This image was taken in late May 2020 in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts. For about a week the birch trees have these lovely white/ pale green buds before they leaf out. The other green leaves here are from surrounding beech and maple trees that are at a more advanced stage. I liked how this hillside contained a mosaic of spring colors, from white to orange and green.
it was drizzling rain, and due to the wet leaves I had a hard time controlling the saturation of the green leaves in post. I actually reduced green saturation, but are these greens still too electric? I’m afraid I may have lost a sense of perspective after taking time to process this.
Tapestry indeed. I really like the white/pale green buds and I kinda wish them to be more prominent. And I love the greens, too, Ed. There is variety across the entire scene and that makes the image alive. Did you use a CPL when you shot this?
I have some other images from this same shoot where I concentrated on showing the white / pale green buds more prominently, and will be posting them over the next couple weeks. The intent of this image was more about showing the mixture of color.
And yes I did use a CPL, with wet vegetation it is a necessity to avoid glare and get better colors. It also slows down your shutter speed, but I bumped the ISO up to 400 to compensate. luckily there was not too much wind on this morning.
Lovely blend of colors. No, I do not think the green is too electric. My only nit, a small one, is that you have a bright object on the edge (the tree in the upper right) that draws the eye there. I tried darkening it but then it messes with similiar branches in the middle, so I don’t know if there is a solution. If you have other shots, perhaps one without a light tree on an edge…
Perhaps the greens look too saturated because that color dominates the composition. Here’s a crop with a greater balance of different colors. I boosted the oranges to the level of the greens. This is a pretty drastic crop so the sharpness has dropped off.
Lovely tapestry. The greens look realistic to me. I think they are a bit overwhelming because of the large area they occupy in the frame. Perhaps a 4:5 crop, cropping off the left, would balance the colors more.
Ed,
Real nice splash of spring color and the greens look just fine to me. The composition works really well as I think the colors are spaced out rather nicely across the horizontal format. Looks like you had the perfect light and weather conditions with the rain to capture this beautiful scene. If I had to make a suggestion; and it may be just me because no one else has mentioned it; but I could see the white buds lightened just a bit. Here is what I was thinking. Looking forward to the rest of your spring images.
At least there is a consensus that the green is not too electric. After spending time playing with color via WB, vibrance, and HSL adjustments during processing, I was concerned that I may have ost my sense of perspective, so it’s good to get a reality check.
Igor, I like your crop, and reducing the amount of space devoted to green does change my perception of how saturated it is (an interesting phenomena). I also like what you did boosting the saturation of the orange, that does create a better saturation balance relative to the green.
Ed Lowe, I have a ton of other images from this shoot, and will post some here soon. I’m not sure about the brighter whites in your rework. It’s very much a matter of personal taste, but I think they may draw too much attention away from the other colors, especially the orange.
This is beautiful Ed. I think that the color saturation looks about right to my eyes - especially since the rain tends to enhance the saturation. These scenes are difficult to compose but you have done well with this image. There is nice spacing between the trees and the spring blooms add a spash of color among all of the green. One thought is that I would suggest selecting the red channel and seeing if you can bring out a bit more of the saturation of the orange colored blooms. I think there is room for just a little more saturation there.
