In the Bosque

PT this seems to be a delicate plant. I find the colors a bit unusual. I like how the branches are positioned but there is an absence of something for the eye to latch onto.... As of now I cannot think of some concrete way to improve it. As the colors are don't seem right it would be good to try this in monotone -- just a suggestion.

I agree with Mandar that the colours seem off - almost over-saturated on the plant stems. I get a better sense of the composition from the thumbnail, but the larger image doesn't seem to have sufficient dominant or continuous lines to fulfill the thumbnail's promise. I think the risk with tree and vegetation shots is always finding a way to simplify the clutter and pull some strong elements out of it. I like the idea here, but the DOF, focus, colour and light use doesn't seem to be effective enough to isolate and emphasise those critical elements. But, that aside, I definitely get 'delicate' from the shot. Best, Jeremy

The photo was taken in the shade, so the colors are a little bit blue, and I did lay off the saturation. This plant is known locally as "salt cedar" and I it has a lot of red in the stems; still, I think you're right that it is off a bit. I see what you mean by it having no real focus; it was very difficult separating the subject from the background. I played with channel separations to see what I could do with that and Mandar Deshmukh was right, it is much better in b&w. Thanks for the help and advice.

PT, the BW version looks really nice. I was wondering what the title means -- Did you take this photograph at the famous bird watching area (Bosque NM)?

I think it works better in B&W - one thing I see better in B&W is the way the small twigs are all on different planes and at different angles (and this is an imoportant part of the delicate mood). In the colour version, this effect is not so noticeable (the green stems dominate).

 

I'd prefer to see the last tip at the bottom in focus and perhaps positionned more diagonally (pointing more towards bottom right corner) with a bit more space below it.

 

Now I'm off to check bosque in the dictionary!

Bosky: covered by trees or bushes; wooded

 

Boscage: mass of trees or shrubs

I would add that the shot seems noisy in the background (probably high ISO setting on the digicam?). And related to Dominique's comment about lpanes and angles - the unsharp big twig in the middle bothers me a bit here (see img attached). I wouls also like to see a little more space at the bottom, and that would help the aspect ratio, I think.

 

Personally I prefer the color version, though I would desaturate a wee bit.

 

Interesting shot! And theme fit really good.

 

Tom

The color version does nothing for me but the bw is very nice. Theme fit is pretty obvious here, even more so in the bw version. Good idea PT!

 

Andre