A portrait of a cherry tree

Yesterday, winter painted everything white. Fresh dust snow and

hoarfrost on branches of trees. I only found time to photograph

shortly after sunset. It was getting warmer and I was afraid that all

the beauty would be destroyed and I hurried to portrait this old

cherry tree in the vineyards. As the blue hour came, I set up a long

exposure and painted the tree with light. It was a wonderful

experience to stand in the middle of vineyards, with no wind, in

silence and watch the colors of the sky change. Conditions like this

are becoming rare in the region where I live. Your opinions and

suggestions for improvement are welcomed.

I don't see how this photo could be improved. I think it is perfectly executed. I also appreciate the background story you wrote, we are very lucky to enjoy nature, hopefully we can start living with it not against it.

A truly stunning image that is not only beautiful and serene, but quite original.  Love it... Mike

Interesting to hear how you 'worked' for this shot ... very nice result indeed ... thank you for sharing with the PN community

Very attractive image, with a really interesting effect on the tree. Best regards.

Stunning shot.  kind regards

striking image- good idea!

Eva, Mike, J, Jon, Chris, Cherene, Gregory and Verena, thank you very much! I am glad you like the image. Best wishes. Peter

Peter, I can't improve on what has already been said. Well done.

Thank you, David!

I like this picture. The isolation of the subject is very good against the hazy sky and the strong leading lines brings me into the frame right to the subject. The lighting is unique and the frozen branches stand out sharply. The overall cool monotone has both a unifying effect and gives one a sense of chill of this winter scene.

My only suggestion would be to to take a fraction, and I mean a fraction, from the bottom of the frame and add a fraction to the top. I feel it would balance the composition better. Otherwise a successful portrait with unique visual appeal. Well done, Peter!

I find the subject matter both intriguing and haunting. The tree is at the most unexpected location, and blocking the way of the unwary traveller. As if it appeared out of nowhere via supernatural powers.

I don't know how you did it, but, I like it very much. The tree looks glowing in the dark blue time of the day. Excellent and, almost a mystical image.

Eye catching photo which suffers, in my eyes, from a heavy composition of centering and perspective. The tree is so clearly the only subject to contemplate.
I wondered how this was done, just for the record. If one looks at the tree in enlargement one sees a seemly unexplained very narrow depth of sharpness. Most of outer branches and the branches in the background - but also the wine field around - are seemly out of focus.
I would be good to know to which degree this image is digitally manipulated - which, however, does not take away the fact that the tree is spectacular.

For those who are mystified by how this was done, you need only read Peter's explanation on the photo's page. Given that the tree was light painted during a long exposure, it stands to reason that it would be sharper than the remainder of the image. The light painting would have effectively given a shorter exposure with more light and no doubt slight motion in the tripod would account for the softness in the rest of the image.

I too appreciate the mysterious feelings the image evokes. The technique Peter used, as End explained it, brings both life and light to the tree. My only gripe, similar to what Anders already stated, has to do with the tree's center position in the frame. If it were me, I'd crop the right edge close to the second stalk, thereby eliminating the first.

If it were me, I would never have centered the tree and if I weren't me and did center the tree, I would have composed the shot portrait rather than landscape orientation. The horizontal composition leaves too little room above the tree and too much vineyard at the sides of the frame to take full advantage of the flow of the receding lines of the rows of vines.
I applaud the spirit of experimentation but the result leaves me cold.

End of, are you not confusing lower light intensity with softness? If you look at the small twigs on the foreground (unfortunately we cannot click on a larger size) you will note that they are really quite sharp. The advantage of the photo being a POW is for me the fact that we do not use light painting often enough and this one at least affords that possibility. Thanks to End of for noting that. The difference in tones of the tree and orchard or vineyard may be intentional here, but often the light painting is done with a light of greatly differing color temperature to that of the ambient light and matching color temperatures is difficult to achieve in those situations where that is desired. Despite the dramatic effect of dissimilar color balance between subject matter in the photo I feel that one downside is that it yields an effect that is a more "decorative" than revealing of something about the subject, although I freely acknowledge that such an approach can please many viewers.

Arthur, HERE'S a link to the larger size photo, which can be accessed from the photographer's portfolio. There are two (maybe more) ways to get to the POTW. One is by clicking on the FORUMS tab at the top of the page and then clicking on Photo of the Week. The other is by clicking on the GALLERY tab at the top of the page and clicking on Photos of the Week. If you use the latter method, you will be taken to the original portfolio page and as you scroll down you will come to the POTW discussion, so you get to see the photographer's initial comments and all comments received before the photo became Photo of the Week. There, the photographer has explained his method and the larger version can be seen.

I like End's idea of the centering working better if this had been a vertical format. Something about the boldness and unreality (or, as Supriyo called it, supernatural) of the light tree against the dark sky lends itself to the centering, but it doesn't quite work as is. There's a formality about this shot and an almost obvious sense of focus on the tree that seems well suited to symmetry and centering, so I like pushing that idea.

I do not believe that I am. The remainder of the image is certainly lit differently than the areas brushed with light. There is also a difference in sharpness, perhaps not a dramatic difference but the tree branches do appear sharper. With the current level of jpeg sharpening on the file, as it appears here, the tree feels over sharpened and I prefer the look of the foreground. Of course one has to be reticent to hold too much stock in the degree of sharpness of a small web image.

Thanks to the Elves for selecting the photo and you all for your thoughtful comments!

Here are responses to the questions raised.

Louis, thank you for your suggestion, I shall try that, there are obviously many ways to see the same subject.

Supriyo, thank you! I reality, there is enough space around the tree to walk.

Bela, thank you, I am glad you like it!

Anders, thank you! This is a blend of two exposures at ISO 100 with Canon 750D and Canon EF 17-40 F4/L at 29mm focal length, focused on the tree. The first exposure was 62s at f/8 during which I painted the tree with light of off-camera flash (Canon Speedlite 430 EX II) at full power and 24mm zoom, 7 flashes. The second exposure was 70s f/8 taken about 2 minutes later. The sky color and light intensity was changing rapidly. I opened the two images as layers in PS CS6 in Lab mode. I corrected the colors of the two layers with Curves of the a and b channels. In the blending process, I masked the area where the result of flashing was visible not only on the tree, but also the nearby vines and the ground.

I sharpened the L channel in the web version, and faded the effect over the tree, yet it appears sharper than the rest, but that is what I wanted. The vines on the left edge are somewhat softer not because of tripod movement, but likely because of a bit of shallow DOF at f/8 and 29mm focal length (about 46 mm in 35mm terms) and being close to the image corner, which is always softer. I tried focus stacking, as I expected this, but I finally did not use the frame with focus on the vines because it was taken earlier when there was more light and it did not look right. The light was changing from exposure to exposure (I arrived at the spot and started shooting about 20 minutes after the sunset).

EndofDays, thank you! DOF and the painting with flash explains the sharpness of the tree partly, but the other reason is the preparation of the web version, where the L channel was sharpened and the effect is more visible on the lightpainted tree (I did dampen this effect on the tree, though). The full size version has less difference in sharpness between the tree and the rest (the left branches of the vines close to the edge). I have not printed this one yet, but I am looking forward to doing so.

Michael, thank you! The tree is not completely center, I tried to avoid that, but I wanted to have a sense of symmetry. There are certainly other ways the image could be composed. I live nearby and I can experiment later on.

Arthur, thank you! The color temperature of the flash is indeed different, and I wanted that the tree be rendered white, partly because I wanted to enhance the hoarfrost and partly because I wished to make the impression that the tree is in blossom.

Fred, thank you! This is not my first shot of the tree, here is one old shot in a vertical format for you to judge how it may look. About "unreality/supernaturality" - this feeling may come from the fact that the source of light is not visible. I did not include it because I did not like the effect of the flash on the vines and the ground.

Here are the two original frames for you to judge how much PS was used.

Thanks Fred. It confirms the sharpness of the foreground but also provides a better effect than when seen smaller. The front and side details are interesting. Not sure myself whether it would be improved as a vertical format as I think that the the surrounding yet symmetrically placed orchard on either side has an effect in placing the tree within the centre and adding contrasting environmental subject matter. The tree has somewhat round branches outline that if anything might even argue for a square image format but one not too closely cropped to the tree. The wide aspect chosen sort of makes it like an environmental portrait of the tree rather than a close face portrait common to a vertical format close portrait (All this is quite subjective on my part).

Thanks, Peter, for the detailed responses to all the comments you have received. It would be good if all POW photographers made the same efforts. Congratulation with the POW. Well deserved.