Mossy Tree

[Hank Christensen]

This photo was stitched from 5 vertical shots and merged in Photoshop, giving it a total size > 50 megapixels. I took this photo earlier this year in Muir Woods National Monument.

Canon 5D Mk2
Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L @ 32mm
ISO 100
4 sec @ f/16 manual exposure
no flash
polarized filter

I pulled back the highlights a little and bumped the vibrance a little in lightroom. I also added some contrast using a very slight S curve.

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Hank,

Always hard to compose something interest in a forest but you did well seeing the possibilities here and creating a well composed image including diagonals to lead the eye through the image. I like the overall luminosity of the image but suggest you try a Shadows/Highlights adjustment in PS. I see you using Lightroom so you can use fill light during conversion.

However, in my repost were S/H was used, I masked out the affect on all but the undersides of the large diagonal tree limbs so that the smaller tree limbs remained dark.

S/H set at the following for shadow recovery; Amount at 52, Tonal Width at 12 and Radius at 0.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hi Hank,
As the mossy tree is the star....I think Robert's repost help bring it there! The bit of added depth give it just the right amount of interest it needed. Now....for me the brighter area on the RH side is a bit bothersome...patching/or toning it down may help but I also want to offer another possible option to explore....darkening all the corners and outside edge....almost a vignette....to draw the eye to the tree more.....works in printing many times may also be effective here!

[Markus Jais]

I like the composition. The form of the tree is great. Beautiful green colors. Robert's repost looks even better.

Markus

[Dennis "Curly" Buchner]

Very nice composition

[Kobus Tollig]

Nice image here well done. I do like what Roberto has done to it.

[Hank Christensen]

I have thought a lot about this one, and I do appreciate Robert's spin on the image. However, at the end of the day, I had to settle back to my original post as my favorite. I added a masked S/H layer as Robert suggested, but a big problem I had was that at a larger size, the moss colors started blocking together (losing local contrast) Also, my original intention of a slight silhouette with "glowing" moss was lost. To me, some of the dramatic lighting on the tree was lost and it became less exciting.

That's why photography (as art) can be so subjective. Thanks Robert for the interesting direction of the photo - it seems that many like your edits. And thanks to everyone for the feedback.

[Robert Amoruso]

I have thought a lot about this one, and I do appreciate Robert's spin on the image. However, at the end of the day, I had to settle back to my original post as my favorite. I added a masked S/H layer as Robert suggested, but a big problem I had was that at a larger size, the moss colors started blocking together (losing local contrast) Also, my original intention of a slight silhouette with "glowing" moss was lost. To me, some of the dramatic lighting on the tree was lost and it became less exciting.

That's why photography (as art) can be so subjective. Thanks Robert for the interesting direction of the photo - it seems that many like your edits. And thanks to everyone for the feedback.

Hank,

I agree. That's the same problem I had with what I was doing was a lose of contrast with S/H will do.

Best bet here to have retained that detail was an exposure for the underside of the large tree and blending that with the exposure of the forest - not an HDR, just layer blending in PS to include the underside of the tree. This way, contrast would be retained.

Something to consider for next time.