in Olympic National Park on the Hoh Rainforest Trail. I had terrible light for most of my trip where it was 92 degrees in Washington and 95 degrees while we were in Glacier National Park. There was virtually no cloud cover for the most of the trip. I’ll have to go back one day when the conditions are MUCH better as it was a fascinating place for sure but I saw it in it’s harshest conditions.
Anyway, for this shot, I came around a corner and noticed this bent over tree trunk with another bent tree trunk or root climbing over the top of it in a twisted knot. I framed it up to try and get some moss covered branches and tree trunks in the background to give it a little bit of glow. This was a 5 image exposure blend covering 5 stops (extremely harsh lighting). This is one of the few shots that was even worth keeping from this park because of the conditions. Like I said, it was hot, dry, and I assume very unlike most of the conditions that people get to see when visiting. I still loved the forest and it’s uniqueness but I certainly didn’t get to see that glow that everyone talks about from here. Next time!
Specific Feedback Requested
Like many people, I have trouble in forest scenes trying to narrow down a subject without a bunch of clutter and chaos in the scene. Should I have made this more intimate of just the knot to remove the harsh lighting in the background?
Did the blend work or are the highlights still a little too much? Blacks?
Is the subject interesting?
Does it take the eye out of the scene on the right side?
Sorry for all the questions but I am very unsure of this one.
Technical Details
Z7ii, ISO 400, 24-70mm lens @ 29mm, 1/40th of a second, f/11…5 exposure images blended together
Beautiful image. I wouldn’t worry about the brights; they look fine to me. But I would brighten the shadows just enough to show some detail. They are totally black on my display.
Excellent HDR processing! I think you could have a lovely version with the bottom 2/3, but I don’t see any problem with this composition. I think the forest in the BG is a nice setting.
My calibrated display shows detail in the darks, as does the histogram, but it would be interesting to compare a version with more brought out. I’d try a TK mask of the darkest areas and use that to mask a Curves adj, or possibly try Nik CEP Detail Extractor, and try using the same mask for it.
Thanks for the feedback @Ronald_Murphy, and @Ronald_Murphy. I don’t know what happened to the file here. It’s at least a half a stop brighter in my lightroom catalog and is really dark. Not sure why that is. I will repost tonight and try and find out what is causing this to be so dark on NPN. Maybe I converted it wrong for posting. Not sure but I will check it out. Sorry about that.
Thanks again.
HI David. Great shot in challenging conditions! I’ve been there many times, often with bad light, and you did a great job with this. Best time to visit is March/April and get in and out before 10am when the sun crests the hills and starts shining in the forest. You’re 100% that it is challenging to make order out of chaos in this forest. One of the hardest places to shoot imo.
The thing I looked at with this is the tonal balance, with so much lights and darks. I found the balance pleasing and wouldn’t omit the upper part of the image. The dark trees on the right balance out the brightness on the left. I was going to suggest that you could have also shot this tighter, just around the knot of trees and see how it felt to you. However, I think you would have been happier with the shot you have here. Well balanced, exposed and as good as you could get in this location. Well done!
I was surprised to find out that this is one of your images. The composition is much less orthodox than your usual work. In some ways I like this uniqueness a lot. My first reaction, though, is that the group of ferns near the bottom should have greater presence. It’s not that the area should be lighter but that they should stand out in that darkness.
I think June or early July would be the perfect time for the greens. If you come too early then you have a situation where the new growth is not fully developed and the previous decaying plants are still present. They say the place is special in October as well when everything is in fall colors. You get green moss and red/yellow leaves to work with. Ive never been there in the fall because there are so many other good places to shoot fall colors (as you know).
David, this is so recognizable as the Hoh rain forest. Sorry the conditions weren’t better, but you were successful with this image. I like the comp, the framing and the order you created here. It is hard to find that order in the forest, but you did it.
I think the HDR is nice, not too overdone at all. I might brighten up the foreground a touch to get those ferns more prominence as a framing object. I don’t think the blacks are too dark, they look fine.
As they say, with lemons, make lemonade. Well done.
Shooting in the rainforest is a challenge even when conditions are perfect! Overall I think you did well with this one. For these types of photos, I find it’s helpful to think about exactly what the subject is or what the photo is about and then process the image to help the viewer focus on what’s important. If the subject is the root/knots, I would darken the upper left hand corner and really bring out the light on the roots.
Thanks for the comments and feedback on this one @Ronald_Murphy, @Diane_Miller, @John_Pedersen, @Igor_Doncov, @David_Bostock, @ScottSmorra, @Matt_Payne. This image has confounded me. I have posted a revision with some major edits.
One, to slightly lift the blacks and dark shadows.
Two, to darken the highlights in the background so more focus is on the foreground roots.
Three, to lighten the foreground to make it more obvious this is the focal point.
Four, to make the foreground ferns more a part of the focal point.
Thanks for all of the feedback. This is really a tough one.
I like the rework but wonder about darkening the ferns at the bottom, with a gradient. They’ve gone toward an unrealistic green, so maybe some selective color there, too.
Thanks @Diane_Miller. This image is giving me a headache. I’ll try and tone those foreground ferns down. I did a fairly quick edit to try an balance the scene a little bit but I can see now that I went too far with those ferns. Thanks for the eyes on this. I certainly appreciate it.
Hi David. I really like the re-work from the point of making the knot the focal point of the image. I think your edits did a good job of that. Way to go! I agree with Diane about the ferns in the foreground.
