Well Igor, I know this vine very well. Not sure where you made this image, but here in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, poison oak does entangle itself among the redwoods quite often. First off the think the image has a bit too much blue in it. When you are deep in the woods like this, your primary light is blue sky light and it tends to wash out the warm tones in those leaves, so I would shift the color balance to be a bit warmer. Second I personally feel the image is a bit to busy. My eye is interested in the two main trees with the vines wrapping around them. I would consider a crop from the top of the poison oak bushes at the bottom of the frame and then some off of each side to retain a nice length to width ratio for the image.
I definitely overprocessed that image and lost some of the luminosity in the background trees. In making LAB adjustments I made the entire image warmer than it had been. I actually prefer the original rich greens now. Here is what was closer to what came out of the camera.
Regarding, ‘business’: I tend to prefer images that are somewhat busy. I also like very simple images. It’s the more straightforward images that I like least. I guess it boils down to preferences to a degree.
Actually the more you crop into this image the busier it gets. Here’s another uncropped version of the image which I think is less busy. I dismissed it because of the light in the top left corner, although it doesn’t bother me. The vines take a smaller part of the image and there is a greater sense of order I think.
Hmmm, I’m doing something wrong, I guess. All I can see is the small size image, perhaps 500 or so pixels long side. I click on your image and the same small appears. How can I view the 1600 pixel image?
Nice shot Igor, I like the interplay of colors and textures. I agree with you, cropping the shot actually makes it busier. In general I like forest scenes where you can see into the forest and get a sense of depth. Thus, I like your original crop best, and I think the dark tree in the background to the right creates some depth, and serves as a framing element too. I also like your revised colors where you shifted the greens more to green and away from yellow.
Igor, I think you did well to frame and showcase the vines. I agree with you that further cropping actually makes it more chaotic. I think your original post here is the best of them, so you made good choices I think.
The only other comment/observation is that the upper half of the trunks are a tad dark and perhaps overall a little heavy on the contrast. But that of course is all personal choice and subjective.
Lon
ps. speaking of frames, I’m glad you mentioned. Because now that I posted a couple images, I’ve posted without my old frames. I always posted with frames, which came with occasional feedback over the years.) So now at least for me, what better time to break from that old tradition and post the straight image - like everyone else is doing.
Ahh, I can see it full size now. Beautiful colors for the leaves and I like the slightly darker background, but I do have a couple of points I’d like to share. 1) on the left edge at the bottom of the original image the bit of lighter foliage is a real eye magnet. I wouldn’t crop it, but I would consider cloning it. 2) in the last image, the upper left corner needs work to remove the bright light coming through. Simple fix if you decide to use that image. I enjoy the original iteration best.
Igor, I also usually posted with a small border, but considering that the background is grey, I tend to agree that posting without frames works well, and I personally don’t care for fancy frames, as they tend to detract for me.
