A Walk in the Trees

[Sarmad]

A wooden bridge like path built over a ridge. I came across it in Sharda, Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. The place was beautiful and there were so many trees. The silence was just heavenly along with chirping of birds and the sound of wind drifting through the woods.

The title is somewhat inspired from a soundtrack in the movie, 'The Spectacular Now'.

A Walk in the Trees by Sarmad Iqbal, on Flickr

 

[Sarmad]

Bump!
I would love it if I could get any comments on how could I improve my compositions, exposure, colour tones and post processing part.

 

[wyogirl]

My initial thought ways "Oh... its a Hobbit bridge." LOL. It looks serene, and I think that is what you are trying to portray. Its a technically good photo and the mood that you were trying to portray comes through but I personally don't find it all that interesting. The exposure is good, the composition is good...

 

[DarkShadow]

I like it and do find it interesting. It has me wondering whats up on the other side and is it safe to pass.The comp and colors are nice and has a lot of detail and texture.well done

 

[Sarmad]

My initial thought ways "Oh... its a Hobbit bridge." LOL. It looks serene, and I think that is what you are trying to portray. Its a technically good photo and the mood that you were trying to portray comes through but I personally don't find it all that interesting. The exposure is good, the composition is good...

Yes! Some upfront critic. And I never saw The Hobbits or LOTR so I can't relate. Btw how would have you shot this place if you had to?

I like it and do find it interesting. It has me wondering whats up on the other side and is it safe to pass.The comp and colors are nice and has a lot of detail and texture.well done

If you really want to know then read further, elsewise stop, the place was deep in a forest, the surroundings were some small villages, the population density was extremely low, even for a countryside. The place had meager resources and was far away from the main road, so walking on the bridge was a little scary too since it may have broken anytime and since it was quite high I was in deep trouble.

The bridge continued a little more along a very steep ridge and then led to a tiny cave about 100 feet above the nearest point from the ground. The cave has some Hindu history to it but it turned out to be so small that I could hardly put my both arms in it, that was due to an earthquake, but the trek to the cave was heavenly and full of culture in the villages.

I also have one more shot from this bridge, quite similar though.

A Walk in the Trees by Sarmad Iqbal, on Flickr

 

[Raj_55555]

The trees in the second one looks more aligned to me, but I prefer the wider angle of the road in the first one. Lovely work Sarmad

 

[Sarmad]

The trees in the second one looks more aligned to me, but I prefer the wider angle of the road in the first one. Lovely work Sarmad

thanks bruvuh.

 

[KenC]

They're nice shots in terms of depicting what you saw, which certainly is beautiful, and I enjoy looking at them just for that.

However, in terms of pure composition, the path in each one kind of disappears without leading us anywhere. Leading lines in a composition should lead to some important element in the composition. An alternative that sometimes works is having the path, river, or whatever, lead through and out of the frame to give the feeling that it goes on for a long time.

 

[Sarmad]

They're nice shots in terms of depicting what you saw, which certainly is beautiful, and I enjoy looking at them just for that.

However, in terms of pure composition, the path in each one kind of disappears without leading us anywhere. Leading lines in a composition should lead to some important element in the composition. An alternative that sometimes works is having the path, river, or whatever, lead through and out of the frame to give the feeling that it goes on for a long time.

That advice is certainly going to help me in future, I have shot such leading lines before but always I have only cared about that the lines were not cutting through the edges of the photograph so it won't 'lead out of the photo'. I would appreciate it if you could critique this photo too, as this also has a strong leading line.

Winding Through the Valley by Sarmad Iqbal, on Flickr

 

[KenC]

This is sort of a classic composition that works well. The river vanishes at some point, but it does the job of leading one out to the foggy mountains and the nice clouds in the background.

 

[Rob5589]

I like it as well. I would have never guessed that is in Pakistan. I always picture that part of the world as a giant desert. Obviously not.

 

[The_Traveler]

In regards the first one, IMO, the processing is too extreme.
The saturation, the vibrance are both very high and it has a definitely unnatural look to me.
The top has had saturation, contrast, vibrance all reduced for a more antural look.

 

[Sarmad]

I like it as well. I would have never guessed that is in Pakistan. I always picture that part of the world as a giant desert. Obviously not.

The amount of people who confuse Pakistan being Middle Eastern is too damn high!!

In regards the first one, IMO, the processing is too extreme.
The saturation, the vibrance are both very high and it has a definitely unnatural look to me.
The top has had saturation, contrast, vibrance all reduced for a more antural look.

View attachment 107279

View attachment 107278

Thanks for going through all that effort, I used to give these natural looks in my photos but after sometime now I have realized that if I don't drag up the saturation and vibrance up a little bit, the photos don't 'pop'. I am not a big fan of oversaturated images myself but looking at what's going on in the current photography world, I think it's a necessary evil. Just like the slow shutter speed waterfalls for instance. And I consider myself a little young to post any 'personal' work.