Resilience

This was our first snow storm in Alberta. In October of course and it is the one the put an end to the little fall colors we had. I was on the road and liked how the tree looked as the storm started blowing.

Let me know how I could or still can improve it.

What technical feedback would you like if any?

Any and all feedback is great

What artistic feedback would you like if any?

Any and all feedback is great

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

(If this is a composite, etc. please be honest with your techniques to help others learn)

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That edit was looking good @Martin9
I was just finishing the comments :sweat_smile:

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I like the simple composition and the feeling of the cold of winter starting. The leaves on the trees in the background immediately draw my attention and tend to hold it there so I do not wonder through the rest of the image.

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Hi . Your picture spoke to me directly. I think that the lower part is too little present only distracts from the actual motif of the tree in the snow, so I concentrated more on the tree and took something out of the saturation in the sky. I also darkened the background and with a little Dodge and Burn I brought out the snowflakes and the branches as well as the trunk.
I’m curious if you like it. I open the light a littel bit.


Best regards.

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Aref, I played a bit with your great image.I took away the yellow eye-catching in the background . To get more peace in the moment . In my view there is more balance. I hope you like my rework.!

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I think this is a creative image that tells an interesting nature story, by conveying a sense of time and place. I love the starkness and simplicity of the bare trees, both the main one in the foreground, and the stand of aspens in the background. Great job to see this composition and extract it from the overall landscape. I think the processing is great as is, I prefer the lighter feeling vs. one that would have more contrast. I think the falling snow shows up nicely in the processing as presented.

I am a big fan of simplicity in images, which is what I enjoy most about this image. When I saw the rework by @Ben_van_der_Sande that removes the yellow leaves, I had to pause and think. I suspect you included those leaves to re-inforce the story of seasonal transition. So I think your image works well as presented, since the leaves help that story. But I also like what Ben has done, it simplifies the image even further, and I think having just the bare trees effectively tells the seasonal story too. I think removing the leaves makes foreground aspen stand out better too, if you want to play up the tree more.

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This one works really well and I quite like @Ben_van_der_Sande 's rework. I find it very nicely simplifies the image and creates much more impact for me.

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I also agree that the yellow leaves are a distraction. I like Ben’s rework.

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I rely appreciate your input.
@Ed_McGuirk I am really happy you were able to read exactly what i wanted to convey. This trip for me was supposed to be about fall colors and what caught my eye first in this scene are the three yellow trees. To me this is important.
For those of you who found the yellow trees distracting do you feel that the background became insignificant when the yellow was gone? the way I see this is that my eye immediately goes to the yellow trees to which forces me to see the background and the atmosphere but since the yellow trees are right behind the tree i also can’t help it but see the tree (depth of field helping). What do you think?

@Martin9 I see how your crop made the image stand out but i do prefer the tree to be grounded, and i have to admit I started processing it to the level of contrast you added but then chose to keep the atmosphere.

@Martin9 thanks for brining my attention to the sky saturation, I am desaturating the sky for sure

No. I feel that the background became harmonious with the tree after the removal of the yellow. The main focus is the tree and the background yellow is a distraction. The 2nd image is superior in my mind because of the composition of branches extending to the side against fainter trees going up and down. Eliminating the sky would make it even stronger. I like the layer of grass at the bottom.

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@Igor_Doncov thanks… I am intrigued by the idea of cutting the sky out all together, i will give it a try

I took out the sky and as soon as i did that i saw the image in B&W
I attached it above…tells a different story in my opinion

From the story with your image, I knew you viewed this as an end of autumn picture, and suspected that’s why you included the yellow leaves. I think it works okay, but I also think the image is visually stronger without the leaves. I agree with @Igor_Doncov, I think the background becomes more harmonious with the tree when the yellow is excluded. To me this image is more about the starkness of late autumn / early winter than it is about the last leaves of autumn holding on. For one, the leaves are obscured by the main tree, which to me is distracting. But more importantly, the background aspen trunks have a lot of visual similarity to the foreground tree in color, cooler WB, and starkness. For me the yellow leaves disrupt the connection of the main tree and the background grove of trees. As a viewer, the yellow leaves don’t force me to the background, rather they delay me from seeing the rest of the background. Less is more in this case.

I think part of the difference in how we view the image vs. how you are is because we were not there when it was shot. Maybe there were a lot of aspen trees with leaves still on, and you were in the mindset to photograph autumns last gasp. I often find myself trying to shoot what I originally set out to shoot, sometimes at the expense not fully seeing the value of images that don’t fit my pre-conceived notions. But for those of us viewing it here, we take a more independent view, and focus on visual design elements, and what works visually and what doesn’t.

I decided to get rid of the yellow to make the image stronger as per your suggestions (thank you)
But i failed miserably :pensive:
@Ben_van_der_Sande how did you do it ? Did you clone it out? It is so tough to clone out with all those branches
I tried color selections, luminosity masks to isolate but no desaturation or hue changes would do the trick to make it blend with the trees behind

Lovely photo. I also agree that getting rid of the yellow improves the photo. My only nit is that the symmetry doesn’t work for me. I cropped a bit off the left:

@Aref, Aref,I also tried different possibilities. But finally was just using the clone stamp the rather simple solution.

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