Norwegian tree

[slowframe]

Comments would be very welcome.

[sdwilsonsct]

Was it really this dark when you took the picture?
The composition has potential but might be stronger with more background looming in the mist.

[slowframe]

I'm afraid it was pretty dark. However, I can see that lightening it up would make sense. I'll work on that and on getting the background to stand out a bit more to see how it looks. Thank you for the advice.

[Richard Pearlman]

I would crop a little from the bottom, making more of a square frame.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I would crop a little from the bottom, making more of a square frame.

I agree with the square crop, and with the suggestions to lighten up the background a bit.
It has great promise.

[slowframe]

Thanks Richard and Eric. I'm normally a bit more confident about my processing, but I've been feeling unhappy about this one. I'll try your suggestions and see what I can manage. I'll repost when I have a revised image.

[wolfnowl]

Something like this perhaps: https://plus.google.com/114764567692252908296/posts/RFRAbFQiYeJ

Mike.

[Paulo Bizarro]

I agree with the previous suggestions, lots of potential in this image.

[francois]

I also agree with previous comment. The initial image is an excellent start and with some PP (a bit lighter…) it even get better.

[Christoph C. Feldhaim]

This is a low contrast image with subdued tones.
This is totally okay and any further processing should be done with what you had in mind artistically.
You might experiment with global contrast or local contrast changes like USM with large radius.
You might use some manual dodging and burning to increase certain edges - if you want that.
I personally would try to carefully sharpen the tree stems in the background slightly as well as the main tree, while keeping overall contrast low as a starter and maybe cleaning up some of the dark spots in the snow.
The square crop also seems to be a good idea in my opinion, since its already square, right?

Cheers
~Chris

EDIT: P.S.: had a little time at hand and thus attached a suggestion. Cheers ~C.

[slowframe]

This is a low contrast image with subdued tones.
This is totally okay and any further processing should be done with what you had in mind artistically.
You might experiment with global contrast or local contrast changes like USM with large radius.
You might use some manual dodging and burning to increase certain edges - if you want that.
I personally would try to carefully sharpen the tree stems in the background slightly as well as the main tree, while keeping overall contrast low as a starter and maybe cleaning up some of the dark spots in the snow.
The square crop also seems to be a good idea in my opinion, since its already square, right?

Cheers
~Chris

EDIT: P.S.: had a little time at hand and thus attached a suggestion. Cheers ~C.

Thank you for these comments. They're very helpful. I've posted a revised version under the thread title 'Norwegian tree 2'. It's a slightly different concept. Any further feedback would be appreciated. I'm still working on revising the square crop version.