Couple for C&C

[PixelRabbit]

Hello again everyone! Hope all had a wonderful holiday

I was going through my images trying to catch up on processing that I didn't do over the holidays (I do not recommend letting them pile up like that!) and I came across this shot. Funny how fresh eyes on an image change your perspective a bit!

When I first took this I liked it... and I still do, perhaps even more now. It was taken very close to the winter solstice so the light had a "heavy quality" to it since the sun was very low on the horizon all day long, this is taken close to noon.

I wish there was a bit more sky above. I love the sun and the branches reaching towards it that draw my eye. Just noticed now that I wish I cropped another smidge off the bottom to get rid of the tiny line of snow you see there.

Editing done was a small tweak on the unsharp mask and a small crop around the edge (but not quiiiite enough on the bottom). I'm also iffy on the crop on the right side...

Shot settings:
f/22
1/640
ISO 100

 

[PixelRabbit]

Ok yes I know there is only one decided to not post the second one half way through and forgot to edit the title

 

[DiskoJoe]

Id say crop out the small branches on the left. You lens may need to be cleaned too. There is a lot of lens flaring occuring here.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Id say crop out the small branches on the left. You lens may need to be cleaned too. There is a lot of lens flaring occuring here.

Thanks for your post I was wondering about the flaring. It was taken a while ago but I do remember noticing tiny water spots on the lens around the same time, would they have done that?

 

[mishele]

I have to say that the shot really doesn't do much for me. I like the idea of a silhouette of a tree against the blue sky but this tree is just too busy. My eye gets lost in the dark area of branches.
Keep shooting!!

 

[PixelRabbit]

I have to say that the shot really doesn't do much for me. I like the idea of a silhouette of a tree against the blue sky but this tree is just too busy. My eye gets lost in the dark area of branches.
Keep shooting!!

Thanks for taking a look mishele. Fair enough, I think a "cleaner" look would do it justice and a less busy tree would help.

As well as a cleaner lens lol

I loved it in the camera at the moment I shot it, really liked it on the computer but see room for tweaking for sure.

The second that I didn't post was same concept with a cloudy sky so it will be cool to see if I can find similar issues in both.

 

[bazooka]

I agree with Mishele. To be brutally honest, because I know you can take it, I don't like anything about this shot.

My opinion: The silhouette is just too crazy... it's just a mess. And not just the large tree, but the entire horizon is similarly a mess, so the main tree stands out as even less special.

It looks like we are only seeing about halfway up the tree so the bottom half is completely missing, lost in the black.

The sun looks bad. Strange artifacts caused by the lens such as these aren't attractive to me.

The sky is somewhat underexposed. I think you were probably trying to "properly" expose the sun which is, as far as I can tell, impossible. Instead, just meter off of a section of the blue sky in manual and leave it set there.

The sun and the tree are the obvious subjects, but neither of them are appealing to me as they are depicted here. Work to isolate the tree more from it's very similar surroundings, and play with your aperture settings a bit to make the sun look more natural with less artifacts. Will those things make this a pleasing image to me? No, probably not, but they will make it stronger than it is.

 

[gsgary]

Sorry but there is nothing of interest in the shot it is just taking room up on your hard drive

 

[PixelRabbit]

I agree with Mishele. To be brutally honest, because I know you can take it, I don't like anything about this shot.

My opinion: The silhouette is just too crazy... it's just a mess. And not just the large tree, but the entire horizon is similarly a mess, so the main tree stands out as even less special.

It looks like we are only seeing about halfway up the tree so the bottom half is completely missing, lost in the black.

Hmmm ok this is making me think and look at it a bit differently. The tree is actually the smallest/lowest tree in the line that is at the back of our property, the rest are all mashed together, at least twice+ the height of this tree, and blocked the sun since it was sitting so low on the horizon.

I am on board with the tree being too messy.

I look at the image and think "wow the sun is low!" and none of you are even getting a whiff of that out of it... so I failed to capture that essence for all of you, despite capturing it for myself apparently lol

Now that I look at the other picture I took of it that wasn't as closely cropped the sun being so low is better portrayed in it but I didn't like the underexposed foreground (yeah shoulda been a hint right there huh? lol)

The sun looks bad. Strange artifacts caused by the lens such as these aren't attractive to me.
There is something about the star shape of the sun that I like at this point, but I can see that as I grow I may look at it differently... might just be the fact that it is "different" and looking at it with "noob eyes"
The sky is somewhat underexposed. I think you were probably trying to "properly" expose the sun which is, as far as I can tell, impossible. Instead, just meter off of a section of the blue sky in manual and leave it set there.
noted
The sun and the tree are the obvious subjects, but neither of them are appealing to me as they are depicted here. Work to isolate the tree more from it's very similar surroundings, and play with your aperture settings a bit to make the sun look more natural with less artifacts. Will those things make this a pleasing image to me? No, probably not, but they will make it stronger than it is.
This is one of 3 photos I have of "tree silhouettes" so I suspect it will be something I will repeat in the future until I get one that makes me go "yup, finally got it right!" so stay tuned lol

Sorry but there is nothing of interest in the shot it is just taking room up on your hard drive

Thanks for your input guys.

gsgary wow a man of few words Thanks for your post but ... I think I'll keep it around for a while longer as a reminder. It has been relegated to the snapshot category because I still like it on some levels... but failed to convey everything I connect to in the image. I look forward to the day that I sit down with a coffee and go through my old pics from when I first started and have a little chuckle at myself over it

Hi Bazooka Replies in your reply

 

[bazooka]

The actual size of the tree doesn't matter. What matters is your perspective. You can get down on the ground with a wide angle and right up under it and make even small trees look massive. It's all about perspective. Try this with this tree and see if your perspective improves. You don't even have to use a camera. Just walk around and get down low and see how it changes with respect to the horizon. At what position and height can you see the most of the trunk against the sky? With silhouettes, go for simple and well defined form. Make it as obvious as possible (in my opinion, and especially at this point in your education).

Concerning the sun being "low" in the sky.... I bet if you went out 30 seconds before sunset, it would be much lower. You see, it's not uncommon at all for the sun to be low in the sky. We can't tell it's noon from the photograph because there is no other indication of time other than sun position. Maybe if you somehow included a clock in the image it would have more meaning (not literally recommending this because I still don't think it would "work" as a photograph), but from my seat, looking at the image, it looks like a shot of a tree with the sun in it, late afternoon.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Ok I def walked from side to side but def didn't get down low. I'll go and play around with that with the same tree so I see it from that angle ( and laying in the snow this time should stick in my head for next time I'm looking from all angles lol, maybe I'll make a snow angel while I'm at it....it's been a while since I did that )

I'm glad I posted the pic even though it missed the mark so badly. Next time I have more to think about so that I do convey everything I intend to

 

[rexbobcat]

Id say crop out the small branches on the left. You lens may need to be cleaned too. There is a lot of lens flaring occuring here.

Thanks for your post I was wondering about the flaring. It was taken a while ago but I do remember noticing tiny water spots on the lens around the same time, would they have done that?

The water spots don't cause the lens flare, but they do cause the little "bokeh" looking circles around the flare. It can also accentuate flare, but in a very bright scene like this, flare would be very hard to avoid.

As for the photo, I don't particularly like it. The flare really makes it look like a photo from a cameraphone ( ), and the silhouette is too chaotic. It's clear what your subject was (the trees), but there's nothing interesting because nothing stands out to the viewer. Just my take.

When it comes to silhouettes, I tend to believe that less is more.

 

[PixelRabbit]

The water spots don't cause the lens flare, but they do cause the little "bokeh" looking circles around the flare. It can also accentuate flare, but in a very bright scene like this, flare would be very hard to avoid.

As for the photo, I don't particularly like it. The flare really makes it look like a photo from a cameraphone ( ), and the silhouette is too chaotic. It's clear what your subject was (the trees), but there's nothing interesting because nothing stands out to the viewer. Just my take.

When it comes to silhouettes, I tend to believe that less is more.

Ahhhh thanks rexbobcat. I knew the shape of the sun was from the aperture but was unsure of the source of the spots... Probably should have googled it

Less is more, I like that way of thinking about this idea. I got closer to that in the one I didn't post....at least with respect to the tree lol

 

[gsgary]

I agree with Mishele. To be brutally honest, because I know you can take it, I don't like anything about this shot.

My opinion: The silhouette is just too crazy... it's just a mess. And not just the large tree, but the entire horizon is similarly a mess, so the main tree stands out as even less special.

It looks like we are only seeing about halfway up the tree so the bottom half is completely missing, lost in the black.

Hmmm ok this is making me think and look at it a bit differently. The tree is actually the smallest/lowest tree in the line that is at the back of our property, the rest are all mashed together, at least twice+ the height of this tree, and blocked the sun since it was sitting so low on the horizon.

I am on board with the tree being too messy.

I look at the image and think "wow the sun is low!" and none of you are even getting a whiff of that out of it... so I failed to capture that essence for all of you, despite capturing it for myself apparently lol

Now that I look at the other picture I took of it that wasn't as closely cropped the sun being so low is better portrayed in it but I didn't like the underexposed foreground (yeah shoulda been a hint right there huh? lol)

The sun looks bad. Strange artifacts caused by the lens such as these aren't attractive to me.
There is something about the star shape of the sun that I like at this point, but I can see that as I grow I may look at it differently... might just be the fact that it is "different" and looking at it with "noob eyes"
The sky is somewhat underexposed. I think you were probably trying to "properly" expose the sun which is, as far as I can tell, impossible. Instead, just meter off of a section of the blue sky in manual and leave it set there.
noted
The sun and the tree are the obvious subjects, but neither of them are appealing to me as they are depicted here. Work to isolate the tree more from it's very similar surroundings, and play with your aperture settings a bit to make the sun look more natural with less artifacts. Will those things make this a pleasing image to me? No, probably not, but they will make it stronger than it is.
This is one of 3 photos I have of "tree silhouettes" so I suspect it will be something I will repeat in the future until I get one that makes me go "yup, finally got it right!" so stay tuned lol

Sorry but there is nothing of interest in the shot it is just taking room up on your hard drive

Thanks for your input guys.

gsgary wow a man of few words Thanks for your post but ... I think I'll keep it around for a while longer as a reminder. It has been relegated to the snapshot category because I still like it on some levels... but failed to convey everything I connect to in the image. I look forward to the day that I sit down with a coffee and go through my old pics from when I first started and have a little chuckle at myself over it

Hi Bazooka Replies in your reply

In a few year time you will look back on your snapshots and wonder why you took them, when you have competition shots hanging on the wall

 

[PixelRabbit]

In a few year time you will look back on your snapshots and wonder why you took them, when you have competition shots hanging on the wall

Well thank you, that will be cool. (power of positive thinking right there )