I spent a couple days in and around the Holland area last week, shooting the tulip festival, the 'big red' light house and spring wildflowers. I found this impressive explosion of trillium at Aman Park in Grand Rapids. There were bluebells in abundance as well. c&c welcome.
Not bad at all, I do really like the lighting on this scene. I am not of the fan of the big dead branch in the upper right corner. This a wonderful find!
Anthony, thanks for the comments. The big, dead branch is actually the same fallen tree as in the foreground. I cropped a bit off the right and bottom to get the composition posted, but thought I included enough of the sweep in the fallen log to make the connection. Based on your comments, I now think I failed in my mission.
As you can see in the repost, I had problems with the URC being dark and also noticeable distortion from my wide angle lens (canon 10-22@15mm on a 40D 1.6 crop body) in that area as well. If I crop too much, the FG log becomes the distracting stick you mentioned, and if I leave it in, I get dark and distorted. I'm wondering what others think of the situation, and what you might suggest I do either in the field or in processing that would help.
Beautiful scene, Brian. Looks like this location is loaded with great shots.
I'm not really all that bothered by the branch emanating from the log,at least not at this relatively small size.
In field suggestions...was it possible simply to pan a bit to the left (or move a bit to the left) to exclude the branch? I have no idea what was out of the frame to the left, so I'm just asking.
The distortion can be corrected, of course, in post-processing. (Easiest way in PS is Filter->Distort->Lens Correction and then adjust to taste.) Point an ultra-wide angle up or down even slightly from the parallel and you're going to have some noticeable distortion in the corners assuming you have the right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) elements in the frame. And trees are definitely the right (wrong) elements to show this optical effect.
As for the dark area, it's hard to tell but assuming there's detail there you can probably bring it up with either some selective dodging (best done on a dodge/burn layer using a modest amount of white on the layer) or more easily and with less fuss with a luminosity mask (shadow darks or dark darks, I'd guesstimate).
Thanks for the feedback, Kerry, it is much appreciated! I tried other compositions at different locations in and around the trillium patch, but I wanted to include this fallen log in the composition I posted as a leading line into the flowers and from the foreground to the background. I don't remember exactly what was to the left, but I do recall that I couldn't keep the FG log in the frame and hold the scene together from any other angle.
I'll try and work the Ps suggestions you offered, and see what develops. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out on what is working and not working with this image.
Brain, one more thing, if I may (and this is purely my view, of course). You mentioned wanting to use the log as a leading line. I think--particularly in the cropped version at the head of the thread--it falls a bit short in that regard because the angle of the tree--and it's a pretty oblique angle, which is part of the issue--is essentially leading the eye to the middle of the right-hand side of the frame rather than into the frame. It's not conveying the depth and strength that it otherwise might if it was presented with a more acute angle.
I like the second shot. At first I thought the log should be eliminated but you do a good job in the second shot of using it to move through the picture.
Kerry and Phil, thanks for the additional comments, they are always appreciated! One of my main concerns in the field was keeping the sweep of the log in the frame, to lead the viewer around the right and then back into the frame and the BG with the help of the log sweeping back in to the frame. You mentioned the possibility of panning left in your original comment, and I think any movement to the left here would add to the problem of the oblique angle you mentioned. It is not always easy to translate the image you see in your mind when in the field to the finished photograph. I guess that's why we continue to carry our gear out in the woods again and again, yearning for the concept to be translated well in the finished two dimensional image.
Discussion
8 repliesCJ
As you can see in the repost, I had problems with the URC being dark and also noticeable distortion from my wide angle lens (canon 10-22@15mm on a 40D 1.6 crop body) in that area as well. If I crop too much, the FG log becomes the distracting stick you mentioned, and if I leave it in, I get dark and distorted. I'm wondering what others think of the situation, and what you might suggest I do either in the field or in processing that would help.
Thanks again,
Brian
I'm not really all that bothered by the branch emanating from the log,at least not at this relatively small size.
In field suggestions...was it possible simply to pan a bit to the left (or move a bit to the left) to exclude the branch? I have no idea what was out of the frame to the left, so I'm just asking.
The distortion can be corrected, of course, in post-processing. (Easiest way in PS is Filter->Distort->Lens Correction and then adjust to taste.) Point an ultra-wide angle up or down even slightly from the parallel and you're going to have some noticeable distortion in the corners assuming you have the right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it) elements in the frame. And trees are definitely the right (wrong) elements to show this optical effect.
As for the dark area, it's hard to tell but assuming there's detail there you can probably bring it up with either some selective dodging (best done on a dodge/burn layer using a modest amount of white on the layer) or more easily and with less fuss with a luminosity mask (shadow darks or dark darks, I'd guesstimate).
I'll try and work the Ps suggestions you offered, and see what develops. Thanks again for taking the time to help me out on what is working and not working with this image.
Thanks again for helping me sort this one out,
Brian