dansmith Loc: Southwest Alberta Canada

After being granted favorable comments on posts so far, have at this one before my hat gets too tight.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Hi, Dan,
I think there are a few too many distractions at ground level thaT detract from the solitary tree...but y'gotta realize I'm a sucker for solitary trees...and y'gotta realize I get complaints about " Oh Gawd...another solitary tree...
But anyway.. i'm guessing that bright area is the sun behind thin clouds, because the thin twigs there don't seem blown out. I don't know if this was raw data or a JPEG, but if you have the bits, I'd try to tone down that sun some.
Also, the snow or ice this side of the base of the tree could stand a bit of brightening.
i do get a sense of Winter being on the wane... which always is somehow a bit depressing to me...who loves Winter!
uh...oh...December! More Wnter on the way!
i'd like to have seen the download, but if you have a constitutional objection to providing the download, I fully understand.

let's see some more.

Dave in SD

dansmith Loc: Southwest Alberta Canada

Thanks for commenting on this one Dave. Time to unbag the cat.
The shot is from a test drive on a junk store rescue Kodak Cameo filled with hopelessly out of date C41, ISO 400 stock, cross processed in BW chemistry to save $$ and check for mechanical problems. Shooting into the early December mid morning sky was testing the limits of the machine and my metering skills. Trees around here didn't drop their leaves completely last fall hence the unseasonal look.
Did play with the brightness of the sun and the skiffs of snow a bit but left it here. Unfortunately short of a chainsaw, lower left clutter remains a glitch. Guess I was after the sky detail primarily.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Seems true: I can't quote the French, but the sense is "The more things change, the more they stay the same"

Cool experience!
Dave

R.G. Loc: Scotland

I'd say the content and composition are spot on (although I'd probably want to remove the highest of the twigs on the left hand edge of the frame), and that's where the potential of the shot lies.

On the down side I'd say the foreground is a bit too dark, so hopefully there are details in the darkest bits that can be lifted to the point of being visible.

And the grain - was it deliberate? If it was I'd say it's a bit excessive, especially in the sky, and it's softening an image that could do with more in the way of sharpness.

dansmith Loc: Southwest Alberta Canada

thanks for the comments R.G.
perhaps this one is worth a rework after all.

Technically, a rescan of the negative at a higher resolution might give me enough info to lighten the foreground but not so much as to unbalance the dark spots in the sky. Cloning or otherwise removing some of the left side trees and bushes - fiddly but possible. The grain is a product of the film choice and processing method so is here to stay.

Tree shots are $0.10/12 so when I spotted the potential for a different one I went for it.

R.G. Loc: Scotland

If you were willing to tolerate some graininess in the sky, it's probably all doable in PP. For instance, if you have Lightroom (or something similar) you could adjust the Masking slider in the Sharpen section so that it picks up on the branches and twigs of the tree but leaves the sky alone.

If you have a robust constitution you could post it in the PP section. I should warn you that most of the offerings would be what you were hoping for but some might not be to your liking. But one advantage of the variety of responses is that you'll get lots of ideas to play with, and you might pick up some useful tips.