Walking through the gate of roots

I am trying to learn, so all comments are welcome. Thanks. :)

I've got a similar shot from our vist to the Ringling estate...there's a lot you can do there with a camera, that's for sure.

 

In this case it looks like the reflections on the trunks are a little blown out.

...I assume you mean the white areas? How can this be avoided and/or how could it be corrected? Any ideas?

For sure. The picture is a bit over-exposed. In digi cams it's better to under-expose - then you still have details in shadows and lights. You can work with the picture. When you over-expose lights there is nothing you can do - you have no details. It's completly contrary in analog photo :). Anyway it's good composition and perspective. I would crop from the right - to the vertical dark thing (root?). It would be more like a gate then. Greetings from Poland :) Lukasz.

Baerbel. This one works better for me. My thoughts. Notwithstanding the exposure problem with the blown out highlights, the compostition is far more interesting and allows me to explore the forms much more than the earlier one you posted.

 

There is always room for improvement so... Maybe under different lighting this could take on very different and mysterious moods. I guess I would have stepped a bit to the right and aimed the camera a tad to the left to use the right trunk as a frame rather than cut the image as it does so abruptly. Also the background is still a bit distracting so I would tone it down in Photoshop. Better yet, reshoot it under better lighting conditions. This appears to be shot at mid day--the worst time for photographs in my experience. Perhaps at sunrise or dusk the light would let you take a picture of those amazing forms without the distracting background.

 

Hope this helps.

Thank you, Lukasz and Bill. Very helpful comments, indeed. I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts and expertise. I have a lot to learn yet, but it is fun! :)

Bill and Lukasz, those are great comments. The one thing to be concerned about with underexposing digital photos is noise. If this is a picture that you really need to get, I'd suggest a few things:

 

1. Put the camera on a tripod, crank the aperature shut to retain DOF, and use a gradually decreasing shutter speed as an exposure bracketing technique- shoot as many frames as you have time for. I've found that when I use this technique I usually get two or three shots that are what I'm looking for.

 

2. Shoot this later in the evening, so you don't have that bright sky shining on those smooth banyan trunks.

Thank you, Doug. Both points make good sense. My ratings are creeping up just a little due to all the help I have been getting from experienced photographers like you. Purchasing a tripod is next on my list. :)

Splendid shot!

a very interting shot

Baerbel, my two-cents worth: DON'T POST 1.5mg PHOTOS!!! Very few people on PN click on the "LARGER" button and if they do, they do not need to see the image as large as you captured it. Also, you will quickly use up too much storage space on the PN servers by submitting full sized images. Please reduce them to about 1/5th the original size, or at the most 1/3rd size.

I had the pleasure of going down the page through all your photos and on the way up, I had to stop here!

 

A clever composition of unusual tree and root formation. Although Shawn has a point about the big size, it did help me feast my eyes on the detail.

 

best regards.

This one works best of this series, in my opinion, because I don't get the impression that the trees are standing in my way. the way that they move into the centre of the photo as you go further into the background draws the eye in.