This image is intended to be part of a square format series. I found this scene in Forest Quarter, a region of the Austrian State of Lower Austria.
Please let me know any thoughts about this image - especially if you prefer the color or b&w version.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Peter, this reminds me right away of @Jesse_Brown_Nelson’s image he posted a few days ago. I really think this is a great subject and I enjoy the contrast between the bare trees in front and the evergreens in the BG. I prefer the color because it provides more contrast between the two “subjects”. However, I am not quite sure about the snow strip on the bottom. If there is texture on it, maybe.
I’ve always been interested in square format. How did you achieve that? Mostly by cropping or do you stitch two (or more frames) to create it (so you don’t lose resolution)?
Yep! @Adhika_Lie is right. This is very similar to my image. And I was having some of the same issues with the snow and the sky taking away from what my subject was. It might be tricky to keep the 1:1 but have you considered cropping the snow and sky out? I’m not sure what kind of resolution you have but here is a quick crop of I was thinking about. . . This may stray too far from your vision too?
Peter, I prefer the color version over the black and white. As processed, the color version has more contrast and pop, although I suspect increasing contrast in the B&W would help it. For some reason, the bald white sky is less of a problem for me in the color version than it is in B&W. Perhaps that’s because the greens add some life to the color version that sort of bring the trees forward to the viewer, whereas in the B&W version the trees seem to recede away and disappear.
I think the square crop works well, my only nit would be crop some from the top to reduce the sky area, and if you want to retain 1:1 aspect ratio, maybe a little from the right.
Peter,
I really like the bare, winter trees against the darker evergreens. Even though a little far away, I can still enjoy the intricate branches.
For me, I think both versions lack a little contrast. I do think with the bare, white trunks/branches and the darker trees behind that the b&w has better potential. I like the idea of the square format, but I think the tall tree on the right throws things out of balance. Here is a quick crop and b&w using Nik’s Silver Efex Pro plugin. An alternate view. A bump in contrast as well. Not much can be done with the blank top and bottom; perhaps shooting much closer to the main cluster of trees.
