Tension

[ellie mac]

I wanted to see what others might think of this shot. I keep coming back to it but I'm not sure why, or what to do with it.

I was out walking when we went away for a weekend and came across this tree with these bolts sticking out of it for no apparent reason. It kind of fascinated me, I think for me it represents the tension between nature and man's interference.

I think this is the shot I took that best represents this concept but have put some others that I took up on flickr if anyone is interested in letting me know if they agree.

[jiminyClickit]

ellie mac,

Low angle sun gives a good color. If not for your description, that would not necessarily look like a tree to me. Fence post or some squared manmade structure was my first impression. So the idea of interference or tension was less. A roundness shadow could be added to tree. Or retake photo with some background trees showing?

[clockdoc]

Hi,
Good thinking as far as the title goes! At first I wondered if you had used an off-camera flash, particularly when I looked at the others in the series on Flickr. The angle of the shadow seemed a bit 'horizontal' for sunlight. Exif data shows "Flash did not fire." How was this illuminated? Was it the low angle sun as Jiminy suggested?
As far as composition, I would suggest reducing some of the dark area to the left for starters. I wish the left hand bolt had a little more detail to show the shaft. Otherwise, the compsition is OK.

[ellie mac]

Jiminy & Clockdoc, thanks to both of you for taking the time to comment.

Jiminy - maybe a case of not seeing the tree for the wood! Sometimes things that seem obvious are not & it takes a fresh pair of eyes to point that out. I am prone to focusing (mentally) on particular things and often don't step back enough to see the broader image.

Thanks for offering the suggestions about how I might make the tree more treelike - will have a bit of a play around though I am pretty much a post processing novice.

Clockdoc - Glad you like the title. Jiminy is correct, this was shot around 8.30am, about an hour after sunrise, so the angle of sunlight was still pretty low - no flash. Thanks for the tips on how the composition might be improved, will try a couple of things out to see if I can produce the ideas you suggest with what I already have here.

Will have to try and remember how to find the tree if I am back that way again, unfortunately it might be a while.