Boneyard Dawn

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 27, 2013303 views8 comments

Hello everyone, I am new to this site and eager to share my work for critical review in such an excellent forum. This is the first image I am posting for critique- It's one that I enjoy personally but has received mixed opinion from others. I'm curious how I could approach this location better when I return. This was taken in South Carolina's Botany Bay Plantation. In my opinion, these tree skeletons are one of the more compelling compositions of the southeastern coast of the US.

This is a thirteen second single exposure taken with a 5dII and 9-stop ND filter. Processing was very simple- just raw adjustments and minor dodging/burning. I chose a color palette that was pleasing to me but I'm very open to feedback. I'd be appreciative of opinions regarding composition, post processing, color management, and anything else for that matter. Cheers, and I hope you all have plans for an enjoyable weekend.

Comments

8 comments

Comment posted by Daniel Rappaport on September 27, 2013 at 12:51 PM

Evocative image. Like the way the clouds flow with the branches

Registered on September 9, 2009, 294 Posts, 2006 Comments

Comment posted by Jared Warren on September 27, 2013 at 4:13 PM

Welcome Jesse! Very nice first image here. Very effective IMO. My preference would be to crop this as an 8x10, with the horizon about 1/3 up, since there's not much going on at the top and bottom. Thanks for sharing!

Registered on May 11, 2012, 84 Posts, 931 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on September 27, 2013 at 4:26 PM

Just about every Coastal barrier island has its "boneyard". They are usually a jumbled up mess, with very few standing, isolated trees like this. You are to be congratulated for finding them in the first place. My take is that this is a reasonably well balanced composition, but you might explore the possibility of thirds in both placement of the horizon and the dominant tree. The post processing of light and color is to a degree a matter of taste, but while this is dramatic enough, the darkness limits the composition possibilities, particularly in the sky. A crop to thirds would almost have to come from the water, but the dark sky with the tree upthrust into it is the least croppable part of the composition.

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

Comment posted by Bill Reid on September 27, 2013 at 5:26 PM

Welcome to NPN Jesse and a very nice first post. I agree about a crop but this is wonderful as is. Look forward to seeing more of your images.

Registered on January 27, 2013, 65 Posts, 2460 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Metternich on September 27, 2013 at 7:23 PM

Geeze, what awesome mood here!!!!!!!

Registered on June 19, 2009, 276 Posts, 6240 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Moore on September 28, 2013 at 9:08 PM

Hi jesse, good seeing you here. Nice first post. Make it a 4x5 crop and you have a winner!

Registered on January 12, 2010, 84 Posts, 388 Comments

Comment posted by Jesse Summers on September 30, 2013 at 10:15 AM

Thanks everyone for your comments and critiques. Changing it to a 4X5 crop was a great idea. Cheers!!!

Registered on September 24, 2013, 4 Posts, 9 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on October 2, 2013 at 11:00 AM

There is a great power in the darkness of this rendition here, and it compliments the solitary subjects perfectly. I might consider brightening the horizon areas just a tiny bit more. Very nice!

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments