Trees & Bracon

[Bateryman1970]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/garethtp/2223240779/" title="Darwell Reservoir Trees &amp; Bracon 27-1-08 by bateryman1970, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2108/2223240779_ac5c3c46df.jpg" width="500" height="208" alt="Darwell Reservoir Trees &amp; Bracon 27-1-08" /></a>

Took a walk in the woods near the local reservoir this morning to watch sun rise!

Some of the colours were absolutely fantastic

I really like this shot, but cant put my finger on what is missing / needs to be improved

Please advise :confused:

p.s looks better in large format......

Thank you

Camera: Canon EOS 400D Digital
Exposure: 0.167 sec (1/6)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 42 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV

[peeperita]

you did a nice job on the framing....and the subject would be a generous sight to walk up on.....

right off the bat, i see that the contrast is a bit flat......no whites....no blacks....you might start there and see if you like it better....


peeper

[netbymatt]

I'd have to agree with peeperita on the contrast, it seems mostly gray throughout. I'm also not sure what your subject is. Was it the trees with no leaves, or the foliage on the ground. If you we're going for the trees, I like how you've shown them as though they go on forever, but I'm a bit distracted because they're cut off not too far above the ground.

[clockdoc]

I suspect the colors were more vivd to your eyes. I agree with the comments made by others---a bit flat and no real center of interest to keep me in the frame. Looks a tad bit dark on my monitor as well.

[Ewie]

I really like this scene... very nice and the colours are great. That said the shot was lacking a little oomph! So I took the liberty of grabbing the shot from Flickr, editing and re-posting. Please let me know if you don't approive and I will delete & remove.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kwozzie_nz/2223807673/" title="Darwell Trees &amp; Bracken by kwozzie_nz, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2019/2223807673_dcc69b7435.jpg" width="500" height="208" alt="Darwell Trees &amp; Bracken" /></a>

I imported the shot into Lightroom and increased contrast, added vibrance and clarity and increased saturation just a touch, hope you approve?

[Bateryman1970]

Thank you for your replies

My overall subject was just the tree and colours around it

I went to a lecture at my local club the other week and they had one of the UK’s leading landscape photographers giving a talk (he is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society - the most senior Distinction). He had done a project on Trees and one of the things I took away from his talk was you don’t have to photograph the entire tree, just part of it or its surroundings says more.

This is what I was trying to achieve here

Take your advice on the Contrast and thank you EWIE, the colour are more vivid now, like your edit

Thank you

[Bateryman1970]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/garethtp/2223240195/" title="Darwell Reservoir Trees 27-1-08 by bateryman1970, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2381/2223240195_99141745e3.jpg" width="500" height="209" alt="Darwell Reservoir Trees 27-1-08" /></a>

This is another shot of the same location which I took because of the large Stump that was overgrown with moss.

I did not include this as the Stump was in the middle and I would have preferred it to be to one side however do you think this helps?

[ELAY]

Hey there --

Given how horizontal these photos are, looks they have been cropped already?

Anyway, I have a bit of a preference for this one. The stump gives us a bit of a foreground point to focus on, and I also like the quality of light that we see in the sky at top left. If there was more headroom in the original, I might consider cropping over from the left to get the stump out of the centre, and trying to get a bit more sky in at high left, which would add another layer of interest.

I think the trees by themselves are just not strong enough to hold interest -- you need something else for us to look at, front and back, in order for us to appreciate the trees.

EL