The Ents Live

Gallery: FloraPosted July 25, 2011628 views16 comments

This is another view of my favorite Saguaro cactus skeleton. This image was an earlier attempt.

The surreal feeling to this image comes from the feathering of the white vignette added to the black and white conversion.

The image was shot at f/2.8, ISO 100, 86mm, f/2.8 70-200 lens, tripod, cable release, matrix metering, +.3 EV.

It's taken me a long time but I finally made it to the Cactus garden at the crack of dawn this past weekend. With no people, it was wonderful to watch the play of the light as the sun rose.

Critiques and suggestions, welcome.

Carol

Comments

16 comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on July 25, 2011 at 9:47 PM

Carol, I remember the previous version well

. I am glad you got another go at these at the Garden. This looks lovely to me. If this were mine, I'd darken the darker tones a bit more only on the skeleton and also remove the whitish vignette at its bottom. Vignette elsewhere works for me.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on July 25, 2011 at 10:28 PM

Carol:
Without looking at what Ram said, I came to the same conclusion so I will just ditto him. Sure like the shape of this stump and it looks surreal. Glad to see another LOR fan.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on July 25, 2011 at 11:22 PM

Carol: This is wonderfully processed and presented. My only suggestion would be to remove the disjointed branch in the ULC as it seems out of place to me. Good vision, concept and result. >=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on July 25, 2011 at 11:30 PM

Carol,

I think all the suggestions are good but I like this exactly as you posted it also. The image is unusual enough that I think you can do what you want with it. A very fine image for my tastes.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by Miro Susta on July 26, 2011 at 2:43 AM

Very nice detail work, but IMO a bit soft at the bottom part. I'd prefer a bit mor contrast; but this is depending on personal taste.

Registered on August 18, 2006, 719 Posts, 3736 Comments

Comment posted by Todd Bielby on July 26, 2011 at 5:38 AM

Hi Carol, I agree with the suggestions about removing the the vignette at the bottom. I think it would help the cactus stand out more. All in all nice scene though.

Registered on March 10, 2011, 169 Posts, 392 Comments

Comment posted by Krunal Janani on July 26, 2011 at 6:07 AM

Beautiful image Carol
i think we sud rename our weekly challenge as 'Trees from Middle Earth'

i wud burn a bit of the botoom of the stem just to make it a bit more prominent (maybe it's the vignette)

Registered on September 16, 2010, 60 Posts, 1370 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on July 26, 2011 at 6:40 AM

I thought this "tree" looked familiar. I like the clear focus on the skeleton and its textures. The b&w treatment works well.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pederson on July 26, 2011 at 6:48 AM

Nice presentation. I think I'd prefer the selective vignette mentioned by others re: the bottom of the skeleton. The branch on the right is slightly distracting, but not overly so.

Registered on October 19, 2010, 95 Posts, 470 Comments

Comment posted by Steve Balke on July 26, 2011 at 10:49 AM

I agree that there are so many things that you can do with this interesting image, Carol. One way of looking at it is as two possible extremes: (i) the bold extreme: more contrast, darker, no vignette and (ii) the ethereal extreme: stronger surrounding vignette, continuation of the faint look of the tree at the base to encompass the whole tree. I think your posting is sort of in between. I think I'd rather one extreme or the other......or maybe both......although the more I look at this I find that it is fine as posted too (really decisive comment!).

Registered on June 18, 2009, 229 Posts, 2915 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 26, 2011 at 11:01 AM

Hi Carol

beautifully seen and captured

love the graphic detail of this cactus skeleton! I like Rams idea of darkening only the dark tones of the cactus skeleton

Albert Darmo

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 26, 2011 at 11:35 AM

I agree with Ram on the white vignette on the bottom. Otherwise it is all good for me!

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on July 26, 2011 at 9:20 PM

Yes, but where are the Ent wives?

This is a very cool image.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on July 27, 2011 at 9:19 AM

This is striking. Looks like a charcoal drawing to me. I like this as posted.

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on July 27, 2011 at 10:59 AM

Great composition and processing Carol. I like the separation of subject to background.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Giuseppe Guadagno on July 29, 2011 at 5:34 PM

You have drawn a beautiful design with a pencil on the paper, Carol. I really love it.
Take care.

Registered on February 3, 2007, 827 Posts, 5052 Comments