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Thread: Tree

  1. #1
    Suede's Avatar
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    Pritam

    Tree

    I don't know what tree this is but it stood out in the landscape as quite distinguished from the others, prompting me to take a shot. Not sure if the photograph brings out what I saw in it.

    Comments and critique welcomed.


    Tree

  2. #2
    allenlennon's Avatar
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    Allen or "Lurchy" is fine

    Re: Tree

    its a beautiful shot. few things though(although im a beginner sorry)

    The cyclist can be distracting(although it seems a good place to ride)
    If i took this photo i would prob crop it so its only the tree and its shadow and either waited for the cyclest to clear(although i prob wouldnt notice him when taking the shot) or get ride of him in PP.

    And to me the huge amount of green grass in the bottem left is a bit distracting aswell.

    But thats my opinion, and as a whole i do like the photo

  3. #3
    Moderator Donald's Avatar
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    Re: Tree

    Before offering any comment, can I ask you, Pritam, for your own analysis, particularly in light of your comment, "Not sure if the photograph brings out what I saw in it."

    This maybe suggests that it doesn't. And I'm interested in your own view of what that might be. What is it that you think might be missing?

  4. #4
    Suede's Avatar
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    Re: Tree

    Thanks, Allen. We were on a walk at the time. I did see the cyclist. In fact I watched him for all the part of the road that is visible in the picture. My first thought was to let him pass till he was out of the frame... It seemed a really long wait, what with the uphill task the cyclist had on his hands [I]and[I] especially with the wife having walked a fair way ahead, the pressure built on me to press the shutter release button! I knew I should have waited, but did I want to risk an exasperated lady..? Here is the result.

    Donald, the light that shone through really made the tree stand out way more than what it looks here. This I say with the background of the rest of the landscape (which is obviously not all in the picture). The tree really stood like a jewel in the vastness of all other trees/vegetation around. In isolating it with the 105 mm lens that I used, I feel it lost some of that singular unique majesty; the sort of light that we sometimes are able to capture on the fringes of a subject when doing a portrait against-the-light-source and getting a highlighting glow on the outline. Personally, it does not deliver that magic for me. I hope I was able to describe what I think the missing part is. What do you think?

  5. #5
    Moderator Donald's Avatar
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    Re: Tree

    Quote Originally Posted by Suede View Post
    especially with the wife having walked a fair way ahead, the pressure built on me to press the shutter release button! I knew I should have waited, but did I want to risk an exasperated lady..?
    Pritam - I think you have provided, yourself, the answer to the question I was considering when I posted my first message above.

    Now, of course, walking out with your wife is a far more important thing to be doing than taking photographs. But the problem here is, I suggest, that you were trying to make sure you did both ........ and sometimes that is not possible.

    It was my belief (which you have confirmed in your response) that the image didn't live up to your experience of the moment, because you could not make the time to capture the photograph of the scene that you saw. You experienced a beautiful scene. But that scene did not just comprise what we now see in this rectangle. It encompassed much more. It also encompassed sounds, and smells, the company of your wife, your own mood at the time, the warmth in the air. In other words, it was a complete sensory experience. And you have now tried to convey all of that in a rectangle on a computer screen.

    And to do that I think you would have needed quite a bit of time to study the location and consider the shot that you wanted to make. You write about how the tree stood out like a jewel in the midst of all else that was around it, but that is not seen in this picture. All that you write indicates that you did not have that time to find the angle and study the whole scene in the viewfinder (tree and surroundings) and were feeling some pressure to grab the shot. That, I believe, is the reason the shot is missing the magic ingredients that you wanted to capture.

    That is why, with only a very few exceptions, I have never capture, nor tried to capture, high quality images when I am in the company of others. I want/need to work alone. Making photographs is something that needs to be done when I am alone in the landscape - not only so that I can enjoy the isolation, but so that the act of making the photograph receives 100% of my attention. There can be no distractions.

  6. #6

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    Re: Tree

    Just a thought, Pritam, but I would try a different crop and see if that helps.

    Try cropping the left side so that there is about the same amount of space to the left of the shadow as between the shadow and the bottom edge. Then crop the right edge so the tree comes around one third of the distance from the right edge.

    A 5 x 4 ratio may work. I suspect something like this will restore sufficient importance to the tree.

  7. #7
    Suede's Avatar
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    Re: Tree

    Thanks for the comments and tips. I've cropped it but did not adhere to the ratio being 5:4 strictly. Does it appear better now?

  8. #8

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    Re: Tree

    Hi,
    Excuse me for this disturbance! In my opinion You must go there again and try something like that because not the shape of the shadow is important but the shine of the tree does all money!

    Tree
    Last edited by Radu Dinu Cordeanu; 1st December 2011 at 11:20 AM.

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    Re: Tree

    Interesting Radu, whereas I love the shadow. For me that is the 'money' shot.
    Cropping some off the RHS gives me a composition I prefer.

    Here's a couple of PP versions.
    Cropped, saturated, contrast.
    Pseudo IR
    Straight BW

    Pritam, hope you don't mind my manipulations, great shot out of camera.
    Graham

    Tree

    Tree

    Tree

  10. #10
    Suede's Avatar
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    Re: Tree

    No worries about the manipulations at all, Graham. They are interesting.

    I walked past the same tree (actually under it, this time) again today under a very overcast sky. Hence, it looked like a 'shadow' of it's majestic self, no vibrance of colour. With some rain and snow forecast, I think getting another shot at it before it loses all its leaves might have to be put off till next year!

    C'est la vie.

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