Surreal Spring-Repost
by Harry Lichtman
I have driven by this scene nearly every day for the last 20 years. With spring buds out and very colorful blooms in southern NH, conditions made me stop to photograph them for the 1st time. These trees are part of a much larger stand of trees about 100 meters away, but the way the red blossoms on this maple were contrasted by the pine tree behind really made it stand out. A light rain was falling, so the colors were very saturated and the heavily lichened trees made them easily stand out even at that distance. I set up my tripod in my car and shot through the passenger side open window to limit getting wet and wind disrupting the long lens. I really liked the way Matt Anderson's recent image made use of the blues and reds, and thought the reds and greens of the tree buds and surrounding evergreens/new growth would be interesting if I went down that processing road. So, I gave the shadow color balance a bit more cyan /blue than I normally would, and blurred those areas a little (the distant trees in the forest) so that the trees might stand out more. The red buds and spring leaves I left unadjusted. Contemplating a slight crop off the top.
Wondering how this resonates.
D810, 80-400mm @ 400mm, f9.5, ISO 64, 1/6th sec., polarizing filter
Comments
21 commentsLove the mix of spring colors here, and even the inclusion of the white trunks. I think this is balanced nicely.
If you're considering a top crop (to eliminate the leaves in the ULC?) I would consider an equip crop off the bottom. While this is of course a vertical image, I think getting closer to the 4x5 ratio gets more comfortable for me (still influenced by years with that format.) I also think there's yet another alternative crop - which is more severe, but I think cropping down just to the central, center elements and eliminating the spring green buds in the three corners might be an option. Just a thought.
Beautiful as presented.
Lon
Superb splashes of color...
Cropping the yellow leaves at the top as well as the brown twigs at the bottom might be an option, although the composition works fine for me as is.
Peter
1) Cropped off bottom and top
2) Reduced some of the greenish cast (moved the shadow color balance slider toward the magenta a little)
3) Added some surface blur to most of the image, except the main buds of the tree.
The bright greenish white areas of the near trees are lichen, so I left them as is. The darker greens on the trees deeper in the woods are lichen too, so I left them as is. Small versions it is difficult to make out the details in them. Oh well!
Peter
Love the crop. Thanks for taking the time to tweak. I think you've got it nailed.
Interesting element Igor brings up, and that would be the "top heavy" and "bottom heavy" concepts. I liken this to the left-right viewpoint and how images can be perceived differently depending on how things are arranged left to right, or right to left. Just like "balance" and odd/even things within an image.
To me, bottom heavy is more visually acceptable than top heavy. With bottom heavy, I think of pouring water in a glass - it all goes to the bottom, of course. Think of "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down" (sorry aging myself I'm guess many of you have no idea what I just said.) Weebles were designed to be bottom heavy so they won't tip over. On the flip side, too much "weight" up top in an image might make the viewer feel like the image is going to tip over or too much pressure is being put on the elements below.
Ok, that's getting a little in the weeds. What I'm trying to say is that while I agree this is bottom heavy, I think in this case it's an asset and not a liability. Most images benefit from a strong base.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Mattia