Portrait of Three Trees

[kdoc856]

I've become utterly fascinated by the "personalities" trees seem to have, and have come to regard images of them as portraits. I've always appreciated the impact a 1:1 or 5:4 crop has on portraiture, so I thought I'd apply it to these tress. Very interested in your thoughts. Thanks for viewing. Edits always appreciated.

ISO 400 F/27 20mm 1/45sec

[Polar01]

I am liking these shots very much.

Cheers: Allan

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful mood!

Like you, I think of portraiture for many subjects other than people. I almost always tend to lean toward a preference for tight crops. However, for a tree such as this one, I think more space rather than less space is needed on the top and sides. That's because I envision the branches of such a magnificent tree as reaching outward and upward. With this composition, I feel as if they feel a bit cramped. (Notice how the personification akin to a portrait already made its way into this post.)

[kdoc856]

Thanks, Allan and Mike.

Mike, that makes a lot of sense. I'll make another version and see what you think.

PS
No, I won't. Just checked. I shot that in portrait pretty much as is- only cropped the foreground. I don't have any others with breathing room. I've got another completely different shot of the same tree I haven't worked up yet, and it has more room. If it works at all I'll post it.

[terrib]

Kevin,
I've always felt that you are a master at photographing trees. You were the one that taught me that you don't have to get the whole tree in the picture to portray it successfully. (it was some of your fall trees a couple of years ago)

I think the fact that you are thinking of them as having personalities comes through in your images. I really like this shot - the silhouette, the colors, everything. And the placement makes me think of this tree as protector of the others. I see Mike's point but going back and looking at it again, I think it probably would work either way. Not having the space makes this tree as large and strong as it can be while still showing all of it. And in this case, all of it works.

[deetheturk]

Kevin,super capture,well done!

Cheers David

[kdoc856]

Thanks very much David and Terri for your encouragement.

Terri: I love your idea of the "protector", and funny you should mention:

You were the one that taught me that you don't have to get the whole tree in the picture to portray it successfully.

[Mike Buckley]

As nice as the first image is, the second one is even better for me.

[Digital]

Kevin, nice capture. Beautiful image.



Bruce