Snowy Pecan Orchard

[Judy Howle]

This is one of my favorites from our short-lived snow. It is an HDR image
Canon 5D 2, f8, ISO 200.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Judy,Nice handling of the HDR with good detail in the snow.The road coming from the rt and moving towards center is effective. The clouds fill the void on the rt nicely.
Another idea would be to crop from the left up to the smaller more dominant tree.(about 1 3/8 inches)

[peter delaney]

Agree with Daves crop suggestion .. this image is also a good candidate for a black and white conversion

[Judy Howle]

Here's a repost of the color image. I started over from the HDR tiff because I'd already saved it over 3 times so it might be slightly different and hopefully better.

[Judy Howle]

I also created a black and white version. I hope the tones are OK. I darkened the blues for the sky a bit and lightened the reds and yellows (road/trees) just a little.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Judy, I prefer the first repost best. Love the tree, the road, the snow and the clouds. Very nicely captured! I also like the original post and was going to suggest cloning out what looks like tire tracks in the snow on the left side, but the cropped repost takes care of that.:S3:

[Nick Palmieri]

I like the B&W, good job with the HDR and conversion.

[Judy Howle]

Hi Judy, I prefer the first repost best. Love the tree, the road, the snow and the clouds. Very nicely captured! I also like the original post and was going to suggest cloning out what looks like tire tracks in the snow on the left side, but the cropped repost takes care of that.:S3:

Thanks Andrew! I like the original as well and don't mind the tire tracks too much but it was easier to crop them out than cloning :bg3:

[Judy Howle]

I like the B&W, good job with the HDR and conversion.

Thanks Nick!

[Dave Mills]

Hi Judy, The B&W conversion works well, Creates a whole different feel to the image...

[Hazel Grant]

I really like the first post best. Normally, I like a close crop ( a fault sometimes of mine) but in this case I love that big tree and the road. Having the rest of the orchard there gives depth and expanse to say that this is an orchard. The blue sky vs the stark trees is a good contrast.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Judy,
Sorry for the late reply but I have been traveling........great advice and back and forth above with all the suggestions having merit and you used them to take the image in many directions.......alll of which work to a degree IMO. I think even the op works because of the reasons Dave mentioned and getting rid of the tracks was a big help because of the way it made the tree trunks flow. Here is yet another option for you to consider. I often find that eliminating the tops of the trees often works very well in these situations (as well as your previous post)......so I went pano! I eliminated the tire tracks just as you did off the left but then I went tight on the lowest tree. This comp leads me through the scene nicely then.......using the trees both for scale and depth with the path leading the way. Hope this makes sense but this is just another option for you because I feel the repost works very well also!

[Robert Amoruso]

Judy,

Looking at the OP I like it because my eye enters the image in first in the upper left and following the large limb down to the trunk of the closest left tree, then across the road to the middle closest tree and then to the farther off tree in the near background on the right. Though the road is a strong compositional element, I do not find it bringing me into he image as effectively as the trees do.

In the recrops this feel is totally lost. I also like the clouds and the big sky look. I would stay with the OP minus tire tracks.

On the B&W, pump up the contrast and make sure you have a black and white point in the image.

[Judy Howle]

Thanks Robert. I am partial to the OP myself. I'll work on the tire tracks.

Thanks Roman, your pano crop works too but I still like the OP best of the options. It is nice to have other options presented.

[Morkel Erasmus]

love the feel here Judy - makes me want to walk down that road.

Roman's pano crop has a lot of appeal to me...somehow it ties the scene together and gets rid of the upper branches of the trees which vie for too much attention IMHO

HDR nicely handled