The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
The bark of a redwood tree at its base in the Santa Cruz mountains. I made this photo on a 6MP Canon EOS D60 back in 2008, it’s been sitting on one of my backup drives untouched until today. Strange how some photos go overlooked for so long.
Specific Feedback
Any feedback appreciated
Technical Details
Canon EOS D60, Tamron 18-200 mm f/4.5 AF lens, at 80mm, f11, 6 sec, ISO 100
Processed in ACR and PS CS6, converted to B&W in PS using channel mixer with a strong contrast blue filter.
I never would have guessed this was tree bark. Maybe some sort of palm, but not a redwood. (An electron micrograph of chromosomes, I would believe…) I’m glad you rescued it from the archives – it is quite fascinating. I love that the middle shrinks and the top and bottom expand towards the viewer, and there are highlights both top and bottom. Perfect tonalities!
Hi Youssef,
wow, that looks amazing. When I first saw your image, I thought I was looking at a rippled water surface reflecting something. But then I read in your description that it’s just tree bark. I love all those repeating X and V shapes.
Maybe I would do quite a bit of dodging and burying to draw the attention to those shapes:
The “anti-fire” matting of these trees’ barks has always fascinated me. I’d never have guessed that is what it is! It’s hard to tell the scale. It looks like something on the microscopic level. An outstanding abstract. I can’t believe that you had it on your hard drive for so many years. That’s a precious reminder that it is worth revisiting one’s archives!
Like @Diane_Miller , I really like the HLs at the top and bottom.
Outstanding abstract image Youssef! No idea this was actually bark of a redwood tree. The patterns are utterly fascinating. It really does look like a reflection or an image from an electron microscope. The “X” shapes and waves of shadow against the waves of light shine on this image. Glad you were able to find it from your archives. Thanks for posting it!
That’s an amazing image Youssef.
Can’t believe it’s been sitting for 15 years! It really looks like a good wine, aged in a barrel.
This made me wonder if the bark is reflected in water, or whether these wrinkles are of the bark itself. Those diagonals and X patterns are also nice, and the choice of BW really fits the image.
I think that’s an image every photographer would like on his/her portfolio.
Thank you Tom. It’s not a reflection. Probably a few reasons why it’s been 15 years. One, my primary camera for ‘landscapes’ was a 4x5 and the 6 MP digital was a toy and I did not take anything made with it as a useable photo. Two, I was leading a photo workshop and was only using that camera to serve as examples for the participants. Third, I don’t ‘see’ in B&W when I’m out photographing and even though I did find the patterns interesting, the color was very bland and uninspiring to even consider processing. So it just sat on my drive and given that it was such a small file it was not a burden taking up space. As I was transferring my files to a new computer I was deleting any file I did not care about and the patterns intrigued me once again and this time I decided to try B&W. And here we are.
I have to admit that I totally admire how you took the time to review and delete old files… Wish I’d get to it someday.
A truly wonderful image… congrats Youssef.
I can only add my kudos to you, Youssef! This is a wonderful detail of redwood bark. The monochrome really brings out the textures so beautifully, and with those subtle highlights and shadows there is also wonderful depth. Well done!
