in the redwoods

[Outdoorsman]

Here's another shot of some rays of light in the redwoods. This isn't nearly as dramatic as the last one I posted, but I think it may have other attributes that make up for that. However, can anyone tell me what they don't like about this? I feel like there's something wrong with it, but it's on the tip of my brain and I just can't pick out a specific problem.Thanks!

[jar_e]

What I don't like about it is the half of a bush on the very bottom. Other then that,

Great shot,

Jared

[Dzerzhinski46]

Two things. The picture is a bit small, makes viewing and critiquing harder, and also, I find the perspective less than ideal. I find the shafts of sunlight very appealing, but the perspective is not so great. Great color and such. Good job.

Dzerzhinski

[opus]

what settings did you use to get this shot? When I was there, I found it difficult to get enough light.

[Outdoorsman]

Thank you thank you! I love hearing negative stuff! Maybe I'm crazy, but on the scale of importance, I would rather hear what to fix rather than what not to fix.
-The bush is a fern (millions of 'em here!), and I agree. Now, looking again, it is indeed cut off and looks bad.
-I can't seem to figure out how to make pics large enough to appreciate but small enough file size that PR will let me upload it. How do I do that? I'd really like to post bigger pics, but it just won't let me. If I resize with low resolution but large dimensions, my pics look horrible, and I can't let myself post junky-looking images.... any tips on this? And any other suggestions for a persepctive? I know you can't come up here and show me on location, but in general can you give me a direction to point the camera that would be better? I'm stuck with 28mm w/a limit, which is not so fun in these tall trees.
-Kelly, what part did you visit? I'm, waaaay up here in the Great White North of CA, on the coast. Redwood National Park, Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park (my backyard, basically). This was shot on Fuji 400 print film (generic), Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 USM, Elan 7N. I used f/3.5 @ 1/30, at 28mm. If I recall I underexposed either a half-stop or a stop. It was the only way. I was late to get back to town and didn't have time to set up, so it had to be hand-held. Matrix metering. The print they gave me was horrible. No detail at all in the darker areas. I scanned the film to get this image. Were you using your Drebel or film? The Drebel would go crazy trying to get this image, I would think. Print film is really the best choice in these woods (IMO)- they are a metering nightmare! You need a lot of latitude, since the trees and forest floor are usually in shade, but the light coming in from the sky makes the conditions very contrasty, even on overcast days. I'm only now getting to the point where I know sort of how to choose compositions.
Thanks guys!

[Dzerzhinski46]

There are two ways I know of to get around the size problem. One is to go 640 x 480 resolution, thought with a very high quality file this might still be small. Another option is to use Photobucket . I have been using them lately because I can upload slightly larger pictures that look better. Though to make pictures fit on PR.com and still be able to see it all, the limit is about 720 x 540. This is more a practical size than an actual limit. What resolution are your pics? That might help.

Dzerzhinski