Winter Silhouette

[pixor]

Winter Silhouette by pixor, on Flickr

I took a walk along part of the Antonine wall today, as it had stopped raining, and the sun was out. Despite it being nearly midday, the winter sun this far north hangs low in the sky, and there were some wonderful silhouettes to be seen. Along the brow of the hill, along with an old stone wall were trees which looked as though they had withstood strong winds for many years.

I wanted to get a strong silhouette, which I think I have achieved, along with a sun burst that didn't dominate, but illustrated where the sun was this time of year
Camera Canon EOS 40D
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 17 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash No Flash
X-Resolution 72 dpi
Y-Resolution 72 dpi.

I would have liked to make the image simpler, perhaps without some of the branches poking up from behind the wall, but I also hate editing images, so I didn't remove them in Photoshop. I wonder if it would be a stronger image without that clutter, though?

[flytyer57]

I think getting rid of the branches sticking up over the ridge should go. At first, I didn't like editing photos either, but I found that editing can reduce some of the stuff that takes away from the real image.

[Krusty79]

Good subject for a silhouette and you avoided the blown-out sky. Nice job. I would also recommend cloning out the clutter along the wall. I'm afraid you're going to have to get used to editing your images if you want to get the most out of them.