The last of my un-edited redwoods photos from August of 2018 that I had slowly been working through and not yet moved to the ‘archive’ directoreis. Inspired to finally work on this one this morning after watching some YouTube videos from @Alister_Benn yesterday afternoon. Shout out to Alister for an excellent channel that has helped keep my inspired the last few weeks as cabin fever as really set in.
What technical feedback would you like if any?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
All feedback welcome. Went back and forth a little on if I wanted to darken the top edge some or not. Ultimately I brightened it back up a touch with a couple gradients in Lightroom before export because I didn’t like the top as it came out of Photoshop. Had to do a little healing to a few sections of the log where something (probably someone’s boot) had broken up the wood surface some.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 5DmkIV / Tamron 14mm 2.4 SP at f/10, ISO200
8-image focus stack in PS
Nice mysterious atmosphere and good POV. The top being so light really adds to that atmosphere so I’m glad you didn’t use the darkened version.
Grt, Ingrid.
Jon, good call on keeping the top brighter, it adds to the mysterious mood of the fog. This is one of those images where a vignette helps on the bottom and sides, but not on the top, so I like the approach you took here. The image is also a good illustration of the concepts of contrast discussed by Alister Benn in his webinar, light (distant) / dark (near) , soft/sharp, etc. The processing looks great in terms of exposure, contrast, and color. The greens in particular are very well handled here.
In terms of composition, I like the use of the diagonal line of the log to pull your eye towards the fog. My only nit is that I think the near part of the log carries too much visual weight relative it’s interest level. I might consider a crop from the bottom to a 5:7 aspect ratio. You would still have diagonal line, but you would lose the bright part of the log near the bottom edge. If you wanted to keep this in a 3:2 ratio, then I would instead consider significantly darkening the bottom 20% of the image, especially the log.
Jon, I appreciate your composition and processing as presented a lot. It gives me a very natural sense of the scene. Especially the tangible details in the foreground add a lot in my opinion.
Compelling image. The diagonal log is a great leading line. Maybe the light part of the log could be darkened just a smidge. Your eye is drawn up to the vertical trees and the beautiful fog. The 2/3 to 1/3 triangles of ferns also serve to make the photo more dynamic. Lovely photo that really draws me through the scene.
Beautiful scene, Jon. I think the darkening of the log made a big improvement. Your original vision was excellent and the improved version is right on the mark.
