# Trees - is there anything here or not?



## tirediron (Jun 1, 2013)

Took this today on a walk-about; the image in my head looked great, but I'm not sure about the one from the camera.






Thoughts?


Colour version for comparison.


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## ChrisCalvin (Jun 1, 2013)

my Thoughts, nice ) +


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## Ilovemycam (Jun 1, 2013)

like bw best, color is ok too.


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## ChrisCalvin (Jun 1, 2013)

sharp image even the coloured one, did you use photoshop for it?



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## tirediron (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks all!  Processing was minimal:  A slight crop, minor exposure tweaks done in LR, the monochrome was done with Tiffen's Dfx filter suite followed by a minor levels adjustment in CS4.


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## cgipson1 (Jun 1, 2013)

Has some nice "Pop" to it.. I actually prefer the color! Really has a nice shape, and the contrast is lovely!


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## tirediron (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks Charlie!  I might go back early in the morning so that I can get some benefit out of my CPOL; this was shot mid-afternoon and the polarizer didn't help a lot.  I think an early morning clear sky might work (now, if I can just find this particular tree again in a 600 acre park).


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## baturn (Jun 1, 2013)

I like the color version best also. 
What park?


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## TimothyJinx (Jun 1, 2013)

Definitely an interesting tree and worthy of a photo. I like it, but I think I like the color one better as well - which surprises me. Maybe it's a no-no to tamper with landscapes and nature shots, but it may look better without that dead branch hanging down in the middle. Just my two cents.


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## DarkShadow (Jun 1, 2013)

I like the color version.Looks sharp and with nice realistic color IMO. Nice shot.


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## tirediron (Jun 1, 2013)

baturn said:


> I like the color version best also.
> What park?


Point Pleasant - I'm in Slackers right now...  



TimothyJinx said:


> Definitely an interesting tree and worthy of a photo. I like it, but I think I like the color one better as well - which surprises me. Maybe it's a no-no to tamper with landscapes and nature shots, but it may look better without that dead branch hanging down in the middle. Just my two cents.


Thanks Timothy!  I may have to get them both printed and see what looks best "in person".


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## tirediron (Jun 1, 2013)

Thanks Dave!


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## gsgary (Jun 1, 2013)

Works for me i love trees


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## tirediron (Jun 1, 2013)

gsgary said:


> Works for me i love trees


Thanks Gary!


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## deeky (Jun 1, 2013)

I like the shape of the tree and it's a decent sky.  I would like to see the tree isolated against the sky if possible without


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## timor (Jun 1, 2013)

The tree has interesting shape, one can see, that it went through some dramatic times. Too bad, that you didn't have a view camera loaded with Tmax film at the moment. Tmax would make milky smooth use of all shades in that picture.


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## tirediron (Jun 2, 2013)

deeky said:


> I like the shape of the tree and it's a decent sky. I would like to see the tree isolated against the sky if possible without


Not quite sure what you mean deeky....




timor said:


> The tree has interesting shape, one can see, that it went through some dramatic times. Too bad, that you didn't have a view camera loaded with Tmax film at the moment. Tmax would make milky smooth use of all shades in that picture.


Yeah... too bad about that, but then I'm not much of a TMAX fan....    :er:  I guess I could get my MF gear and load a roll of FP4...


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## amolitor (Jun 2, 2013)

In the color version, I find the material at the bottom of the frame too busy and bright, it doesn't give weight to the bottom. The color one works for me if you crop a more or less square image off the top, eliminating all the stuff on the bottom.

In the black and white the darker masses are not quite there for me, they feel a bit thin and unsupported. I would probably try burning large areas toward the bottom to create a better visual balance, to see if it can be done without destroying the sense of the light. I suspect not, I think when it gets visually balanced, it will look fake and bad.

The clouds are also almost but not quite there. There's a lovely echo of the tree's shapes in the clouds, but I think there's too much overlap or something.

If it were me, and I wanted to really make something of it, I'd go back earlier or later in the day and try for more darkness lover down, and shoot for half an hour or so with whatever clouds came by to try to get a serendipitous arrangement of clouds. But then, I love me some inky pools of darkness, so that's probably just my biases talking.


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## tirediron (Jun 2, 2013)

Thanks Andrew; I plan to go back, unfortunately that won't be today as the whole area is fogged over.  I'm going to try again when the weather's better and see what else I can do with the scene.


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## deeky (Jun 2, 2013)

tirediron said:


> deeky said:
> 
> 
> > I like the shape of the tree and it's a decent sky. I would like to see the tree isolated against the sky if possible without
> ...



If there is a way to frame it, nothing but the specific tree against the sky.  No other trees in the background, no tree on the left.  No foreground.  It's the minimalist in me coming out I guess.


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## esselle (Jun 2, 2013)

I like it; there is an eery factor to it, yet comforting, at the same time. Neat pic.
I think a sky free of any clouds would really make that tree pop, however. :=)
Just my $.02


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## snowbear (Jun 2, 2013)

Nice.  I like both, but I think I prefer the color version a little more. My eye keeps going back to the cloud in between the main & dead branch and for whatever reason, the color seems to subdue it a bit, at least for me.


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## Josh66 (Jun 2, 2013)

To be honest, all of the interesting stuff is in the top half.

This is the part my eye goes to:


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## MiFleur (Jun 2, 2013)

I think it is very nice, it has an artistic touch to me!


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## tirediron (Jun 3, 2013)

deeky said:


> If there is a way to frame it, nothing but the specific tree against the sky. No other trees in the background, no tree on the left. No foreground. It's the minimalist in me coming out I guess.


Ah, gotcha!  No, there was no way to capture that.  I wish there had been, but due to the slope, underbrush, etc.... no could get.



esselle said:


> I like it; there is an eery factor to it, yet comforting, at the same time. Neat pic.
> I think a sky free of any clouds would really make that tree pop, however. :=)
> Just my $.02


Thanks and yes, agree!



snowbear said:


> Nice. I like both, but I think I prefer the color version a little more. My eye keeps going back to the cloud in between the main & dead branch and for whatever reason, the color seems to subdue it a bit, at least for me.


That cloud sort of bothers me too; I'm going to try some different conversions when I get back to my main computer.



O|||||||O said:


> To be honest, all of the interesting stuff is in the top half.


Hmmm... that's a whole 'nother take.  Cool - thanks for the idea!



MiFleur said:


> I think it is very nice, it has an artistic touch to me!


Thanks!


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## Azurite180 (Jun 4, 2013)

TimothyJinx said:


> Definitely an interesting tree and worthy of a photo. I like it, but I think I like the color one better as well - which surprises me. Maybe it's a no-no to tamper with landscapes and nature shots, but it may look better without that dead branch hanging down in the middle. Just my two cents.



+1 --- that dead branch, being so light, is distracting when everything else in the picture seems to be reaching for the sky.  But I still like it in black and white.


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## ronlane (Jun 4, 2013)

"Trees - is there anything here or not?"

Sure there are trees, underbrush, the sky and clouds. Nice landscape shot Tirediron.


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## tirediron (Jun 4, 2013)

ronlane said:


> "Trees - is there anything here or not?"
> 
> Sure there are trees, underbrush, the sky and clouds. Nice landscape shot Tirediron.



:waiting:  I _suppose_ I did ask for that, didn't I? 


Thanks!


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## ronlane (Jun 4, 2013)

tirediron said:


> ronlane said:
> 
> 
> > "Trees - is there anything here or not?"
> ...



Sorry, I really do need to end my day and go home or out to shoot some photos. Being cooped up in the office gets to me sometimes. Only 30 minutes left.


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## esselle (Jun 8, 2013)

Just clicked on the color version to compare, and it's hard to believe it's the same tree. Wow! Just noticed that difference.


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## tirediron (Jun 8, 2013)

esselle said:


> Just clicked on the color version to compare, and it's hard to believe it's the same tree. Wow! Just noticed that difference.


Have you a preference?


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## esselle (Jun 8, 2013)

tirediron said:


> esselle said:
> 
> 
> > Just clicked on the color version to compare, and it's hard to believe it's the same tree. Wow! Just noticed that difference.
> ...



black and white ...
we live our everyday lives ''in color.'' black and white to me, tells the viewer a different story. 

as an aside,
if you look at the comparison between manny212's 'will it ever stop raining in miami?' (think it is in city/landscape section)...the black and white tells a vastly different (more interesting) ''story'' than the color version.

lol, just my newbie-photographer $.02


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## tirediron (Jun 8, 2013)

Cool, thanks!  All $00.02s are good.  And appreciated!


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## jenko (Jun 11, 2013)

This is nice. It works for me because the tree isn't a "perfect" tree. The tree is unusual enough to be interesting to look at, if that makes sense. As far as color or B&W go: B&W for "fine art" and color for "decoration." In other words, the B&W would look nice in a gallery and the color would look nice as wall art in a home or office.


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