This is quite a remote narrow valley with very steep bush-clad sides, and it is usually either raining or clearing after a rain. In this case it was the latter. In the bottom of the valley the bush is very dense with many ancient trees. Moving through it imparts a very ‘primordial’ feeling.
Specific Feedback Requested
All feedback is very welcome. Is this better cropped to show just the foreground trees and the nearest of the background slopes, or do you think the furthest (highest) bush-covered ridgeline at top left imparts a better depth to the photo? I have chosen the latter, but when I see it I do wonder if a tighter crop may be better as that higher ridgeline seems to pull my eye away from the main subject (the sentinel trees). What do you think?
I like this image very much and the crop. I think I see what your talking about and maybe the tall trees on the left do draw the eye if you see them, but I didn’t notice them that much until you mentioned them. I love the trees you captured in the FG. They have a very nice flow to them and the jaggedness reminds me of the scrub trees in NM where I grew up. I think if you cropped past those tall trees on the left, you’ll cut into the flow of the beautiful trees in the FG. I guess the only suggestion I would have is to take out that standing brown tree in the LLE. Very nicely seen!
Hi Phil. This is wonderful as is, but cropping out the upper left would simplify this image and make it a stronger one in my opinion. I love the colors and the fog. Well seen.
I definitely get the “ancient-ness” of this scene with that scraggly old, still-hanging-on upper part of the tree.
IMHO, for sure the crop works to simplify and really helps bring more emphasis the story. The fog or clearing rain does help to keep emphasis on that tree(s).
This is a wonder variation of green, and the trunks make for nice accents.
I think the crop looks great, and it’s how I would address your original concern. Just out of curiosity though, I wondered what the image would look like with a bit of cloud added to the upper left ridge line to match the mood in the upper right. It’s not reality of course, but interesting:
What a gorgeous old tree, and in the perfect weather! Looks like something right out of Lord of the Rings. I do like the idea of cropping or cloning the more distant ridge, or maybe just add a thin veil of fog over it?
I’m curious if you were able to do a slightly looser composition on the bottom and right?
Thanks for your rework John. That is an improvement. After I saw this I looked up how to use content aware fill in Photoshop so that in future I can add a bit more fresh air to some of my images. Using a m4/3 system for some of them means that I try not to add too much space when I take the photo as I only have 20 MP to play around with. However, with various ways of increasing resolution in software now I suppose I should give my photos a bit more latitude (and longitude) at the time of capture. Cheers.
Yes, Diane, there are a lot of areas that we go to on our photo forays that look a lot like ‘Lord of the rings’ backdrops. I am sometimes quite envious of many of your (and other USA members’) photos where you can get good clean and relatively open compositions without a lot of undergrowth, dead branches, etc. The bush (or forest as you term it) is very thick in our part of the world (South Island, NZ) and it is often quite tricky getting a composition that works. I don’t like ‘cleaning up’ a photo scene as I am a believer in photographing things as they occur in nature. I don’t yet have the processing skills to tidy up an image much more than in a basic manner.
I couldn’t do anything with the lower edge of this image as there were other trees that would have obscured the group that is the main focus, and likewise there were others just to the right that were distracting. So I didn’t crop anything off the bottom of the photo and just a teeny bit off the RHS . Cheers and thanks for your comments.
Hi Phil,
That’s a really cool looking tree! I agree with the others in cropping away the upper left to simplify this image. I also think a shot just of the tree could look awesome.
I really like the crop removing the ULC that really didn’t add anything to the scene. I must admit that I really, really like what @John_Williams did to extend the cloud cover over the hill side. This scene reminds me so much of the cloud forests in Costa Rica. So does that old gnarled tree. I saw so many trees like this on my last trip and this brings back fond memories of that for me. Lovely, moody, prehistoric feel to this one. I’m just enjoying it. Thanks for sharing, Phil!
