Lasting

beautiful aspen and leaves. The grey aspen trees make a background that yellow leaves stand out of.

the right upper corner can be edited out, it is a bit distracting. Overall it's a great picture!

Doug, this is a lovely, artistic view of fall Aspens, with a fine emphasis on the vertical lines of the trunks punctuated well by the clumps of yellow leaves.  The leaves at the very top are a minor distraction where I see you've done a but of burning-in to reduce their effect.  My other thought to crop off those top clumps, leaving only the three lower clumps.  While there are still a few leaves along the top edge with such a crop, I think that they aren't as much of a distraction.  BTW, I really like your choice to leave lots of trunk height along the bottom.

This is a sweet, subtle autumn image. Like Mark. I am a bit thrown off by the leaves along the top edge. Depending on your take on making changes to what nature offers, I would rather see the leaves along the top edge cloned out if possible, leaving a clean buffer along the top. I think cropping down would upset the balance of the image, but that is also an option. Processing and colors look spot on. Real nice image. 

Doug,

Love this autumn aspen scene. The clean whites of the trunk are something we get too much of in the Eastern Sierra, it seems most are of the greenish/yellow tints, but alas.  Love having the mass of trunks compress so it really becomes a wall, or a veil of aspen.  Very cool.

Couple of thoughts.  I do think there is a crop up top that just eliminates the very small grouping of leaves on the top left edge.  You're still going to be cropping in to the main cluster, so that doesn't change (would love to have all 3 clusters, free and clear... but who knows what lurked above.  A slight crop would help mitigate things on the top right as well, although I'm not distracted by that area.

The second though has to do with a bottom crop.  First, I'll say and agree with Mark in leaving all the vertical space for the trunks.  I love this as presented.  The length/height really emphasizes the trees/trunks themselves and in this case the leaves are just an accent, a compliment to the scene.  But just for fun, an alternate might be to crop some off the bottom. What this does is throw the emphasis more back to the leaves, rather than the trunks. Does that make sense?  I don't think it would be a better image, but would create a different impression.

Processing looks great!  Great color, contrast and sat is spot on.

Lon

I love this, Doug. It is very elegant. The tones in the trunks are perfect. I could see darkening the yellow leaves just a tiny bit. After reading the cropping suggestions, I think the clump at the top helps with the flow of color.

Here's a cool Photo Shop trick to do that:

1. Open the image in PS
2. Create Black White adjustment layer ( the image will appear in grey scale)
3. Set the blending mode of that layer to 'Luminosity' (the image will now be in color)
4. Adjust the 'Yellow' slider to suit.

I love the textures and the peaceful mood. Nicely done.
--P 

Gorgeous Doug, gold and silver just need a bronze to complete the trio.  Great shot.

Hi Doug,

I like this image as presented.  Lighting is subtle and brought out those colors.  The top buffer without leaves may enhance the image, but is not essential......................Jim

This is exceptional, Doug. The groupings of yellow leaves contrast beautifully against the repeating trunks. I'm not too bothered by the leave merge at the top of the frame but could see doing a bit of creative cloning to remove the leaf tips protruding at the top center left. Processing looks great.

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I went back and cloned out the few leaves along the top left edge, and reduced the luminosity of the yellow.  No crops though.

This is very appealing, Doug.  I'm guessing that the leaves are from a smaller tree.  This seems to simplify the scene somewhat which enhances the contrast between the golden leaves and the white aspen boles. 

Stunning image Doug.  There is just something about aspens.  I especially like the splash of yellow.
 

Beautiful image.  I agree that the upper leaf clump is unfortunately right to the edge, but you/ve toned it down a bit and and the strong lines keep my eye from wandering up and out. 

Your unique take works well Doug! I really love the dominant trunks with just a bit of leaves. It looks like some leaves are a little blurred; was that motion?

Nice selection of trees, Doug, to show off those leaves. Well conceived !