n/t

Christian, I like the subject chosen and the overall feel of the image. I would like to see a bit more foreground. Also, maybe place the subject tree off-center a bit. Depending on what lies outside the edges, that may or may not have been possible. I think you would have more emotional impact if you were to do these things.

The framing seems a little tight, but I know how hard it can be to shoot subjects like this without unwanted distractions coming into the frame. I think the shadows could use a bit of a lift; it's not that anything's clipped to black, the scene just seems a little too 'dim'.

I have to agree with Jeff- things seem a bit dim, especially the face of the dominant tree. I think this allows the brightness of the sky to overpower the image.

Also, I think I see a theme here- the directions of the branches of the various trees create some compositional motion. Given that, I think that the tree far left distracts from this effect.

Overall, this image conveys a somewhat baleful mood to me, so lifting the shadows too much could ruin that.

Well done.

John

Thanks for your comments!

I took the image yesterday while we where on a hike - the place is really awesome. I need to go back to the place alone for some better images, the framing in this one is really a bit sloppy due to the time constraint. Did it quite fast. I just like the way the tree looks and how it did stand there more or less alone. It was not really possible to at least quickly isolate the tree more

Jason, I like your suggestion of something more in the foreground, I think that would have added to the image. I initally had the tree some more off center but cropped it off.

Jeff, yes, this dim feeling disturbed me too, it was not really the final version tonal-wise anyway, I just wanted to show it. If one exposes correctly it's amazing how much highlight range even aps-c can capture. I must say in this situation I aimed for a tight framing.

And this motion was the thing wich motivated me to take the image in the first place, John ...the baleful mood is because of the dimness, but I don't like it here.

I'll attach a better processed version, also decided the crop I did in the first version doesn't improve it so this is the whole image.

I love trees and I like this tree, however, it is too dark; especially when contrasted with the background which is beautifully lit. And that is a problem, when the main subject is not well lit and the background is, sort of like a model or flower that needs fill-in to complete the lighting. About the dark shadows in the right foreground, nothing wrong with them if they are strategically arranged in the picture space and do not compete with other elements. I find in this image, the dark area is too pronounced and draws too much attention to itself.

JMR

Thank you John for pointing out this light issue, I had not thought about it this way. Yes, in this case thats basically a non-fixable problem on its own. Maybe I will come back to the place...

Christian