Friendship never "leaves"

[kramer1982]

Hello everyone,

This is a photo I took while I was on a journey with my friends, I could really use some critique, especially in the composition/light/colors area (but any feedback is most welcomed).

The image has been processed in LR3, mostly contrast and coloring, plus a bit of gradient for the sky.

Nikon D90
Exposure 1/200
Aperture f/3.5
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Lens 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS

[Photologyst]

Must have been a very nice trip.

However, it looks as if “friendship” has “left.”

Why is the focus is on the few leaves and not the friends?

The sky is blown, the blue gradient doesn't work and the orange above the mountains is just strange.

Got any others?

[Krusty79]

I like this shot and the composition, but I agree the sky looks strange. I see you used f/3.5. Were you deliberately trying for the shallow DOF effect? I don't mind having the people out of focus if that was your intent. I think it would also help if you cloned out some of those thin branches that extend into the sky from the left. Not sure what you can do about the sky, though, as PP is my weak point.

[kramer1982]

Thank you both for your feedback, it helps a lot.

I was going for the shallow DOF, and I wanted my friends to be out of focus (I thought it added a bit of mystery to the photo), but I got more things out of focus than I wanted (e.g. the tree on the right).

You're right, the sky is blown out (even more in the unedited photo), I metered for the leaves and they were a bit darker than average. I think I overdid it in LR.

Good point on the thin branches, they look as if a big piece of hair was sitting on the lens.

[EOBeav]

I think the composition is spot on, and the DOF (although a bit shallow for me) with the focus on the leaves is a nice touch. The sky is a bit distracting to me, though. It's really tough to get shadows on the ground and a bright sky to meter well together. That's when exposure blending comes in handy, but that's tough to do with moving subjects.

[danbaileyphoto]

I love this shot!!! It looks like something that I'd do. I'm a huge fan of selective focus that leaves the subject blurred behind a foreground element that gives the shot a sense of environment, if it's done right. And you certainly did it right here. Great eye, and awesome photo!

Do you have any outtakes where your friends are a bit closer to the camera? I'd be curious to see what those look like as well.

[IABoomer]

The framing and focus are kind of unique and interesting. The path leads the viewer to the friends, although some of the twigs get in the way and stop the eye. As others have mentioned, the color is really overdone and unnatural looking. I'd be interested to see what the SOOC looked like and if it could be tweaked using exposure, contrast, and recovery while not hammering the saturation/vibrance as much.

[kramer1982]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your thoughts and feedback, they give me a completely new view on my image. It's easy to get caught up in the things you like about an image and completely miss other important details

Unfortunately I don't have an image where my friends are in focus or closer to the camera (at least not with the leaves surrounding), I'm really slow at shooting manual, so this was kind of a one-chance image for me.

I am attaching the SOOC below:

[IABoomer]

Thanks for being open to letting people see where this started. I made a few tweaks and exported the settings as a text file. Both are attached. If you change the extension to .lrtemplate you can import it into Lightroom.

[kramer1982]

Thank you for taking the time to adjust the image, I like the changes, they are (much) more subtle than mine. In my edited version I was trying to get those nice yellow/red autumn colors on the leaves, but it was messing up the rest of the picture.

Interesting: I shrank the SOOC image in MS Paint starting from the JPEG that came off the camera (I shoot RAW + JPEG). Because I use the Vivid colors setting by default, the leaves have kind of a silvery look. Your adjustments look totally different when applied on the RAW image (which does not retain the Vivid colors). I'm diverting .