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Z Tree
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Z Tree

by David Moynahan

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 29, 2010308 views13 comments
This is an iconic dwarf cypress in the Everglades, so how does one make a fresh image? I was drawn to the reflection and the fall reds of the cypress needles. This is shortly after daybreak on a cold morning last month, so the light still plays nicely across the grass. Not sure about the comp. This seemed like the best I could do given that this was the only view that afforded a visible reflection and keeping the 2:3 ratio.

5Dm2 iso 200, 1/200 @ f/8

Comments

13 comments
Comment posted by Barbara Graham on December 29, 2010 at 11:10 AM
David, I like the comp, and I absolutely love the colors and lighting and the overall feel of this image.
Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments
Comment posted by Kyle L. Krause on December 29, 2010 at 11:54 AM
Beautiful image David. Very creative composition from this location. Excellent work,I like it! :toast:
Registered on June 15, 2010, 29 Posts, 605 Comments
Comment posted by Youssef Ismail on December 29, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Pondering what forces must have been in play to cause that tree to grow like that is fascinating. Did you get any photos with comps that did not hold to the 2:3 ratio as there is nothing special about that ratio. Love the lighting and the overall placement of the tree. I do wish its reflection was complete in the water though.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 474 Posts, 5555 Comments
Comment posted by Lon Overacker on December 29, 2010 at 2:55 PM
David,

This has a certain glow or atmosphere that makes this somewhat ethereal; especially the upper 2/3 of the image. And with that, I would suggest toning down the highlights at the bottom 1/3. Otherwise, I think this is a lovely capture and great showcase of this fascinating tree.

A little closer inspection I see that this is a little soft in many places or suffering from the standard jpg compression losses. Perhaps though the softness is also adding to that glow I mentioned. Still, I like this quite a lot.

Lon
Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments
Comment posted by David Moynahan on December 29, 2010 at 3:18 PM
Thanks for the input. Lon, your comments were very helpful. I will tone down the grass in the foreground. The ethereal quality was there in that misty morning light, but I tried to enhance it in the image. I experimented with reducing the clarity in LR and found this softening to be pleasing. Maybe there is a better way, or one that can be applied more locally. Any suggestions toward enhancing this ethereal quality (often seen in Florida in early morning light) without losing adequate sharpness or realism would be appreciated.
Registered on December 11, 2010, 11 Posts, 77 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Fach on December 29, 2010 at 3:42 PM
David: Really nice find and a good solid comp IMO. Well done.>=))>
Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments
Comment posted by Bill Chambers on December 29, 2010 at 4:08 PM
Love the composition and the great contortions of the cypress. The grass looks a little soft to me though - I might give it a little additional sharpening.
Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments
Comment posted by Luis Argerich on December 29, 2010 at 4:41 PM
Hi David,
What a shape, what was the tree avoiding? A portal to another Universe maybe?
Great color and very nice processing, feels like fairy tale book.
Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments
Comment posted by Dan Baumbach on December 29, 2010 at 8:20 PM
I've never seen photographs of this tree before so I can't comment on originality. However this photo as it is, is very nice. Lovely color and that tree is very interesting.

- Dan.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 473 Posts, 7980 Comments
Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on December 29, 2010 at 9:30 PM
While the tree certainly holds a lot of interest, the strong warm colors here are great too. The reflection is icing on the cake.
Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments
Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on December 29, 2010 at 11:15 PM
Very intersting tree with lots of character! Nice autumn colors too.

Chris
Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments
Comment posted by Andreas Resch on December 30, 2010 at 7:04 AM
Love the comp, the light and the colors, David, but there's something wrong about the techical quality of the image. It's very soft and especially up in the left corner where the tree is there seems to be some strong CAs going on. This shot is definitely worth a second try in processing. For web sharpening you can take a look at my Photoshop script (see my signature).
Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments
Comment posted by Guy Tal on December 30, 2010 at 9:14 AM
This is really fascinating. What amazing perseverance by this tree. I think it could use a small bump in contrast and a little more sharpening.

Guy
Registered on November 1, 2003, 566 Posts, 15507 Comments