Here you can see one of my favorite trees that I visit from time to time. And I photographed it in different seasons.
This morning was nice and cold, the rocks I had to walk over were quite slippery. And the low-hanging clouds created a nice atmosphere.
Specific Feedback and Self-Critique
The original image was shot in portrait orientation. I decided later to crop it like this and cut off quite a bit of the tree.
The tree grows on a slope. So I balanced the camera with the bubble level.
Does the composition work here? Or would you align the camera so that the ground is straight?
A very nice image. I don’t know what exactly you cropped away, but the image as presented works well for me. A bit of hoar frost and a little fog, great atmosphere.
I like the slope, leveling the ground where the tree stands would probably give an awkward feeling.
I can see why you visit this tree often. What a character. It is large, but also sprawling which creates a lot of interesting shapes. It has real presence in this scene with the smaller supporting cast lending atmosphere and information about the environment. Though they are lighter than the tree, I like the rocks in the LRC. With all the grass round the trees I’d never have suspected that was nearby. The frost and mist is just heavenly.
In terms of the horizon - I like showing natural slopes for what they are. If you tilt to straighten the horizon the trees would all be leaned over so far as to look really weird. You could clone out the bright bit on the right edge in the grass if you felt like it. What a fabulous scene.
Beautiful scene and mood. I am not sure how far with PS you are comfortable to venture, but here is an alternate take on the scene. For me, it just nicely simplifies the image. Either way, quite a fine image and a grand tree.
Jens, I think this composition is wonderful. Like others, I like the slope and I think it adds interest to the story. I love these big ole trees. We have lots of them in my area and winter time, for me, is the best time to photograph them. I like the stones in the corner, but I can see @Harley_Goldman point about simplifying the image. I think it’s your choice, but either way, it’s a very nice photo. Good job!
What a wonderful old tree! (And a wonderful photograph of it!) It is obviously growing from the slope and trying to straighten it, even a little, would look awkward. There is a natural beauty to the way it is clinging to the slope.
I like the crop but wonder what the original looks like.
For me, the rocks in the corner don’t fit with the forest scene, which is so lovely. You captured very special light! I would definitely get rid of them. Careful cloning should be easy. (Harley left a repeating pattern, which would be easy to remove.)
What a charismatic tree, Jens. I can certainly see why you come back to this tree time and time again in different seasons. I would too. Even the smaller background trees are mimicking the larger tree. There is so much movement in this and I really am enjoying the fine layer of misty frost on everything. I love what @Harley_Goldman did to simplify the bottom of the image. Should be easy enough to do if that’s where you want to take the image. Either way, this is a really NICE image and I just love that tree.
The area where I shot that tree is called “Weiße Mauer” (“White Wall” translated into English). It is a quartzite field formed during the Ice Age by frost blasting. This rocky landscape looks partly like a stone quarry. In sunlight, the stone blocks shine white; this circumstance gave the area its name. (I hope all these terms make sense to you because I had to translate them )
So maybe I unintentionally included those rocks in the frame because it made sense to me.
But I really like the simplification that @Harley_Goldman proposed. I will definitely try to work on that.
For those of you who were curious about the rest of the tree I cropped out, I’ve added two snapshots taken in different seasons:
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