Araralar - Basque Country

I'm joining here because if Vuk is here and therefore I also dare to say something praiseless:

 

Trees in twilight, that's not really too original. With a subject matter beaten to death like this, I don't care to much how technically competent it's executed (or not).

 

The motto here seems to be: If it's good enough for a postcard, then it's good enough for POW.

 

I guess the number of people here who think that the standard should NOT be postcards is pretty small.

That earned an out-loud OH MY GAWD!

Beautiful!

I virtually live in the forest, as I live for opportunities to capture images like this one. But, my first thought when viewing this POW was it had been printed backward. Then after reading the discussion I realized the photographer would have quickly corrected this had it been true. Here in Ontario, Canada the moss grows on the north side of a tree and the afternoon light falls from the west. So, this image was then captured in the morning. I really must start getting up earlier!

I, also, would like to read the technical details of this shot, all of them!

Gup.

I disagree with those saying (Vuk, Bernhard) that this photo is too defined by a postcard genre. Of course I too thought of a postcard or an office "serenity" poster, but that was not my gut reaction. Just because something is cliched doesn't mean it is only that cliche. I feel that this photo has something provocative about it, something that distorts the typical postcard feeling. Those cheesy posters for instance usually have a very abrupt message like a path winding away ahead of the viewer, something overt and pushy. Postcards as well try to give a sense of "being there" which this photo has, but goes beyond. We are "there" but not in a typical sense. I agree with E E who noted the path and how the photographer is set apart from the path, which is illuminated by the sunlight while the area of the photographer is not. We are "there" but in a provocatively removed way, that provides a somewhat uneasy feeling. Perhaps it is a sense of intrusion into this serene locale. I feel a sense of waiting, of extreme stillness which could be disturbed. Through the composition I feel as though the photographer has been removed entirely, there is no human presence in the image, which makes the possibility of the photo seem magical.

people need to get out into the wrold of nature more often. the light is real to me and the subject is the forest. whats the matter with people. every picture should be a nuclear bomb?

Beautiful light, nicely captured.

Looky there, you can take a photograph with a Tamron AF 28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 and it can make POTW. I thought the anything larger than 28-80 was the be avoided! ;0)

The dreaded word 'cliche' has been mentioned a few times ni the discussion, so I looked it up in my Franglais dictionary. It seems to mean a printing plate, also a negative from which a photo print is made, or the print itself. In other words, something reproduced or reproducable.

 

In other other words, there's a feeling in some quarters that this pic lacks originality.

 

Now, it's perfectly true that this is not the very first time I've seen a pic of a forest with a beam of sunlight illuminating mossy old tree-trunks against a backrgound of golden leaves. Nor is this an original take on the genre. Yet it is, I submit, well done. It captures the feel, and this would come across even better if it were erproduced in a gigantic coffee table format instead of on this tiny screen in dimensions a few centimeters across (even the Sistine Chapel would suffer by being reduced to postcard dimensions).

 

So it's a cliche, in terms of subject and approach, but a well-done cliche - and that's not easy.

 

Avoiding cliches is about the hardest thing of all. Long live well-done cliches!

Some art is meant to be delved into. It beckons to be understood, to draw the viewer in, to release heretofore unknown awareness. Other art is meant to be appreciated at its face value, to be treasured for its beauty alone. It has no secrets to reveal, no new stories to unveil. It simply is. All it asks is to be seen.

 

One could ascribe meaning here, and one wouldn't be wrong. To some, the light might symbolize the existence of divine majesty, or the light of knowledge, while to others it might symbolize nothing more than a cloudless day.

 

There's no reason to degrade this work because it is not unique.

Excellent AUTOFX MYSTICAL LIGHTING effect.

http://www.autofx.com/mystical_lighting/mystical_lighting.html

While the subject matter here has certainly been seen before in countless other similiar pictures, it doesn't detract from the wonderfull tones and spirit of the image.

 

I guess we need a naked man curled up in a fetal position under one of the treet to call it art.

To Hugh:

 

Your posts suggest that the photographer has used some fancy software to achieve the lighting effects. Asier denies this in his original comments when the photo was first posted (before it was selected as PoW), saying that it was not photoshopped, and that the effects were due to "filter, lens and nature." He has specified the filter, and I think that it is irresponsible to suggest--without evidence or argumentation--that he has done other manipulations when he explicitly denies that he has. Mists in the mountains or woods are not rare, and light coming through them gives effects such as these. Although I have never captured such effects, I have seen them in the Appalachians, Rockies, Andes, and the mountains of eastern Cuba. On such trips, I was usually on foot and travelling light without a camera, but the effects are there for those who do want to capture them using traditional techniques.

 

As for the autofix site, I find some of the effects reproduced there abhorrent to the whole idea of nature photography, and I am appalled at the comparison of this photo with those made using such extravagant and unnatural effects.

That site is ultra-cheesy.

 

Anyway, is there any chance of a better upload for this image? The colours & tones are nice etc., but the details/textures have been mushed.

 

I don't need a naked figure (and I preferred last week's POW without one); I just want something to actually look at instead of having to imagine detail that may or may not be there.

Well done Asier--This is a beautiful, magical nature photograph. I am not sure that it could have been composed any differently, as some have suggested, without spoiling the balance between the light slanting in from the left and the central trees: Moving to the right would reduce the amount of light seeen on the left, and moving to the left would place the lower edge of the light shaft higher in the frame, possibly intersecting the corner or even above it. Also, there may well be other, less photogenic trees to the left that would have detracted from the scene. And that light shaft looks very natural to me as I have seen light just like that when there is a light mist or fog hanging in the woods in the morning.

 

I don't mind the broken tree stump at all. I think it adds greatly to the authenticity of the image. If this were going to be used for some commercial purpose, or possibly to spruce it up for a fine art sale, I might try to digitally remove the corner of the stump that intersects the tree branch in the background, but otherwise I would leave it just as it is.

 

As to the subject of the photograph, I am one of those people who doesn't believe that a scenic photo has to always have one specific subject to draw the eye. In this case, I think the whole beautiful, magical scene is the subject. There are many interesting things that catch my eye: the light, the trees, the color, etc.

 

All in all, a photograph I would hang on my wall.

 

Joel Holcomb

I loved these colors and light, but this composition... I really didn?t understand... I missed harmony

Well done Asier ;)

I always look at the shots of the week with admiration. People see such beauty in life!

 

I think this shot breathes with autumn.... its a wonderful capture of nature; the light, the colours, the setting. I think the picture is about an autumn mood.

 

My regards to a wonderful photographer in a beautiful country!

 

V

Beautiful light and color of autumn. Good seeing!

 

As far as how to improve on it, I would like to see more detail in the leaves (crying for a larger format). The warm-up filter worked great on the leaves in the shadow, but might have spoiled the purity of the ray of light.I would try color balancing just the ray of light, may be a tad more white would do the trick.

 

Keep up the good work!

The LIGHT, the magnificent light, that's what took me away from everything. Masterful to see, experience and record. Thank you Araralar!

Una imagen fenomenal Asier no podí¡ ser de nadie mas, 7/7 , un fuerte abrazo

Take it all in!

 

Does there need to be a subject in this scene? It is a narrow field of view and even though I don't like the field of view, in my opinion the true subject is the Ambiance. All that is left is to enjoy it. Well done.

I see that it was shot with a 28-300mm lens. These range zooms have been roundly criticized when reviewed but this picture is tack sharp. Go figure!

Simply put: the photo has a fantasy-like fairy-tale feel to it. At any moment you could expect some elves to walk through, or a wizard.

 

A masterpiece of digital photography.

The way some people feel about this POW, let us hope they are not photo.net elves.....