Of Legends and Lore/Repost

Gorgeous light and comp, Chris. The rays lend a magical feel to this woodland scene. My only suggestion; and this is just my personal preference; would be to clone out that dead tree in the middle of the bottom edge. Bummer about the camera and auto accident. Hope everything is covered with insurance.

Ed

Wow, this is beautiful, Chris!  I really like the sunstar through the mist.  Nice glow on the vegetation as well.  Beautiful work!  

I really love the light, Chris. There looks to be a pretty strong magenta cast in the redwoods, though. I love the greens and misty sun light. Nicely done.
--P

Thanks!

I did pull back a fair amount on Magenta and blue. Maybe not enough? Seems like the redwood trunks just turn almost black and white if I go any further.

Chris, This is beautiful. I really like your comp here and love the light and misty mood. A scene I can just sit back and enjoy. It does have a magenta cast in the redwoods but I still like the way it feels and looks. Hope your camera survived the fall, I have done the same thing!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

Chris, I like the lighting and the tonality of this image. The rays of light peering through that dreamy forest is a sight to behold and you've captured the mood nicely. I'm not as excited about the color composition that was chosen, however. I don't feel that the combination of magenta trunks works real well with the cyan greens. In fact the greens are overwhelming the image and it should be the other way around IMO, particularly the brush in the lrc. It's interesting in that I was standing virtually in the same area 5 months ago and my images have no magenta in them. Perhaps due to different WB settings, I don't know.

Sorry to hear of your accidents, Chris. Compelling, well-composed image. Only suggestion would be to play with the color balance. I find the magenta in the upper half a bit strong for my taste.

Igor, thanks!

it is the green that dominates this forest where color is concerned. I do notice the green and especially the lower right corner being more intense here. So I looked at it again on my screen and it is not as intense. But the green is quite lush in this environment as you know. The trees are not really very red though. So I'm not sure about the reason for the cast. I did pull back a bunch on both magenta and blue in post. None of the people I have shown this too outside of NPN have mentioned anything about color issues.???

Chris,

Here is the color palette I got with the camera set at temperature of 5900. Same area and no post processing. I tried modifying it to get the magentas but could not. 

I don't think matching color to reality is really that important, actually. If you feel that those colors express the sense of the place then that's fine IMO.

Igor,
I was just talking the image over with a friend who agreed with your thoughts about the magenta. He made some color balance and warming adjustments that made a big improvement. So I think I will go back and start anew with the color cast in mind. Even though the sun is up. I was down in bowl. So it was still pretty dark. Note the 4 second exposure. But I think I can get it more neutral looking for sure. 

I am enjoying the sunbeams through the fog and the lush vegetation.  You are already dealing with the magenta.

Bummer about your camera. Mine flew off the tripod (the collar holding the baseplay=te loosened up), but mine landed in a dirt rock combo and mostly on the L bracket. I got lucky or I would have lost the D810 and the 70-200.ditto on the car accident. 

The camera and lens seem to have survived the fall. I walk around with tripod over the shoulder and camera clamped in. I guess I didn't get it locked in all the way. But somehow, the cable release wrapped around one of the tripod legs and acted like a tether of sorts. I broke the fall before snapping.  So the impact was lessened. I also had on a polarizer and the lens hood. In the end no glass was damaged. But I lost the polarizer anyway due to a dent. And the cable release too.
no damage to us or the Jeep in the accident either! So just memories and stories to tell.

Thanks!

Going back and reevaluating this image on my monitor, It definitely does not look as intensely saturated as it does here. I was never totally satisfied with the color however. It actually was giving some fits. I pulled back 30 points on the magenta to get this result that is posted here. Not sure where it came from. So, I made some changes to the color balance, and some with selective color to shift back toward cyan and yellow. Pulled out a little overall saturation as well. And evened out some of the dodge/burn. I think this looks much better. I do like some whimsical romance in my images. Sometimes that causes me to get things a bit out of whack!
Oh, I removed the dead broken trunk coming up into the frame from the bottom as well.

Wow, Chris, what an "adventure", with most of it bad...  The light streaming through the redwoods here is great and you've got a fine balance between the trees and the undergrowth.  I too noticed the magenta in the trees, the repost looks much better.

Hi Chris,

The repost is a significant improvement.  The magenta was the first thing I was going to comment on.

This certainly has a magical, mystical look and feel to it, which is always a good thing with these redwood images.  You've done a great job showcasing not only the magnificent trees, but also of the forest with all that greenery.  The rays through the mist are of course icing on the cake.  This is beautiful.

It's always hard with color, especially when we're all on different monitors - all claiming calibration... ;-)  But for me, I think the vegetation and greenery along the bottom portion are a bit on the yellow and electric side.  It's still quite appealing with the brillian color, but I could see some additional tweaking.  It's real close though - and an image worth the extra work.

Lon

This is superb. My kind of image. Shame about the camera.
I agree with the cast, it is quite strong.

The repost is wonderful, a vast improvement. I love the glow you have given everything, and the truly magical feeling one gets from viewing this. Glad this photo is a reminder of the good parts of your trip!

Chris, the repost is much improved. I agree with Lon regarding the yellows and greens . Going along with the further tweaking idea, see if you can pull some detail out of the very dark areas of the foreground. This would make a lovely print with some further refinement.
--P

I do think the repost is a huge improvement.  Wonderful atmosphere and fog conditions to pull this off. Composing in such a chaotic environment can be a challenge to create a successful image, and you've done a great job in doing that.  I was out there this past fall with little to no fog to pull off this kind of shot - hope to visit next spring to see the groves in this kind of light.  Well done, I feel the magic of the area.