Warming Light

Peter,

The warming light is soft and beautiful. Clearly without the warm light (ie. b&w) this image would not ork nearly as well, imho.

This appears quite chaotic at first glance, but becomes more enjoyable the longer I view it.  There are some subtle but distinct elements that all play together to make more order from the chaos.  what I mean: There's the tree in the UL bg providing some structure and context. Then moving ccw, some dancing bows of something, cattails, not sure,  then the LR, a random, scraggly mess and above that, the tall hairy Star Wars type creature hovering over the little dancers.  And I don't mean to make light or fun of this, just describing that I see about 4 basic elements that I think combine well in creating order from chaos.

No nits really, but a couple suggestions to tighten it up a little. You might consider cropping slightly from the bottom to remove the brighter elements along the bottom edge.  then I think the "scraggly mess" in the LR becomes a tad stronger (love the frost all over).  Then, not sure how you might handle this, but I would some how try to get rid of the open space in the ULC.  It's not distracting per se, but I think would tighten things up if it were filled in with some branches....  Not sure if cropping would work either.  Just a thought.

Whew, bottom line, I'm really enjoying this.  Good eye

Lon

An interesting chaotic scene for sure.  My mind has a tough time coming to terms with images like this.  I know it's just me, but I just sort of wander around a little lost.  I love the hoar frost and also think the open area top left could be filled.  Please don't take this as a negative comment,  it's just not my cup of tea.

A mish mashof texture and delicate tones, pleasing to the eye.

I'm having trouble with this one as well. My problem is that I'm not sure what your trying to say. Perhaps if you could explain what you're after it would help. I think I would understand it better without the tall darker object near the front. I find it confusing. 

Peter, For me this image works wonderfully. I think this composition works really well even including the brighter upper left corner. It has a feel that I think is very hard to capture in an image but you did it masterfully here. The combination of light, warmth, cold and frost all brought together with such fine detail and texture. It really works for me and I appreciate how you capture images like this that so few can do. Fantastic work in my opinion. 

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

Really like the large version with all of the details of the frost.  Despite the busy scene, it feels simplified with cooler shadows and the warmer back lighting.  The open upper left corner a minor break in the continuity of the scene but very minor.  I'm thinking a slight boost in contrast might add a little pop to the image, as it looks rather even toned with no harsh shadows or highlights.