Went up the mountain yesterday for a snow shoe hike and found beautiful snow / frost on all the of trees. I found it tough to get a comp that worked with an overcast sky that created minimal contrast. I worked this scene a bit to see if I could come up with something that I thought worked.
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Olympus EM1-X, 40-150 f/2.8 @ 97mm
1/200, f/8, ISO 200
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The textures are great, composition maybe boxish. Looks like someone’s footprints across the bottom third. A human reference in a nature image and be contrary.
This is excellent, Keith. Amazing how the snow cover simplifies and focuses the composition. I like the bit of warmth coming through in the trunks but I bet this would make a strong B&W.
Indeed a winter wonder land! That is some serious snow and frost! And I’m thinking more frost? than snow? I think because just regular snow fall the tree branches near the interior wouldn’t be catching as much snow - but this look pretty uniform throughout, and especially how the trunks are covered. No matter, the blanketing of snow is pretty intense.
I don’t mind the path or whatever is going in between the tree. I like the comp as presented and having the 3 main trunks makes for a nice composition.
Hi @Lon_Overacker. You are right. More frost than snow. We had a storm with a bit of rain, then it got much colder, started snowing and the result was heavy frost. Then it snowed on top of that. The end result was really nice.
Nice image, Keith. This image of yours would, no doubt, look good in B&W but I like your choice in color. That little bit of color gives it realism.
For my tastes, though, it is a bit bright, especially considering sky was overcast and the light flat. I’m sure you looked at it a bit less bright - did you like it?
Thanks for your comment Matt. Interesting question on the brightness. I did look at it with varying levels of brightness, mostly in the whites. I ended up at this as it seemed the most natural for the snow on the trees. It seemed to show the texture better. I also did look at it in B&W and preferred the color version even though there isn’t much color.
Real nice, Keith. I mostly do B&W in snowy scene, but the color version here works really well. The hint of color in the trunks adds a lot. No suggestions, very enjoyable image.
Keith, those are some pretty unique and interesting conditions, it tells a nice story. It must have been neat to experience it in person. I like your choice of color over B&W here, there is just enough red in the trunks to catch my eye. Your placement of the trunks and branches is good. I like how you got different amounts on trunk showing on each of the three trees. Nicely done…
There is lots to love here—the frost and warm wood and three main trees work for me. The path doesn’t bother me. It gives it a human element that makes it feel more welcoming. The top center of the snowy trees has some more sparse patches. They grab my eye and almost have a sitting cat shape. I might be inclined to clone some snowier branches over that to remove the shape, make that whole top more undifferentiated texture rather than shapes.
Nice work on this though. Well seen, composed, and processed.
ML
