The tree at the Spy House

[Janie]

I love this tree. It sits outside the famous Spy House which is in Port Monmouth NJ. The house is said to be the most haunted house in Amerca. But I still love this tree. ;-)
100 kodak gold speed film on a tripod with my canon rebel, using my haze filter. Everything else is automatic.

[Janie]

well? any comments? you love it, hate it, what?!

[Iguanamom]

Overall, I like it. The color of the sky is nice. I have a thing for weird trees, too. However, the foreground is a bit over-blown and bland. The bit of fence I find distracting- I keep wondering about the rest of it. Maybe you can go back and find another angle, maybe put the fence in the foreground if that's possible.

[Janie]

the brush buried the fence! I thought that was kind of funny how overgrown it was right there. It would be nearly impossible to get the fence in the foreground since the ocean would not be in the background - you would see a parking lot in the background instead. It's funny, I thought flipping the tree would make it look better but it didn't, it's just a wierd tree! I need to get some cool shots of the spy house, but i'm waiting for the perfect sky for that because it's so eerie - actually, i'd love to shoot it with infrared since it is the most haunted house in america - maybe I can get some spirits on the infrared!

[Seb]

Hello Janie,

I like the tree, it is a nice subject by itself. I feel comfortable with your framing (except for the few leaves of another tree showing up at the extreme right). I do think however that having more of the ocean by shooting from an higher point would be even nicer as Gene have already said.

Actually, my main concern is about the lighting itself which is just too harsh as far as I am concerned. I am quite convinced that shooting the same scene at dusk or dawn would have given a terrific result.

regards

SEb

[jcharris]

Hallo Janie

I would love to see this photograph of the tree you took . But for some reason i only got to see all the comments the people are writing and no tree ! Wondering if i am doing something wrong on opening the thread ? All the other threads seems to be working fine ?

Regards
james

[Todd Patten]

Janie -- I would love to see this photo manipulate in PS or Fireworks to a B&W image. The sky is dramatic (it appears a polarizer on ND filter helped) and would enhance the photo in B&W. Crop in a bit and go square.

The color version of this is a little harsh. It appears that it may have been taken between 10:00am and 3:00pm -- hence the strong lighting. Morning or evening light may have been more fitting.

[Todd Patten]

Just playing with the B&W...

I added a little contrast, darkened a little and cropped. Just a quick idea.

[Elysian]

I like that Todd, well done ;)

[natatbeach]

I think for the fact that you mentioned the "haunted factor" it really was too cheerful a shot. I also would have liked to see more space on the left side...maybe a shot at dusk or on a day you can get some oranges and pinks and have the tree more of a silhouette...just my pennies for ya...

[opus]

I think for the fact that you mentioned the "haunted factor" it really was too cheerful a shot. I also would have liked to see more space on the left side...maybe a shot at dusk or on a day you can get some oranges and pinks and have the tree more of a silhouette...just my pennies for ya...

One of the things that bothered me about the original was the sort of blurred leaves in the middle of the tree. I can't get my eyeballs to focus on the leaves.

I played around with it a bit in ps...just some off-the-cuff settings to try to silhouette it more and still retain the saturated sky, but trying for a more "surreal" look. Just trying some ideas. Not the best colors, I realize...

Hope you don't mind.

[gahspidy]

well? any comments? you love it, hate it, what?!

I love the desolate looking tree and have posted many myself. But the colors are just to bright and cheerful to engage this tree as an eerie , ugly tree as it seems to be. It certainly has appeal. I think b&w is definetely the way to go with this one but I like the crop and framing as it is. Hope you don't mind. here is my version