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View Full Version : Winter loneliness



Rene Quenneville
02-24-2009, 09:31 PM
Picture taken after an rain storm in the middle of last winter. The tree feels lonely in the middle of the white patch. The reflection on the frozen puddle brings-in some company...
The sky was so bright that in order not to blow the clouds, the snow looks a little underexpozed. There are many ways to fix it in Photoshop but I wanted to have your overall opinion before spending some surgery time.
1/250
f/7.1
52mm
ISO 200
grad filter applied on the sky

Jackie Schuknecht
02-24-2009, 10:05 PM
I really like this shot Rene. Nice feel to it. I keep wondering if the tree would look like more of a focal point if the image was cropped a little from the left?

John Blumenkamp
02-24-2009, 10:05 PM
Hi Rene... I like what you're doing here with the reflection and layers/overall composition. I kind of think an image like this with a lone tree might work with the tree centered in the frame - might be interesting to explore and see how it looks.

Robert Amoruso
02-24-2009, 10:13 PM
Rene,

I think either of the crop suggestions above will work well. What I normally do is adjust the whole uncropped image and then crop latter and save to a different name, that way I can come back and do different stuff.

I would agree the sky needs some work to make it more dramatic. I hope you will be posting a revised version soon.

Roman Kurywczak
02-24-2009, 11:16 PM
He Rene,
It's late for me and I know i shouldn't be doing corrections......but here goes anyway. for me....the scene seems too bright overall...and never..ever....ever...is a reflection brighter than the sky (OK....the grad ND is my fault)......in a case like this the snow is usually dark/blue/cold to the eye. This one took a lot of work (and considering I was out all day....let me know how I did!) Seperate levels, SH, and Multiplied layer on the sky. Same on the FG....but at different opacities and an extra multiplied layer....to get it darker as we would naturally see.....with each correction....I tried to maintain the blowing snow/fog/mist. I also pulled back on the cyans and blues a bit with all the PP....to tame them a bit. Hope I didn't over-do it!....either way let me know.
PS as I previewed I see a slight halo around the tree....but you get the idea!

Paul Marcellini
02-24-2009, 11:32 PM
I would like Roman's edit if I saw it first, but something about that high key shot really intrigues me. I like the softer blues and the detail in the tree. It is peaceful as presented, well done Rene.

Rene Quenneville
02-25-2009, 10:06 PM
Thank you all for your comments. As I always crop as a last step in the process, I could try this repost with a center tree. I played with some tones but not too much. I agree with Paul on the soft tones. Please give me your thoughts.

Roman Kurywczak
02-25-2009, 10:38 PM
Hey Rene,
Another late night...but glad I had some time.....The sky and the treeline seem to have a bit more oomph in the re-post.....I'd take that version over all......love the addition of the cloud in the UR corner!