Skeletal Forest

[John R]

A simple forest shot of bare trees in October, given an IR treatment.

JMR

[EduPerez]

I like it, very much.

What do you mean by "given an IR treatment"? Did you shot a "true" IR photograph, or did you post-process it to look that way? Thanks.

[John R]

I like it, very much.

What do you mean by "given an IR treatment"? Did you shot a "true" IR photograph, or did you post-process it to look that way? Thanks.

I used post processing and converted to BW. I find the best way is to skew the colours and contrast in colour first, then convert to BW. Occasionally, I add yellow or deep red filter and convert to BW. Thanks for the comments.

JMR

[Justan]

Another beautiful work. Did you change the focus? The ground (and trees) have a marvelous softness.

[Lisa Nikodym]

To me, the treatment looks great, but the composition lacks something.  A more pleasing arrangement of the primary tree trunks (from a different vantage point, or a different bit of forest) would help.

Lisa

[John R]

Another beautiful work. Did you change the focus? The ground (and trees) have a marvelous softness.

Thanks for the comments. You may be right. It may be a touch of Orton combined with BW treatment. Not sure. I am adding second image of scene, but this time it is simple pan of the camera and some contrast and shadow adjustments.

JMR

[John R]

To me, the treatment looks great, but the composition lacks something.  A more pleasing arrangement of the primary tree trunks (from a different vantage point, or a different bit of forest) would help.

Lisa

We are all drawn to different things and I have always said that most photos can be cropped or rearranged seven ways to Sunday. I have about four different versions of this image, including different crops. But I appreciate the comments all the same, and perhaps you will like the colour version better.

JMR

[Justan]

Thanks for the comments. You may be right. It may be a touch of Orton combined with BW treatment. Not sure. I am adding second image of scene, but this time it is simple pan of the camera and some contrast and shadow adjustments.

JMR

So was it a sandwiched exposure or is the Orton effect attributable to the color reduction alone?

I've tried the tilt technique you have in the 2nd image. It takes practice. In one test I got a marvelous 3d like result. In most of my tests the exposure was too long. The results started to get interesting at about 1/20th of a second. I’ll definitely test further.

[John R]

So was it a sandwiched exposure or is the Orton effect attributable to the color reduction alone?

I've tried the tilt technique you have in the 2nd image. It takes practice. In one test I got a marvelous 3d like result. In most of my tests the exposure was too long. The results started to get interesting at about 1/20th of a second. I’ll definitely test further.

Sorry, I can't remember. It was probably two layers blended. The second shot is a straight pan with shadow, contrast adjustments. Yes, it does take practice, and you are right, about 1/20th-sec or slower is a good start. I find most pans tend to overexpose, so try manual or one stop under to compensate.

JMR

[Lisa Nikodym]

The color version is really cool!  I like it.

Also, I thought I'd play with the cropping of the original one to see if I could improve on it.  I think if I were there shooting it over again, I would go with a vertical orientation rather than a horizontal one in order to emplasize the height of the trees, and try to include more of their height in the image - your original just looks "cut off" at the top to me.  Anyway, here's my attempt at cropping it to improve the composition:


Lisa

[John R]

The color version is really cool!  I like it.

Also, I thought I'd play with the cropping of the original one to see if I could improve on it.  I think if I were there shooting it over again, I would go with a vertical orientation rather than a horizontal one in order to emplasize the height of the trees, and try to include more of their height in the image - your original just looks "cut off" at the top to me.  Anyway, here's my attempt at cropping it to improve the composition:

Lisa

It's a good crop, very elegant and it does emphasize the verticalness of the trees. And the placement of the three darker trunks is well done. Believe it or not I have a similar one that I used for another site. But my point is, although I like your crop, it is very subjective as to whether it is better or not. Sometimes we look at someone elses image and immediately something comes to mind. I personally try to resist cropping other people's images, not because I have something against it, but because I don't know what the maker saw and was trying to convey with his image. They may have been thinking something different when they took the image in the field. Yet when we see another's image, we may right away see a different arrangement. A very good crop, and I thank you for your critique.

JMR

[eleanorbrown]

John have you considered using say the R72 IR filter over your camera lens instead?  I say that because I've tried both--doing IR conversion in Photoshop and using an IR camera.  (I happen to like the dramatic monotone images the IR spectrum of light gives (actually am doing a new IR series of trees now).  I know traditional IR has lots of grain (film) but I'm one of those folks that like grainless/noiseless images so the IR filter or IR modified digital camera does work well for that. eleanor

 

A simple forest shot of bare trees in October, given an IR treatment.

JMR

[John R]

John have you considered using say the R72 IR filter over your camera lens instead?  I say that because I've tried both--doing IR conversion in Photoshop and using an IR camera.  (I happen to like the dramatic monotone images the IR spectrum of light gives (actually am doing a new IR series of trees now).  I know traditional IR has lots of grain (film) but I'm one of those folks that like grainless/noiseless images so the IR filter or IR modified digital camera does work well for that. eleanor

I might just buy the R72 filter, but converting the camera is rather expensive and permanent, since they basically cover the sensor with a R72 filter coating. And you still have to convert to BW.

JMR