One of the things that can be striking about Wisconsin woods is the understory - particularly these little sugar maples. Sugars are EXTREMELY shade tolerant and can live decades without putting on substantial growth. There are saplings just an inch across that are 40-50 years old. They bide their time in the shade waiting for a big tree to come down and give them a chance. In the meantime they make for a truly luscious and unifying element to a forest landscape.
Specific Feedback Requested
Which do you prefer and why?
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Tripod for both photos and probably a polarizer as well.
Photo 1
Photo 2
Both Lr for RAW processing and some cropping. I was going for soft here because the light was so gentle and lickable that I didn’t want to disturb that. WB is out of the camera, but I did lower exposure a bit and highlights and blacks. Bumped shadows and whites. Saturation & Vibrance barely touched. A couple of radial and linear masks to massage tonalities and direct or reflect attention. I also warmed the yellow channel very slightly.
Photoshop for both to fill in some bare spots in the far treeline. And to remove an odd branch or two hanging in the frame to distract you.
Well, I prefer the first one because the leaves are more prominent. Nice distribution of trees and groundcover. Excellent color. This is really hard to do. I’m in an area which has numerous patches of rain forest and it is so difficult to get an image that is artistic and well composed.
I like the first post slightly, because of the details that show in the leaves at the bottom. The second post is nice because it has more depth. Both show a lovely forest with a fine mix of green and tree trunks.
If the subject is the saplings, then definitely the second one. The first one strikes me as being about the forest-floor cover plants. In the second, the low plants take second billing to the trees. I agree with Harley that the second one has a better sense of depth, with the trees leading my eye into the background.
Thanks @Harley_Goldman, @David_Schoen, @Mark_Seaver & @Bonnie_Lampley - another wonderful example of how we each respond differently to the same scene. This week’s theme has made me realize that I need to go off trail more when I’m in the woods, which is a lot - averages once a week pretty much all year.
The thing about sugar maples I learned from a forester who leads naturalist outings with the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, although he works for the DNR. I love going out with Ron, I always learn something.
