Monument Valley Tree Silhouette

[Jeff Dyck]

Last summer, while passing through southern Utah on my way to a friend's wedding, I stopped in Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park for some sightseeing. Here is a shot of the Hole-in-the-Rock formation just after sunrise.

Canon 5DII --- 17-40mm @ 22mm

81194

[Valerio Tarone]

hi Jeff thank for sharing. I think the tree is dominant guide and should be better to be a bit on one side. As compo is not well balanced because the lowest part is too dark so it's is easy to crop it.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jerry,
know this one very well..........I think the tree works well compositionally on this side but I do wish you had a hair more room between the left limb and ear of the wind (that's the more common name) but you didn't clip it.....so I am OK with it. I do agree with Valerio on the FG.....a couple of split ND's or an HDR would work to lessen the impact of the FG.....so worth exploring next time out....as presented I would go with Valerio's suggestion of a crop.....to the top of the rock at the base of the tree.....then add a bit more black in selective color to darken the silhouette and base a touch more.....this will take the image up another notch IMO but let me know your thoughts if you explore them.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Jeff, Agree with Roman on this and not having much to add.Your use of the tree is different from the widely shown comps on this. Agree on too much neg space on bottom. If your showing that much of a dark area you would need something of interest there and it should be recogniseable...

[Robert Amoruso]

Jeff,

I feel similarly to the others above. Cropping off the bottom would be good and more separation on the limb and ear a good move compositionally too as well. Though you don't have them touching so that's good too.

Using the silhouetted tree as you did in juxtaposition with the ear was just perfect.

[Morkel Erasmus]

can't really add much to the already thoughtful critiques - I do agree that the tree needed to be a bit more to the RHS, not just for balance but also for separation between the branches and BG rock formations as mentioned. I agree with cropping some of the dark FG off the bottom.

[Tim Munsey]

Like this study of shapes and light.

Tim

[Hank Christensen]

For this composition, I would have moved in closer to the tree, slightly lower and to the left. This will bring the left branch of the tree slightly away from the rock horizon. Also, put the trunk of the tree on top of the intersection line of the front rock wall as it meets the distant rock wall on the RHS of the photo. This would also reduce the shadowed foreground. Make the tree a true silhouette with no detail, and crop off all shadow from the bottom of the photo. This will present the tree as an abstracted graphical element, which would really strengthen the photo. If you are a purest, leave the tree alone - if not, clone out the right-most small branch.