"Foreground Issues": Do I leaves them or take them away?

John Muehling Loc: St. Louis Missouri

Do I leaves them or take them away?

"The Cedars"

mdorn Loc: Portland, OR

John Muehling wrote:

Do I leaves them or take them away?

I'm usually a big foreground advocate, but the foreground in this photo is not interesting. It might look better without it. Also, the rest of the foreground in this shot is underexposed. You might have to increase the midtones a bit?

John Muehling Loc: St. Louis Missouri

mdorn wrote:

I'm usually a big foreground advocate, but the foreground in this photo is not interesting. It might look better without it. Also, the rest of the foreground in this shot is underexposed. You might have to increase the midtones a bit?

Thanks Mark I'll give it a go.

artBob Loc: Near Chicago

I would crop about a fifth of the way down the tree on the right. That would create a nice circular composition and leave the leaves. I also agree that lightning of the tones in the trees in the foreground would help. Good feel to the shot.

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

I too am a fan of foliage adding a frame and increasing the impression of distance. With this photograph, cropping from the bottom is necessary, in my opinion, the dark green trees in the foreground are too much of an obstruction to the view. A crop on the right would not be a bad idea. I think, had it been possible, John would have moved to a higher location to photograph over the offending foreground. A few yards uphill and the view may have been stunning. Well conceived and executed but spoilt by mother nature.

May we have permission to play with it?

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

John Muehling wrote:

Do I leaves them or take them away?

May I post my attempt? I kept the foreground leaves on the left and the panorama format, but cropped from the right and bottom. Lightened the dark foreground, and increased saturation a bit to liven up the colors.

John Muehling Loc: St. Louis Missouri

Shakey wrote:

I too am a fan of foliage adding a frame and incre... (show quote)

Certainly. I was almost at the top of the ridge had I gone higher I would have been in the trees. I tried cropping the bottom it looks better. Thank you....John

John Muehling Loc: St. Louis Missouri

Heirloom Tomato wrote:

May I post my attempt? I kept the foreground leaves on the left and the panorama format, but cropped from the right and bottom. Lightened the dark foreground, and increased saturation a bit to liven up the colors.

By all means as they say, what is it again "A picture is etc::

Shakey Loc: Traveling again to Norway and other places.

John Muehling wrote:

By all means as they say, what is it again "A picture is etc::

Thank you for your kind permission. Here's my effort;

GIMP: Cropped foreground. Lightened the foreground foliage, on the left, a tad with a Dodge brush, Opacity set to 60. Adjusted the Saturation to make it slightly deeper. (Not strictly necessary but curiosity got the better of me.) Reduced slight noise. Sharpened to compensate for the blur when reducing noise.

Thanks again, John.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

My only real problem with the leaves in the upper left is that you cannot identify where they came from If I use foliage, I prefer to include enough to make it clear where the foliage came from. Also, I think it hangs too far into the composition competing directly with the mountain in the center middle ground which is, I believe, your point of focus.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

John Muehling wrote:

By all means as they say, what is it again "A picture is etc::

Mine is much like the one posted just above... possibly different color tones, we'll see how it looks onscreen...

Tom DePuy Loc: Waxhaw, N.C.

I personally like the leaves in the foreground....

I played with the photo a little and I actually cropped out the trees on the right-side and I like that version better ..."did not save the work I did to the photo"....but that would be my suggestion.....but that's just me

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Shakey wrote:

Thank you for your kind permission. Here's my effort;

GIMP: Cropped foreground. Lightened the foreground foliage, on the left, a tad with a Dodge brush, Opacity set to 60. Adjusted the Saturation to make it slightly deeper. (Not strictly necessary but curiosity got the better of me.) Reduced slight noise. Sharpened to compensate for the blur when reducing noise.

Thanks again, John.

I like Shakey's version. Nice colors!

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

ebrunner wrote:

My only real problem with the leaves in the upper left is that you cannot identify where they came from If I use foliage, I prefer to include enough to make it clear where the foliage came from. Also, I think it hangs too far into the composition competing directly with the mountain in the center middle ground which is, I believe, your point of focus.

Terrific observations, great for all of us!

John Muehling Loc: St. Louis Missouri

Shakey wrote:

Thank you for your kind permission. Here's my effort;

GIMP: Cropped foreground. Lightened the foreground foliage, on the left, a tad with a Dodge brush, Opacity set to 60. Adjusted the Saturation to make it slightly deeper. (Not strictly necessary but curiosity got the better of me.) Reduced slight noise. Sharpened to compensate for the blur when reducing noise.

Thanks again, John.

Oh yeah! Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Looks as if you've been there and done this before. I'm picking the frame right now. Seriously, a great PP. I'll get there someday.