swamp oaks

Your self critique is noted. Artistically, the picture has merit. The weakest part of the picture is the lack of tonality, particularly black. If mood is important here, and I think it is, the lack of richer blacks weakens the mood.

I agree with your self assessment . I like the comp, Alan. Lots of possibilities here but some are lost to middle grayness. I would encourage you to jump in and comment on the work of others. It is tremendous tool to help with your own photography and your insights can and will help others.

I agree with the others--tonality is an issue. Its an extremely busy/chaotic shot--the question is it cohesive? Im not sure, maybe playing with the tonality/contrast might work. Its a cool subject for sure.

Your thumbnail comp caught my eye so that is appealing but when viewed larger the others comments already made about mid-tone contrasts is spot on. Fix that and I think you got a very nice pic.

al - broadly, i like it. with this sort of image (in which i dabble myself a fair bit), getting the tones good is challenging as well as the cohesiveness (as stan rightly pointed out). the brighter tones in the sky could be tamed a little and the tones in the trees a little more interesting. challenging it is!

well......i'm learning. Frustrated also. I put this up to get some feedback as I was unsure about it. I made some adjustments, but I just don't like it. sky/light wasn't good to start with. I cropped, increased contrast, white and black points, and sharpened the center. Looks like fido's ass to me.

I'm going to go back and read up more on black and white. Ansel Adams maybe? On one hand, I see what people are saying in their feedback. Black and white, I guess, like anything, has general rules, and one should follow them to some extent. Now, I've just got to go find those rules and learn them.

I like the scene, and the comp. The bright "detailess" sky kind of hurts it a little. I agree with it needing some more contrast/tonal separation too. So my suggestion in this kind of situation would be to find a comp or subject that can use less or no sky.

I see the repost, it is better imo. The best suggestions I could make would be to echo those that you stated yourself under your post. While modern cameras can do very well with increased iso. I would never raise it if not necessary. Noise becomes an issue when trying to do too much recovery with exposure issues. Noise can also be increased or introduced with too much processing. So yes, low iso, tripod, mirror lock-up, any time your subject is static. Unless, you to eliminate unwanted motion blur or something like that.

Chris

I agree with the others about the tones. The whites are definitely blown out, and I might have cropped it differently. But it looks like a good spot to try out other ideas.

While I agree with much of the above, I think the original is pretty good. My thought would be to open the midtones a bit, especially the range involving the background tree leaves, and to slightly warm the image.