Two similar photos for C&C, please.

[bevin]

Hey Guys,
I'm sorry if tree photos or B&W photos make any of you want to gouge your eyes out but here they are! These are both SOOC, I'm sure I could do a lot pp but I'm not particularly good with that yet either. Also, I just want to get to taking good photos first and not rely on Photoshop to make them good. I'd really like to know which photo you prefer, for what reason and how I could have taken the photo better to begin with.

I'm undecided. I feel like the lighter sky shows up the branches better but that the mountains and ground are a bit distracting. I like the darker photo as there is less distracting from the tree but because you can't see the trunk as clearly it looks stumpier? Maybe I should've gone in between those two, gotten closer to the tree with a more upward angle so there's minimal ground and lots of sky??

All thoughts and opinions are greatly appreciated. Cheers guys.

ETA: Sorry the photos are so big, I resized them in Photobucket but it's not reflecting that here??? Stupid Noob

 

[iflynething]

I like the exposure of the first one but the tree is way too centered

~Michael~

 

[NateWagner]

well, actually the photos are a fine size... not a problem at all.

and unlike michael I actually liked the second one better. I like how it's a bit brighter. I do agree with him that it's a bit centered. If you were to crop it a bit to move the tree to one side or the other it would probably help the feel of the photo.

 

[chinadoll81]

I like the second one better, but they are both nice shots.

 

[Wizzard005]

I also like the 2nd one..

 

[50two]

i actually like the first one its more menacing ...in a good way

 

[iflynething]

I wish they were both combined to have the sun exposed and the shadows correctly exposed.

I'll admit, I'm for the second one too, but like like the darker one because of the sun

~Michael~

 

[manaheim]

Kind of a neat tree, but the composition didn't do a heck of lot for me. As someone suggested, maybe not so centered... possibly a more extreme angle might have been interesting. Color may actually work better for this shot as well... not sure.

 

[ISeeASepiaWorld]

I like the second one better. My opinion, if you wanted to center the tree maybe you could have taken the photo closer and shot up to make the angle and line of sight more interesting.

 

[TAG]

I actually like the first one better but I think it is to dark like you said. if the sky could be lightened I think it would do a lot for this photo. Also for such a "dark" photo I think you would have been better off with the tree to the side a bit like mentioned above. However I think the amount of sky and ground in the picture is great and don't think I would change the angle up and down any. Beautiful shots though good job.

-TAG

 

[mrodgers]

I won't say which one I like better. But each photo definitely caused my eyes to follow a completely different path than the other.

The first photo, my eyes were drawn to the tree, followed the tree down to the brightly exposed center of the mountains in the far distance.

The 2nd photo immediately drew my eyes right to the same brightly exposed center, but then drew my eyes to the tree trunk and up through the branches.

The differences in how my eyes moved through the photos were so distinct to me it was amazing.