What do you think? Reworks are fine as long as you can tell me what you did and why.
Country's Mama wrote:
What do you think? Reworks are fine as long as you can tell me what you did and why.
No rework required. Strangely, I have a photo that is very much like this one, that I took in an ice storm a few years ago (see
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-170083-1.html#2873148). I liked it, and yours, because of the sheer simplicity of it, and the colors of brown and white looked so natural together. Nice and sharp, with gorgeous bokeh, nicely placed - it works.
This is lovely, CM. I love the color, your snow is white. Nice separation from your subject and soft background. The leaf and stem could have been sharper and I would like your subject to have a little more room in the frame. I like how you have the stem coming up from the bottom left of the frame and the leaf popping out in the top right. I do like that composition.
Nightski wrote:
This is lovely, CM. I love the color, your snow is white. Nice separation from your subject and soft background. The leaf and stem could have been sharper and I would like your subject to have a little more room in the frame. I like how you have the stem coming up from the bottom left of the frame and the leaf popping out in the top right. I do like that composition.
Thank you. I too would like a little more room to the left and top, but there was a big bunch of out of focus leaves in the top corner. I thought they were distracting and couldn't get them too look right so I cropped them out. :-D
Precrop
I would not rework it. I like it the way it is. Composition is pleasing and the exposure is right on. Nicely done.
Country's Mama wrote:
What do you think? Reworks are fine as long as you can tell me what you did and why.
I like the imaage as it is, but the colours are a bit subdued.
Passed it through easyHDR. Did a LDR enhancement and added a bit of hue and gamma.
I'm still an amateur, but like to chip in!
Brighter
nairiam wrote:
I like the imaage as it is, but the colours are a bit subdued.
Passed it through easyHDR. Did a LDR enhancement and added a bit of hue and gamma.
I'm still an amateur, but like to chip in!
This does give it a more artist look. Thanks for showing me your version.
abc1234
Loc: Elk Grove Village, Illinois
I think the composition is ok but the lack of sharpness bothers me a lot. The metadata, f/5.3, 1/40, ISO 400, indicate that not a lot of light was available. Shallow depth of field and, possibly, hand-held. Even if the camera had been on a tripod allowing for a longer exposure and greater depth of field, the slightest air movement probably would have diminished the sharpness. Perhaps flash might have helped.
My other issue is the muted colors. Very autumnal but I would have preferred a bit more saturation. The posted edit overdid it and shifted the color balance. Finally, I would have used a little negative vignetting to draw out the leaves.
abc1234 wrote:
I think the composition is ok but the lack of sharpness bothers me a lot. The metadata, f/5.3, 1/40, ISO 400, indicate that not a lot of light was available. Shallow depth of field and, possibly, hand-held. Even if the camera had been on a tripod allowing for a longer exposure and greater depth of field, the slightest air movement probably would have diminished the sharpness. Perhaps flash might have helped.
My other issue is the muted colors. Very autumnal but I would have preferred a bit more saturation. The posted edit overdid it and shifted the color balance. Finally, I would have used a little negative vignetting to draw out the leaves.
I think the composition is ok but the lack of shar... (
show quote)
I implemented abc1234's suggestions for comparison.
Variant on snow on leaves
Country's Mama wrote:
What do you think? Reworks are fine as long as you can tell me what you did and why.
Country's Mama,
I don't see anything you can do to improve this now. Next time study the subject a little more to see how your leading lines can support the subject.
In your posted image the leaf looks very sharp, but the stem is very much out of focus, as well as the branch. If you could have adjusted your DOF (HFR) you may have been able to include the leading edge of the stem with the leaf, and allowed the stem to diminish in soft focus to blend with the branch.
I think, if you step back a few paces, and look again at the leaf you will see there is a lot of division between the leaf and the branch (stem).
Everything else looks spot on.
Michael G
abc1234 wrote:
I think the composition is ok but the lack of sharpness bothers me a lot. The metadata, f/5.3, 1/40, ISO 400, indicate that not a lot of light was available. Shallow depth of field and, possibly, hand-held. Even if the camera had been on a tripod allowing for a longer exposure and greater depth of field, the slightest air movement probably would have diminished the sharpness. Perhaps flash might have helped.
My other issue is the muted colors. Very autumnal but I would have preferred a bit more saturation. The posted edit overdid it and shifted the color balance. Finally, I would have used a little negative vignetting to draw out the leaves.
I think the composition is ok but the lack of shar... (
show quote)
Thank you.
The light was horrible and the wind strong. I did not have the tripod along. I was snowshoeing and it is all I can do to stay in an upright position without lugging the tripod too. :-D
I went back out today and reshot, but not sure things were any better since the wind was gusting at 25mph. I will see as soon as my camera is done thawing out.
Bob Yankle wrote:
I implemented abc1234's suggestions for comparison.
Thank you. I like what you did with the saturation, though I think I would back down a little on the vignette. It does make the leaves stand out more and I think a little would be great.
Armadillo wrote:
Country's Mama,
I don't see anything you can do to improve this now. Next time study the subject a little more to see how your leading lines can support the subject.
In your posted image the leaf looks very sharp, but the stem is very much out of focus, as well as the branch. If you could have adjusted your DOF (HFR) you may have been able to include the leading edge of the stem with the leaf, and allowed the stem to diminish in soft focus to blend with the branch.
I think, if you step back a few paces, and look again at the leaf you will see there is a lot of division between the leaf and the branch (stem).
Everything else looks spot on.
Michael G
Country's Mama, br br I don't see anything you ca... (
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I wish I had read this before I trudged all the way out there again. :-D Thank you for the suggestions. Maybe I will get yet another chance at it if the wind doesn't blow all the snow off.
Country Grandma, shipped a snow photo to Florida, the best snow I can find here is from a spray can!!! Bob Yankel went a step toward where I ended up.
I saw no reason for the out of focus left side stem... poof, gone. The leaf with Orange and Red is the main focus, the white is toned down in contrast and brightness. Then to frame and focus on the leaf vignetting was used. The crop uses the two leaves, the main snow leaf and the out of focus background leaf. Thank you all for the stimulus, especially CountryMaMa for the starting place of the out of camera photo, "Pre-Crop."
Humm, on my monitor, it was brighter than shown here! But, you get the idea.
VARIANT ON SNOW AND LEAVES
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