Home · Register · Join Upload & Sell

Moderated by: Fred Miranda
Username  

  New fredmiranda.com Mobile Site
  New Feature: SMS Notification alert
  New Feature: Buy & Sell Watchlist
  

FM Forums | Photo Critique | Join Upload & Sell

  

Archive 2015 · Starkness

  
 
kylebarendrick
Online
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Starkness


Not my usual style. I attempted to emphasize the starkness by darkening the shadows and leaving the bare aspens standing alone. Does it work or is it just some bare trees?

Any thoughts are welcome!







Oct 12, 2015 at 07:05 PM
sbeme
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Starkness


I like it.
What about raising the shadows along the trunks of the trees for a bit more detail. I think the stark whites against the background pines work well

Scott



Oct 13, 2015 at 08:53 AM
lighthound
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Starkness


My first thought is that this almost works and is much more than bare trees.

I think softer warmer light would have made a big difference but perhaps you could take some artistic licence in post to do some creative tweaks? I think if you pulled the shadows up a little to show the greens a little more you could use the Orton effect on this to make it a killer shot. Maybe a slight vignette also?

My gut tells me you have something here. You just need to figure out how to make it work for you.

Now if you had a huge bull Elk standing in front of those trees bugling ....

Dave



Oct 13, 2015 at 09:00 AM
sbeme
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Starkness


I like Dave's suggestions. Didnt think about Orton.

Not sure about the elk suggestion. Sounds like a lot of bull.






Scott



Oct 13, 2015 at 09:42 AM
lighthound
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Starkness


sbeme wrote:
Not sure about the elk suggestion. Sounds like a lot of bull.


Scott








Oct 13, 2015 at 10:11 AM
ben egbert
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Starkness


I have never been able to figure out these bare tree shots, so I am tagging along.


Oct 13, 2015 at 10:24 AM
beanpkk
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Starkness


You could take the bull by the horns and photoshop an elk in there, except that would be cheating and elk have antlers not horns. :-))) But that would be bucking the trend.

I think the image shows too much greenery, albeit in the background, to convey the idea of anything stark. There is nothing really stark (harsh, grim, desolate, plain, extremely simple or severe, rigid according to dictionary .com) there to my eye. The image is full of life with the grass and the background. Nice image, but not "stark" IMHO.

Just my penny's worth of thoughts,
keith



Oct 13, 2015 at 10:24 AM
kylebarendrick
Online
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Starkness


sbeme wrote:
I like it.
What about raising the shadows along the trunks of the trees for a bit more detail. I think the stark whites against the background pines work well


Thanks Scott - that's definitely a good idea which ever way I go with this.

lighthound wrote:
My first thought is that this almost works and is much more than bare trees.

I think softer warmer light would have made a big difference but perhaps you could take some artistic licence in post to do some creative tweaks? I think if you pulled the shadows up a little to show the greens a little more you could use the Orton effect on this to make it a killer shot. Maybe a slight vignette also?

My gut tells me you have something here. You just need to figure out how to make it work for you.

Now if you
...Show more

Thanks Dave. I'm attaching a new version warming it a touch, bringing the shadows back up a little, adding a glow to the lighter areas and a little vignette. Let me know what you think.

I do have some bugling Elk shots from this trip, but am not really up for that photoshop work :-)

beanpkk wrote:
You could take the bull by the horns and photoshop an elk in there, except that would be cheating and elk have antlers not horns. :-))) But that would be bucking the trend.

I think the image shows too much greenery, albeit in the background, to convey the idea of anything stark. There is nothing really stark (harsh, grim, desolate, plain, extremely simple or severe, rigid according to dictionary .com) there to my eye. The image is full of life with the grass and the background. Nice image, but not "stark" IMHO.

Just my penny's worth of thoughts,
keith


Thanks Keith, I can't argue with any of that. I guess things strike us all in different ways.







Oct 13, 2015 at 11:33 AM
lighthound
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Starkness


I think your edit is better with the added warmth and visible deep forest greens.
I was thinking more extreme though. Kinda pushing it into the surreal realm if you will.

I just did a quick google search for "orton effect white birch trees" and saw a few images that have the look I was thinking of.

Again, I think you have a nice image here to experiment on and try some fun post tweaks.

And naw, I wasn't suggesting to add an Elk to the shot. I'm not a big fan of that type of image manipulation. I was just sarcastically pointing out that a big bull would look amazing in this type of scene and that the two (Elk and Trees) would put this over the top IMHO. It's something that I dream of capturing someday.

Dave



Oct 13, 2015 at 12:47 PM
beavens
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Starkness


+1 @ a lot of what others have said. I'd look to change the crop around to put the focus almost entirely on the trees.

Highlights looks like some detail could be recovered.

Personally I'd push this as high contrast as I could without ripping it in half. Definitely cool with bringing up the dark bark, but I'm all for lowering the shadows/blacks behind the tress. Playing up the stark contrast is a good move IMO.

I'd prefer more depth/separation between the trees and the background.

This would also work well in mono!

Quick reworks below.

Cheers!

Jeff












Oct 13, 2015 at 12:54 PM
kylebarendrick
Online
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Starkness


lighthound wrote:
I think your edit is better with the added warmth and visible deep forest greens.
I was thinking more extreme though. Kinda pushing it into the surreal realm if you will.

I just did a quick google search for "orton effect white birch trees" and saw a few images that have the look I was thinking of.

Again, I think you have a nice image here to experiment on and try some fun post tweaks.

And naw, I wasn't suggesting to add an Elk to the shot. I'm not a big fan of that type of image manipulation. I was
...Show more

I knew you were kidding about the elk, and I considered adding one just for grins, but decided against investing the effort.

Here's one more a little more extreme. I just can't get myself to take it further.

beavens wrote:
+1 @ a lot of what others have said. I'd look to change the crop around to put the focus almost entirely on the trees.

Highlights looks like some detail could be recovered.

Personally I'd push this as high contrast as I could without ripping it in half. Definitely cool with bringing up the dark bark, but I'm all for lowering the shadows/blacks behind the tress. Playing up the stark contrast is a good move IMO.

I'd prefer more depth/separation between the trees and the background.

This would also work well in mono!

Quick reworks below.


Thanks Jeff, that's closer to what I originally envisioned. I do really like the B&W. I'll play around some more tonight.







Oct 13, 2015 at 01:26 PM
sbeme
Offline
• • • • • • •
Upload & Sell: On
p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Starkness


so many excellent ideas, variations


Oct 13, 2015 at 02:57 PM
lighthound
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Starkness


+1 Scott! I'm actually really digging Jeff's mono version on this.

Yep Kyle, that's closer to what I was thinking. I understand what you're saying about going too far with it. It might not be what you want for this image but you never know until you experiment a little.

Lot's of options to play with here.

Dave



Oct 13, 2015 at 03:50 PM





FM Forums | Photo Critique | Join Upload & Sell

    
 

You are not logged in. Login or Register

Username       Or Reset password



This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.