Zumi Crabapples Under Ice

[swmdrayfan]

We had an ice storm about 10 days ago. This was taken in my front yard.
John

[J-Dogg Productions]

hey that looks pretty cool. nice effect. i like the red on the blue background, with the ice hanging off the branch lucky you took the picture before it melted i can see the suns reflection in the ice

jay

[Jaedon]

I like this too. Youve done a good job with the framing. I find the branch cutting the frame in half a bit distracting though... as well as the back lit apples seem a bit to dark. Did you happen to take any with the sun behind you?

[Coastal Flyer]

Nice picture. I like the sun reflections, that adds a nice touch. The droplets create character. While I too would like to see a shot with the sun behind you, there are advantages of this angle too. My only suggestion would be to have moved in a bit closer. For my eye, the shot here would have been vertical with the main subject being the cluster of two with drip filling the frame. I would have used a star filter on a shot or two also just to see what happened to the reflection. Pretty nice though.

CF

[swmdrayfan]

Thanks for the comments. I didn't get any shots with the sun behind me because my house was in the background and would have been very distracting. It was quite a display though. I got in the car later that day to drive around and take more pictures, but never got one that I considered worth keeping. I did, however have other shots of the tree, which I'll post.
About the framing...I cropped this way because there was a huge lens flare on the right, and another distracting element on the left. This presented the best way to crop the shot.
John

Here's another shot:

[Rocket_Scientist]

Now I like that second one much better! It is just bursting with color!

[MarcusK]

John, these are some very interesting shots....

The first, i dont like so much because it is a bit too centered for my taste...gives off a feeling of "point-&-shoot snapshot that i wanna share with my wife" (i dont mean to be harsh, just trying to explain how i felt)...otherwise...i have no issues...

As for the second...:thumbsup: great work! i like the depth of field use in it as well as the colors...

Good work,
Marc

[readingr]

John,

The second has that WOW factor, the colours, composition, light, and the overriding feeling of winter. Well done and should get you a sticky. I really like the touch of snow on top of the branches.

The first needs the berries to be redder, and the composition isn't as good in my mind with the branches coming in from the bottom and the branch totally cutting the frame. If you had the end of the branch finishing an 1/2" or so from the frame may make it better, depending on the length of the branch.

Roger

[swmdrayfan]

John, these are some very interesting shots....

The first, i dont like so much because it is a bit too centered for my taste...gives off a feeling of "point-&-shoot snapshot that i wanna share with my wife" (i dont mean to be harsh, just trying to explain how i felt)...otherwise...i have no issues...

As for the second...:thumbsup: great work! i like the depth of field use in it as well as the colors...

Good work,
Marc

Marc, I understand what you're saying. I wanted to make sure I got the sunlight off of the ice, and the original uncropped shot had a bad lens flare, hence the cropping at each side. I tried to get as many shots from as many angles as possible. I also wanted to eliminate as many distracting elements as I could. As I said before, if I'd taken shots with the sun at my back, my house would have created a severe element of distraction. I probably could have boosted the saturation of the crabapples a little though. Thanks for the comments.
John