Fall Woodlands

[Bill McCrystyn]

D300 70-200VR 1.7X ISO800 F/8 1/320

Probobly the last real colors this year. I took a deep hike into the woods early this morning. It was 53* with a slight breeze. I found the Pileated and the Elves but not enough light to get either one so I settled for the boreal forest window shot. These deep forests are just amazing this time of year.

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Bill, somehow this image seems cluttered with too many elements in it. Most of the leaves seem incomplete too. IMHO, I feel it lacks a point of interest. But that said, I do understand that shooting this kind of a scene is very challenging & tough.
Wondering if opening up the aperture to obtain a smoother BG wud've helped...

Just my thoughts... :)

[Julie Kenward]

I agree with Kaushik. I've been doing some of these images as well and tend to keep them down in the 5-5.6 range on aperture. I think you could have gotten away with the f8 if you hadn't had the two big trees running vertically through the image - then it would have been all about the branches and leaves in the FG. As it is, my eye keeps running back to those two large black objects and refuses to focus on the FG.

I'd go back and try it again. I think it has real potential, but aim the camera so the BG is a bit less contrasting.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Bill, sorry but have to agree with the others, the main subject which is nice is lost with the details, shades of light, and colors of the BG. Better to shoot wide open and lose some details in the main subject and blur out the BG.

[Bill McCrystyn]

Oh well, it was a shot (no pun intented), my friend didn't like it either. I thought it was pretty. I guess I got a little caught up in the season. Thanks for warning me before I sent out Christmas gifts. :D