Another stab at the woodland genre with a few images from a couple of local woods, two conventional shots and two abstract. As ever, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.
I've now added a second ICM shot that makes a nice pair.
Another stab at the woodland genre with a few images from a couple of local woods, two conventional shots and two abstract. As ever, your thoughts and comments are appreciated.
I've now added a second ICM shot that makes a nice pair.
I like the third, Ian - a lot. Those branches and trunks seem to be talking - or screaming. Love that skeletal glow.
The final image is pleasant, with an interesting combination of a woodland and liquid feel.
The second doesn't quite hang together compositionally for me - the trees at top are a bit too symmetrically disposed for a natural scene for my tastes, with that central trunk splitting the top half of the image in two, while the composition is also divided into a top and bottom half too much, with the colour and tonal contrasts between the two not quite gelling for me.
The first doesn't do it for me, but then I only generally like "straight" photography, and don't get a frisson from ICM, zooming, multiple exposures and the like. Just my tastes, but since you ask...
Wow, the fourth image is magnificent. I find the other three images to be too busy and cluttered for my taste. The third image drives my eye down and across the frame with great light to keep me engaged. The other images have too much going on and not enough separation of the elements for me to know where to look
I'm finding I can't see the wood for the trees when it come to woodland photography, so it's not really a surprise I'm wide of the mark. Plenty of interesting looking subjects but a nightmare trying to find a composition. The woods near me are very cluttered so that doesn't help but it's not an excuse, I should be able to find something. It was my lack of vision that led me to try the abstract shots. I appreciate they are not to everyone's taste but I have to admit to being pleased with both of them.
Thanks for your responses guys.
I have a very hard time with woodlands out here in New York state, The woods are very thick and it is hard to find good separation and seclusion of a subject, along with the added need of conditions to make things pop.
The last image was really something special in my opinion, The second image has some interesting details in it but it is hard focus on them. I love the purple contrasting the green moss. If you get a foggy or rainy day i would go back and get closer and build my comp around getting tighter in on the center of what you got in that image. It shows some clean lines and texture dead center and if you can fill the frame with more of that I think you could have an excellent image.
I would love to see what you get at this spot in the future.
I do have another vertical ICM shot but chose to only post one originally. However, they might look nice as a pair so I've added it to this post. What do you think?
I was aiming to catch some fleeting backlit moss at the back of the scene and hoped that the tumpy, mossy stumps would lead the eye to it but it's not obvious and I take Chris's earlier comments on board. It's a location very close to my home and one I will revisit because there's some fantastic mossy trees in there and there has a to be a composition there somewhere!
they do pair nicely
Remember to edit your intro if you add more images, Ian. Otherwise new readers may be comfused.
Good point, will do.
Subject separation in forest scenes is tough. Playing to human psychology, in terms of what people tend to look at, in post production critically important. Warming the subject and cooling everything else, reducing contrast in the background (natural mist is best but taking the dehaze slider left works), brightening the subject, and selective sharpening can all push the viewer's eye where you want it even in a chaotic scene.
Not that I ever walk out of the woods with an image I like that doesn't include a small waterfall.
Thanks for your helpful suggestions Dan, I'll take them onboard as far as I can. I work with an old version of Lightroom, 5 in fact, and can only dream of the more modern tools :)