Berkshire Spring

[Richard Lovison]

http://richardlovison.com/photos/spring2.jpg
© reserved 2009, Richard Lovison

Image taken in Lenox Massachusetts.

Olympus E-1
ZD 14-54mm @ 54mm
1/50th sec @ f8
tripod
3 RAW images were combined to produce a HDR image

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Richard,
Nice placement of the tree compositionally in the ROT position and I really like the green tones in this. I am debating the 2 FG white flowers......even though they do lead you to the tree.......seem a bit out of place tonally with the rest.....but am actually OK with them. I really like the way the tree stands out from the BG (you kept the top in the D green) but I would be tempted to bring it up even more. I do realize that you lose quite a bit....especially here in landscapes......when we compress to jpeg.....B4 printing......try darkening the BG treeline behind it a hair......or lighten the tree a hair by doging.....yeah.....it may be overboard.....but worth a try!
Nice job on the HDR and composition. Nicely done!

[Ed Cordes]

Excellent image. I too like the tree placement and the vibrant colors all around. I never would have guessed it was an HDR image. I like the 2 white flowers. Not only do they lead the eye as Roman said, they add a bit of compositional/color relief adding realism to the scene.

[Richard Lovison]

Hey Richard,
Nice placement of the tree compositionally in the ROT position and I really like the green tones in this.


Thanks.



I am debating the 2 FG white flowers......even though they do lead you to the tree.......seem a bit out of place tonally with the rest.....but am actually OK with them.

They were unusual as they were the only white flowers near where I was photographing and I thought they could be used to draw the eye into the scene.



I really like the way the tree stands out from the BG (you kept the top in the D green) but I would be tempted to bring it up even more. I do realize that you lose quite a bit....especially here in landscapes......when we compress to jpeg.....B4 printing......try darkening the BG treeline behind it a hair......or lighten the tree a hair by doging.....yeah.....it may be overboard.....but worth a try!

When you wrote "bring it up even more" are you referring to bringing up the tree in the image by shooting closer to the ground? If I would have shot lower I could possibly have brought the top of the tree into the sky area and further separated the tree from the background.

I tried dodging the tree though it just appeared a bit washed out and weak. Maybe just poor technique on my part. I haven't tried darkening the BG treeline yet.

Thanks for taking the time to look and offering your opinions.

[Richard Lovison]

Excellent image. I too like the tree placement and the vibrant colors all around. I never would have guessed it was an HDR image. I like the 2 white flowers. Not only do they lead the eye as Roman said, they add a bit of compositional/color relief adding realism to the scene.

Ed,

Thanks for the critique.

It was a quick HDR attempt. The lighting was extremely harsh that afternoon with very bright sun though the sky wasn't clear... it had an unusual bright, hazy white-blue color to it. Even with the use of a polarizer I was unable to darken it much.

So what I did was take the original RAW exposure and develop it three times... one using the "as shot" exposure, one with 1 stop overexposure and one with 1 stop underexposure and then combined the three in HDR software. The only part of the image that dramatically changed was the sky which was what I was after. I then cropped about half the sky out of the image.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Richard,
I tried darkrning the midtones with a levels layer.....down to 93 on the slider.....on just the middle ground of treeline around the star tree.....seemd to pop the spring blooms even more. Try it and re-post if you like it!

[Richard Lovison]

I have to get a pen tablet... drawing with a mouse is no fun. :) Any suggestions for medium priced unit?

Anyhow, here is the result of using the lasso tool for selection and a levels adjustment of the midtones to 90.. I like it. :) Thanks Roman.

http://richardlovison.com/photos/spring3.jpg
© reserved 2009, Richard Lovison

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Richard,
Nice job on the re-post.....really does pop the tree in the early spring green. Sometimes little tweaks go a long way!

[Rich Ikerd]

Sometimes the simple images turn out to be the best. I too like the placement of the tree and its contrast with the distant hills. The repost is much better since the solitary tree almost jumps off the screen. Nicely done.