Fallen Brothers

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Fallen Brothers
Fallen Brothers2000×1429 2.13 MB

This is an old one taken in 2013 in the Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, California - this is the Stout Grove specifically. Oh to be a fly in the wind to hear these giants crash to earth. It would be so scary, yet exhilarating I’m sure. With the canopy opened it’s a race for the sunlight on the forest floor. Over time I love how these massive trees lose their round shape and turn to enormous Lincoln Logs.

I held the camera directly overhead to get this shot the way I liked it. The intersecting lines and the contrast between live and dead trees is pretty compelling IMO. I always feel for the dead ones though I know nothing lives forever and a fallen tree is vital for forest health. We all return back to the earth and the cycle continues.

Specific Feedback Requested

Ideas for processing improvement welcome.

Technical Details

Handheld

image

Lr for RAW work - I re-edited it with the new process - boosted shadows and whites, reduced blacks and highlights, added texture and some clarity. Cropped to lose the top where too much sky showed through. A little distortion correction. Topaz Sharpen to bring up detail and reduce noise. Photoshop to use masking with dodge and burn layers to contour the light around the trees and logs. Reduced the saturation slightly. Some distraction removal. A freehand vignette to further direct light in the scene.

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Kris, I really can’t say anything else is needed to enhance this beautiful image. Wow! Although everything is so majestic when one looks at all those trees, I must point out how stunning it is to see that small plant in the foreground among those giants. It’s a beautiful testament to the cycle of life in the forest. You have captured that so well.

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What I find most interesting about this image Kris is not the fallen trees or the new shapes that they take on but rather the single fern in the foreground. There is so much growth behind the fallen trees that I find it amazing that there is a single fern and nothing else in the bottom of the image. This could probably be interpreted in many different ways but it’s almost like rearing pen for a child with all the adults and teenagers looking on and taking care of it. Super interesting Kris.

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Thanks @Egídio_Leitão & @David_Haynes - I was hoping it helped tell the story of how a forest works. That fern though - it is amazing it’s alone isn’t it? I just couldn’t resist.

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