Love those Trees

[tim wolcott]

Your thinking right but:  If you want the colors to be the brightest part of your image and give it more focus on your subject matter you need to find great trees with big hills behind it. 

Steven and I went to Colorado this year and it was great to shoot together.  But having big hills or mountains to be the backdrop allows your colors of the trees you want to be the primary interest.  This is always the problem when shooting trees.  Tim

[muntanela]

Your thinking right but:  If you want the colors to be the brightest part of your image and give it more focus on your subject matter you need to find great trees with big hills behind it. 

Steven and I went to Colorado this year and it was great to shoot together.  But having big hills or mountains to be the backdrop allows your colors of the trees you want to be the primary interest.  This is always the problem when shooting trees.  Tim

Do you mean something like this?

[tim wolcott]

Yes but I was referring to your previous image with the tree in the fore ground and having the mountain in the back.  But yes same principle.  But I will have to say you can find lots of trees but very few with the right make-up that makes it work.  Usually all the best trees are not anywhere the mountains are.  Its a lot of work to find the right scenario.  Tim

[mac_paolo]

Hi Tony

Thanks for the kind feedback. Autumn Glow is a big seller for me, just sold one this week. the images are from Moss Ferns and Maples British Columbia and the other three are from Rainforest on the south island of New Zealand. The Horseman 617 is a dedicated film panoramic camera with a three to one ratio, none of the images are cropped. It makes it easier for the galleries that sell my work to have consistent image sizes.  I use the Schneider lenses, each one has a viewfinder. The viewfinder is key to locating imagery in the forest. You could use framing cards, hopefully Tim will join the discussion he believes in using framing cards. I had the pleasure to meet Tim and shoot around with him last fall. Tim is a great guy and very passionate about his work. Forest imagery is a real challenge given how chaotic the forest can be especially the forests you mention. I will look for your posts and comment. Here is a recent magazine article from F11 Magazine on my photography that may have some interest. Thanks again for your kind feedback. Happy holidays, got to run, I am cooking dinner.

Steven

http://www.friedmanphoto.com

http://www.f11magazine.com/site/pdf/f11%20Magazine%20-%20Issue%2017%20-%20DecemberJanuary%202013.pdf

I admire your work. I really do.
Thanks for sharing with us.

Paolo

[Rob C]

Yes but I was referring to your previous image with the tree in the fore ground and having the mountain in the back.  But yes same principle.  But I will have to say you can find lots of trees but very few with the right make-up that makes it work.  Usually all the best trees are not anywhere the mountains are.  Its a lot of work to find the right scenario.  Tim

Just like finding world-standard pinup girls in Mallorca, then? Great locations from natural to man-made, both ancient and modern, but nobody to put into them. Of course, there are beautiful girls, but they have no interest in photography - why should they have? Because I wish they did?

Oh well, guess we're all babes in the woods in some way or another.

Rob C

[muntanela]

I really simply walk and try to pay tribute to what I find and like.... Sometimes, in some misterious way, I fall in love with something and return again and again...

[stevenf]

Hi Paolo

Thanks for the kind feedback. There are some incredible photos posted on this site.

Steven

http://www.friedmanphoto.com

[hapkido1996]

[Tony Jay]

Better late than never!
Apologies for the delay Steven.

A rainforest image that I believe is passable.
Comments welcome.

Tony Jay

[Rob C]

Tony, that's because you did stop looking at the forest and concentrated on a tree... ;-)

Other genres share the problem: photographers who can only do faces and not figures; guys who go out on a limb about legs and others who baulk at a boob. It's a mad world and that's why it still goes round and round, aimlessly, never learning from its own experience. Hence the value of the black hole: the ultimate coup de grâce.

Rob C

[Tony Jay]

Tony, that's because you did stop looking at the forest and concentrated on a tree... ;-)

Thanks for your comment Rob.
It is true that I focused right in on the buttress roots of this majestic rainforest tree and I think a fair image resulted (personally I think it looks really good printed to A2 however, it looks a little flat on monitor).
Nonetheless it is an interesting conundrum for me that despite a longstanding fascination with rainforests I feel that my overall standard of shooting in rainforests has not matched or grown with my results in other environments.
Generally those subjects that interest me have resulted in fair and improving images of those subjects - the gap remains with the rainforest.

However, that image was shot recently and was the result of an idea I had when planning the trip.
I am not out of ideas (possibly my biggest limitation is time) but would nonetheless appreciate critique and suggestions

Tony Jay

[armand]

Better late than never!
Apologies for the delay Steven.

A rainforest image that I believe is passable.
Comments welcome.

Tony Jay

These are some of the best looking roots that I've ever seen! The usual banyan roots are also fascinating (and difficult to capture) but these are a step above.

[32BT]

it looks a little flat on monitor

that's because you're not utilising the full DR available. Go readjust the exposure so you hit the right side of the histo and then use brightness to readjust the overall tone back to something believable. (See attached image). Should liven up your image considerably. I also suggest to heavily apply dodge&burn  on those spots that distract from the lines. (Like all insets with dead leaves). This would both improve the focus on the roots, as well as increase the perception of depth. You only have contrast to generate the 3D experience that no doubt these roots exhibit in real life. How large are these IRL?

 

[stevenf]

Hi Tony

I like Oscars crop and image adjustment to your image. I always ask myself when composing is there anything that I can remove from the scene to simplify the image. Less is always more and in a rainforest the chaos and clutter makes it hard to find a composition. Generally speaking getting in closer is a way to simplify.

Steven

http://www.friedmanphoto.com

[Rob C]

Hi Tony

I like Oscars crop and image adjustment to your image. I always ask myself when composing is there anything that I can remove from the scene to simplify the image. Less is always more and in a rainforest the chaos and clutter makes it hard to find a composition. Generally speaking getting in closer is a way to simplify.
Steven

http://www.friedmanphoto.com

Whilst this is true, and I've said as much, it still fails to solve the problem of representing the forest rather than a single plant. Maybe the only successful way of during this is as per the nature tv series: use a chopper (the flying, not the cutting sort!).

Rob C

[Tony Jay]

that's because you're not utilising the full DR available. Go readjust the exposure so you hit the right side of the histo and then use brightness to readjust the overall tone back to something believable. (See attached image). Should liven up your image considerably. I also suggest to heavily apply dodge&burn  on those spots that distract from the lines. (Like all insets with dead leaves). This would both improve the focus on the roots, as well as increase the perception of depth. You only have contrast to generate the 3D experience that no doubt these roots exhibit in real life. How large are these IRL?

Thanks Oscar.
The original post processing was done with a print in mind.
The print is excellent and brings out the the very issue you identify - 3D depth.
I do actually like how this looks on a bog-standard monitor rather than my high-end NEC.
I will go back to the RAW with your principle in mind and see whether I can improve the result.
As for the roots - they are massive, belonging to a tree that is well over a hundred feet high.

Tony Jay

[stevenf]

Rob

Have a look at some of my work. I rarely show one plant or tree. I try and find a colour, design or pattern and use this for my composition. I do elimiate elements in my composition that do not fit the other elements.

Steven

http://www.friedmanphoto.com

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Yes, but let's not fail to see the trees for the forest! 

[Chairman Bill]

A couple from last winter

[Tony Jay]

A couple from last winter

Both good.
I like #1 the best - beautiful light!

Tony Jay