Hi everybody,

This is fresh from the garden! Our local botanical garden has a little grove of white ash trees, otherwise called Automn Purple. The light filtered through the leaves was so special I could not resist.

F100, 28mm, F8, exposure time not recorded.
Polarizer
Velvia 100F pushed 1 stop

While I like the colors, there is something which I do not like about this pic... I am considering a tighter crop (I would take a bit on the left and the top - but just a bit). Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Steph.

I think you should take a slice from the right, not the left. Crop out that tree trunk on the far right. I think it would give the shot a better focal point. Right now my eye is drawn to the area of grass leading back to the green bushes just under the pretty colored leaves, and I'm left with an incredibly busy, jittery feeling. If you crop where I said, I think my eye would be drawn to the tree trunk in the foreground tree, and would lead my eye right up to the pretty leaves.

I think you should take a slice from the right, not the left. Crop out that tree trunk on the far right. I think it would give the shot a better focal point. Right now my eye is drawn to the area of grass leading back to the green bushes just under the pretty colored leaves, and I'm left with an incredibly busy, jittery feeling. If you crop where I said, I think my eye would be drawn to the tree trunk in the foreground tree, and would lead my eye right up to the pretty leaves.
Not a bad suggestion! I am always trying to respect to rule of the thrid, or at least not to put the main subject dead center. I was thinking to off-center even more the main tree. But I agree with you that cropping a bit on the right will simplify the whole composition.

Thanks for letting me know that the BG attract too much attention. I think that I will try burning this section! ... or darkening it. That will give me something to do tomorrow!

Thanks Kelly... I will be updating the post once I'm done!

Cheers,

Steph.

Steph, I love the light play on the grass and the fresh colors in the whole shot. I tried a tight crop where I took out the tree on the left, and some off the top of the whole pic. It looked good like that too. Nice shot.
Kit

Steph, I love the light play on the grass and the fresh colors in the whole shot. I tried a tight crop where I took out the tree on the left, and some off the top of the whole pic. It looked good like that too. Nice shot.
Kit

Thanks Kit.

I'm in the office right now and I forgot to take the file with me! I wanted to try different variations! I will post different versions tonight following your's and Kelly's recommendations.

Cheers,

Steph.

Steph, not bad, but you applied way too much sharpening, which results in many halos ( see image) and an image that looks rather artificial.

Btw, did you make heavy use of Photoshop's shadow&highlight filter? I'm asking that because I see a lack of shadows in the leaves, the lighting looks really flat. (second image (without the arrows))

Steph, not bad, but you applied way too much sharpening, which results in many halos ( see image) and an image that looks rather artificial.

Btw, did you make heavy use of Photoshop's highlight filter? I'm asking that because I see a lack of shadows in the leaves, the lighting looks so flat. (second image (without the arrows))

Busted.... :D

You've got very good eyes! and on a JPEG I might add...

Actually, the halos that you have noticed are the results of combining two exposures... I wanted to try to have the trunks a bit darker... But in this case, due to the complexity of the leaves and the sharp edges, this does not look like a good idea. I am not using the highlight filter, and I am always conservative with respect to sharpening....

I think that I will be redoing the whole thing based on the original pic, and not a composite. I am still trying to find the limits of PS magic!

Steph.

Steph, not bad, but you applied way too much sharpening, which results in many halos ( see image) and an image that looks rather artificial.

Btw, did you make heavy use of Photoshop's shadow&highlight filter? I'm asking that because I see a lack of shadows in the leaves, the lighting looks really flat. (second image (without the arrows))

My eyes saw these problems but I didn't recognize what was causing them, except for a fleeting thought that it might be oversharpened. But this is exactly what's wrong.

All I knew is that my eyes had that feeling you get when you see red and green right next to each other...you know, that "jittery" feeling...I think it's the combination of oversharpening and lack of shadows.

I don't think it really needs any crop, but if you were to go for it i would a bit off the right and fraction off the top. I think less dof would have helped reduce the attention of the elements in the bg. The bg trees are lit while the main ones in the foreground are not. Lighting was not ideal for this composition. But the light hitting the tops of the leaves and all the colors from the leaves filling the top make it a eye pleasing image.

I don't think it really needs any crop, but if you were to go for it i would a bit off the right and fraction off the top. I think less dof would have helped reduce the attention of the elements in the bg. The bg trees are lit while the main ones in the foreground are not. Lighting was not ideal for this composition. But the light hitting the tops of the leaves and all the colors from the leaves filling the top make it a eye pleasing image.

Here are two other versions.

In the color pic, I desaturated the grass and BG in order to bring too much attention to it. As for the crops, Gary was right... it did not bring anything... I guess it's a bit better...

The BW version is interesting. While not fond of BW for landscapes, I might keep it! Some of the leaves are merging with the BG though...

Well.... I guess if I could take this shot again, I would wait for a more overcast sky and use a smaller DOF to blur out the BG... A lower F number would have also allowed me to have sharper leaves (there was a bit of wind and some of them are fuzzy)...

Still learning!

Thank you all for your help. I do appreciate that you took the time...

Cheers,

Steph.

Steph, what wonderful color! I like that the b&w looks infared... very cool.

And the desaturated background really helps put your focus on the " burning tree"

I would remove the little tree markers at the base of each tree..

oh......you had already removed them in the first post, and then went back to your original to make your changes.. nevermind me. lol

Steph, what wonderful color! I like that the b&w looks infared... very cool.

And the desaturated background really helps put your focus on the " burning tree"

I would remove the little tree markers at the base of each tree..

Yeah, you're right! I'll clone the lit'le buggers out!

I was hoping to take more shots this afternoon of the same place... but the wind got there before me and the trees are now bare... it'll have to wait till next year!