Tree With Coyote Hills - Color Transparency Version

Critiques and comments appreciated.

Jim

the crop feels a little top heavy, the sky feels like its overpowering the rest of the landscape a little bit. Maybe better as a horizontal. Otherwise the photo is absolutely beautiful, the composition of the shot is great!

You know Allison, I thought about that and played with hoizontal crops and finally decided to keep the blue upper sky. thanks for the comments,

Jim

I was going to say the same.Technically it would be stronger if cropped. But sometimes clouds are just nice to look at. Here it seems to add an additional dimension being a strong diagnal.

 

How far can a tree lean before it falls? :)

I love to crop....but this one looks fantastic just the way it is...I agree that the clouds add a very nice diagonal...I hope you feel proud of this image...I would! Congrates...Juan

Beautiful image Jim.

 

The composition is great. Good use of line, texture and pattern.

 

The haze in the backgroud really helps the overall atmosphere of the image.

 

Well done.

 

nic :-)

Yes, I drove an hour thru early morning commute traffic to get down there for sunrise. A year or two later that tree had fallen over, I think it may have been dead when I took this photo. As I mentioned in another version of this image here, these fields are covered now with walled communities almost up to those hills in the background. The thing I like most about this image is the early morning mist with the distant trees rising out of it.

Perfect composition.

 

:)

Eh, another vote to keep this as is. Crop works the surreal.

Excelente imagen de gran belleza, perfecta luz y color, gran encuadre y bella composicion, saludos cordiales Jim.

Jim, pph,ooh... What a beauty. The simple compositon and the exquisite light ! the details in the fields make the image. cheers Jana

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A beautiful image in my book. Good lone trees are hard to find and I like the natural looking color here. Great catch Jim.

I like trees. I like lone trees. I like morning fog.

 

But I don't think this image captures these elements well. I don't share the opinion about the neutrality of colours; I would've liked to see a polarized version. What mostly bugs me though, is the competition of the clouds with the tree. They are uninteresting imo, but more importantly, I don't feel they embellish this composition.

 

I also don't like the way the lower (dark) branch merges with the top of the distant hill to the right.

 

Overall, it leaves me with no feeling. I don't even wish to 'be there', which is not a good attribute for a landscape photo.

At first, I too thought a crop of the sky was in order. But without the crop, the image gives a better impression of openess, space, which probably was true at the site. I'd leave the photo alone.

For me, this picture does not do it. The elements seem to be there, but the way they are put together... I am not sure about it.

 

The bottom right area bothers me a lot. I would have either included more of those lines going sideways or none. As is, it just draws my attention and leaves me unsatisfied.

 

I love the green lines. They do a great job of leading you in the picture. The have wonderful shape and texture. But, instead of leading me to the subject, they take me beyond. To the second subject, according to the title, the Coyote Hills. Not sure I like that. The mist in the background is nice, but not enough to hold my attention.

 

The tree has a very photogenic shape and nice light on it, but... I am not sure it is enough.

 

So I find myself wandering towards the sky. Poorly visible clouds with a nice shape, some magenta cast (maybe just on my screen) and lots of empty space.

 

Everything seems to be there, but...

 

I think Jim should return to this place and try another version.

 

Regards,

Correction: I saw Jim's message and understand why he cannot return to the site anymore... Missed that the first time, sorry.

Very well done; an inspiring effort.

 

I like all of the elements and how they are framed. Only minor quibble is the strange looking earth in the lower righthand corner.

 

The fog/mist and the bare tree, in the green furrowed fields with the misty hills in background -- very aesthetic. This would be wel worth having it hang on a wall nicely framed.

 

Looks like something 60 miles or so east of SF Bay if not south of San Jose, CA.

I looked over this photograph a couple of hours ago before anyone had commented. Even now that there are a number of comments made, I am holding off looking at them to keep from being swayed by others thoughts.

 

When I first looked at the photo, I thought it was a nice well composed image with good lighting and following the rule of thirds, it didn't seem to require my inexpert ability to crop it any way that I noticed. The sky didn't impress me too much.

 

I then looked at the many beautiful photographs in your portfolio, mostly black and white and with many explorations into infrared. Some of those were just plain magnificent. I saw lots of them I would like above my mantal.

 

Getting back to this week's POW, and after further study, I agreed with my first thought that this is a "nothing" sky for such a nice picture. somehow things work out that way, but that tends to lessen the effect of the image overall. I really loved that old tree with branches entertwined and cradling one another. The diagonal earthen mounds look great except for the little bit close in on the right. That could be cropped away. I think an inch or an inch and a half could be cropped off the entire left side and we are back at nearly the same view but with out the awkward cloud bank edge and bothersome black freshly plowed lower right corner. Well, not quite back to the same image, but one which doesn't bother me.

 

As I say the color of the green vegetation and the tree in that nice morning lighting is great, but for my money, I prefer your black and white infrared images. Congratulations and don't feel too badly about MY comments, as they are rarely consistant with those of other viewers anyway.

 

Willie the Cropper

Verrry Nice. And I am quite sparing on POW commentary. This is a nice example of a straightforward image, taken by a photographer with preplanned intent. No schlock, no photoshop, just plain hard work with a heavy camera.

Wow , thats a great artwork, i feel that the tree is dancing or praying (or thanking) the holy spirit of the nature for the growth of the crop and giving life to the earth

Nice, it also reverse the sound of no sound, calmness, and peace

a great delicate landscape,that i would love as my own...regards david

I'm really chuffed to have one of my photos be a P.O.W.! Thanks for all your comments. Like "Willie the Cropper" said above, I put most of my photographic energy into IR Black and White. This color image came about at a time when I was beginning to realize I needed to get up out of bed early and make some sacrifices to explore and honor a place that had meaning for me. Damn, I'd love to go back there one more time, the way it was, with all I've learned since then. Well I guess I'm still reaping the benefits of that time by reading these critiques here, thanks again,

Jim C.

it is really an impressive photo. The lines of the field that take directly to the immense blue

sky. the tree is located of skillful way in the scene. it is the true protagonist.

Congratuation