In Between

When I saw this scene, I was struck by the contrast between the

delicacy of the Dogwood and the two much larger, much older trees that

seemed to be reaching for the little one. In order to have the result

look as close to what I saw, I did some PP: levels, saturation,

selective burning, and cloned out a large, distracting, diagonal

branch in the upper right. I'm please with this result, and I want to

know if others think I've successfully shown you what I saw. Thanks

for your time and any comments you might leave.

Good idea and I think it works very well: placing the little tree in the center and letting the branches of the bigger trees 'grab' for it.

Yet, to me the background is still to distracting - if it was more blurred, my eyes could easier concentrate on foreground.

Thank you for your honest critique. I think the background does compete, but I'm not sure I could blur it without either a lot of work, or losing some detail in the foreground. I'm thinking maybe burning the background might have some potential. In any case, I appreciate you taking the time to look and give a considered comment.

I see your point - it definitely would be no easy task postprocessing the background. No idea, whether conditions would have permitted it (you might have tried already): playing with depth of field to separate foreground and background.

Probably not worth the time for the fairly small difference, but it is noticeable... I think. Let me know if you think this is an improvement.

I think Wolfgang makes a very good point. Burning the background really just deadens it and I don't think it's a great solution. The array of greens, by the way, is lovely. It would have been more about the way you approached this in camera, particularly depth of field and shooting angle, that would have made the difference. What you wind up with is, as you suggested in your opening statement, is an interesting composition. I think your idea behind this is a good one. But it reads a bit flat in terms of its depth, so the foreground and background are just kind of merging. Focus and lighting are the key elements. If there's a time of day when the little fellow is getting more light and the background is more in shadow, that would help. But better control of depth of field would definitely be the primary answer here.

 

It's also a tough shot because of the whiteness of the petals, which seem to have lost detail and any sense of texture.

 

I do think a moderate amount of vignetting would help a lot, focusing us more on the main subject.

 

That upper right-hand corner is really commanding quite a bit of attention.

No question what I've done with the background has had a deadening effect, and I agree that this shot just needed some different settings when shot. One question I have is about the branches of the larger tree, which are behind the little guy, and they're already a little soft, so I'm wondering if the effect of their reaching would be lost with a shallower depth of field. That is, of course, the answer to keeping the subject from blending into the background.

 

The upper right corner was actually even more distracting with the large, diagonal limbs, but I can't argue that it does still demand too much attention. As for the blossoms, I was disappointed with the lack of detail; an exposure problem... read that: they're blown out! I did try burning them to try an bring out what little detail was remaining, but it didn't help that I can see.

 

I checked on this young friend today, and his blossoms are all but gone, so I'll have to wait till next year if I want to try this exact shot again. Still, it's been a good exercise that I hope will sharpen my attention to technical elements to try and do better in getting the camera to do what my optic cortex did when I first saw this scene. It looked just fine then! :)

 

Thanks, Fred, for your careful and detailed analysis and suggestions. I hope you know I appreciate your time and experience put to helping me learn.

I just want to make sure you know that when I came back to this a second time in order to read your followup comment, I actually got more out of it. While I do still have some of the hesitations I did originally, the way the petals seem to dance there (almost as if they've been liberated from their little tree) is actually pretty joyful. I do see what attracted you to this image and, despite the critique, it displays personality and somewhat of a zest for life, I think, a vision you should continue to pursue. An important thing is that there IS a story here, one of the aspects of photography too often overlooked.

Thanks so much for the second look and for seeing a story in this picture. I do see this little tree as very happily alive, and quite a contrast to the dark, angular, leafless branches of the older trees. To be fair (does one have to be fair to trees?) the older ones have come into leaf since the picture was taken, but at that time they were a good contrast. Thanks for your gentle encouragement. It means a great deal.

Sorry, I hadn't the time to browse around photo.net in recent days. First, to your revised shot: I agree, it doesn't really make a big difference - it has even a slightly adverse effect, as the big tree's branches have less contrast to the background.

Second, Fred has made some very good comments (also a learning for me) - I couldn't agree more, esp. to the story aspect.

I don't want to read the thread to influence my impression, so I will read it later on.Seeing that image for the first time , I like it because it has a little story in it,I have concentrated on this story and enjoyed the different " chapters"of the image. The center is the young tiny tree, The second is the hugging by the two bar "hands" of the BG trees like protecting his young flowery being.....(I see 3 different "layers" here, )

 

The lower part is well accentuated ,The upper flowery part of the tree is a bit blending in the BG, I wish it was more pronaunced, even on the large version the small green leaves of the tree are seen a bit better, I still think the separation of FG and BG was needed.I can not decide if I like the upprt R corner that takes too much attention.

 

Saying all this, there is a charm to the whole scene, I like the many shades of greens with the beauty of the white flowers.

Reading the thread, I will add that I still see the "problem"in the upper part not in the lower one, I don't think your second attempt is doing it justice as was said already..

You're both quite right, of course. Wish there were more I could do, though this isn't so important to take a bunch more time. A nice idea that just didn't work out this time. I'll just try it again next year!

The idea of the shot is very good, however for me , it does not end up translating well to the image. The lack of seperation is IMO the stumbling block here and it is a multifaceted issue.

 

The lighting is not in your favour as it is rather uniform and does not separate the subject from background. As Fred suggests , perhaps a different time of day may change that situation. You recent fungi shot is a great example of how light can put the subject centre stage. As Pnina mentioned that empty grey sky pulling at the upper right corner is competing with the story you want us to focus on. And then there is the DoF. In terms of changing the DoF, which Wolfgang touched on, since you are using a zoom lens, you have both the f. stop at your disposal as well as the focal length. Moving closer and further away while zooming in and out you may have found a better focal length/ f.stop combination to isolate the trees from the background.

 

Those two branches and the dogwood are the most significant elements to my mind and a tighter shot could have thrown the background more out of focus gotten rid of the open sky and narrowed the number of elements.

 

All that being said I agree with Fred that there is a sense of joy coming through load and clear in this image.

You've helped clarify and more specifically identify the elements that need work in this image, as well as some good suggestions for how to make it happen... all good stuff I'll try and keep in mind, actually need in mind for most if not all shots, and especially when I try this one again next year! I am pleased that the joy comes through, though I think mother nature gets the lion's share of the credit for that!