Foliage

Reminds me of my grandparents in southern Indiana, when I was growing up. It does exactly what a photo is suppose  to do. It tells a story,reminds us of a story, or both. For me this one does both. thank you 

Pat

PDE

Very well done!

Very good composition and light. Special mood. Best wishes. Evgeni

Hi Allen,

Just having a peek. Hope you dont mind, but I have taught classes in advanced techniques, compositions etc..   I LOVE the concept, not too many attempt to capture the cottage set back just nestled in the woods.  I also like that the subject is not necesarily  the most dominant feature of the composition.   The subtle hint of the road leading in is a bit of a tease.

In my minds eye, here's what I see.  I've broken it down in two categories.  Composition and lighting.   Looking about the frame I immediately am drawn to the broken leader off the Maple.   Had it not been damaged, the tree would appear fuller.   Second, the yellow sign on the tree.   I plainly see a more powerful composition within this frame!  A closer crop of the cottage still leaves it partially obscured, use the brilliant overhanging foliage from the dominant maple tree to frame the image.  Leave the cottage in the lower left of the crop, the road at the bottom of the frame and end it at the trunk with the yellow sign.

Lighting:    I always feel strongly a rainy day, or overcast-even brightly lit overcast is best for forest scenes to reduce contrast and boost colors.

regards, Tom

Thanks to everyone for spending the time to comment.  I re-did the shot below based on your suggestions, Tom.  The one thing that bothers me the most with the shot is the few leaves in the overhang that blocks the top window of the house.  I should have lowered my tripod to get those leaves higher.  The other foliage in the background that's blocks the house is fine.  I cloned out the yellow No Trespassing sign.  That bothered me originally, I had cloned it out, then re-process and left it in at the end.   The broken branch is a blessing and bust.  If it was still there I would not have gotten  the house in the picture.  I think if my shot was lower, it would hav helped with framing the house better and eliminated those leaves.  I'm a little confused with your lighting comment.  The original poosting had both contrast and saturation added.  What did you mean for me to do?

For reference I'm also posting the original medium format shot that was scanned.  It pretty much was what came out of the scanner carrier and all except for size changing and a slight sharpening.  It's too bad I had and overcast sky.  I would have liked to work with more of the picture.  Any recommendations now that you see the original shot?  Thanks again.  Alan

Here's the original medium format scan

For some reason the 2nd cropped shot doesn't appear.  I'll try again.  Alan

Hi Alan,

Nice image! My vote goes to the original scan. The tree in this one looks so dominant, the crop is not doing it justice. Also there is a barren tree on right hand side that does not show up in crop. The cottage appears smaller in this one and that emphasizes even more the size of tree.

The colors and sharpness are good.

Best... Sandeep

I love this, Alan...the foreground tree got me blown away. The yellow orange glow emanating from the foliage is just fantastic. And the trunk's tone and texture is really a work of art. Also, the partly hidden cottage is a bonus.

Thanks everyone for your comments.  They are much appreciated.  Alan.

A wonderful color palette and artful composition. I would not change a thing.

Hard to lose with this one considering all the crop options open to you.  I respectfully must part company with Sandeep and agree with your crop which eliminates an unfortunately boring sky area.  I think I would have come to the same conclusion as you did.  Common problem at this time of the year with similar subject matter.  Thomas's take comes closer to the mark and though I bow to his experience in these matters I personally don't think his suggested crop is necessarily the superior image.  There's a lot of room for subjectiveness here so I'll go on record as prefering the crop in your original post.  I kind of like the framing effect that the broken branch on the ground has.  I think it aids in framing the cottage nicely.  I didn't even notice the yellow sign on the tree which perhaps speaks to my lack of powers of observation but could easily be cloned out if it bothered you.  Gorgeous colours by the way.  Who could resist?  Bottom line:  a keeper!  Best, LM.

Len  Thanks for your kind comments.   I originally cloned out the yellow Posted - No Trespassing sign.  But when I re-did the image, I just didn't want to bother doing it again. Also, I heard a voice go off in my head,"No adding or subtracting".  My philosphy is basically OK for sharpness, colors, crops and spotting (such as for dust on film scans or pimples on relative's faces), but no cloning objects in and out of pictures.  Just a personal preference, for now anyway.  I thought Tom's crop suggestion works too, but I lean to my original crop.  I checked your gallery and really liked it.  Many of the photos are the kind  of compositions I prefer too - our minds eyes see similarly.  Best regards, Alan.

love the colours.