Fall leaves near Pisgah Forest Hwy 215 North Carolina

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Saw this Tuesday near Bubbling Springs Hwy 215 NC and loved the different hues .

Hope some enjoy.
Don

 

[Sandra Jones]

Lovely. I know this must have been an impressive sight to see. The range of colour is amazing.

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Lovely. I know this must have been an impressive sight to see. The range of colour is amazing.

Sandra ,thanks for responding and glad you enjoyed the colors .
Don

 

[Asher Kelman]

Saw this Tuesday near Bubbling Springs Hwy 215 NC and loved the different hues .

Don Ferguson Jr.: Fall Leaves​

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It's the sight that I miss after crossing the Rocky Mountains and meeting the beaches around Los Angeles. For sure, somewhere in this magnificent state, there are areas with such coloring, but not so readily as I've seen in N. Carolina, New York State or New England. I love the range of hues as different trees change color on their own timetable and evergreen trees, remain rich dark green, as if custodian of the whole process. Where are the other pictures?

However, where's the composition? It isn't obvious to me? Let me think about this. I'm enjoying the color so much that I didn't really look at the picture!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

Don Ferguson Jr.: Fall Leaves​

I asked about the composition. My idea is that perhaps the top part of the picture has trees which one can see in their total height. So cutting the image might give a better scene. A panorama might give a satisfactory feeling of the vast extent of the color play as far as the eye can see. It's also a tranquil form. However the edges can be darkened to allow the eye to look at trees that stand out in the main frame and not be distracted by detail at the edges.




So here's the picture mask showing the area to be darkened.

Don Ferguson Jr.: Fall Leaves: darkened area to be used ADK

Don Ferguson Jr.: Fall Leaves edits with periphery darkened ADK

Don Ferguson Jr.: Fall Leaves edits ADK​

I have not made this to be perfect. That saturation is not correct yet. It's just as a teaser to point out that one has to face the challenge of finding how to present what one feels not what the camera happens to record. If one is lucky to find a powerful composition when one snaps the image, one is lucky. Still, even then, work is almost always needed.

Asher

 

[Rachel Foster]

The colors are lovely, the mist is enchanting...but my eye bounces around.

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Thanks Rachel .Yea,I admit the lime green tree was supposed to be more to the left closer and I had another shot was not as sharp . Man I want a 50D and think they will go more down in price with the 7D.
Oh, that is not mist but barren land with dead trees and that is somewhat why I was limited with my comp as there were patches of trees with brillant color.

Don Ferguson Jr. Graveyard Fields​

Asher, interesting what you say about the comp and I appreciate you proposing different ideas .
What you think of this new picture ? I love the dip This is Graveyard Fields a different location.

Don

 

[Asher Kelman]

Yea,I admit the lime green tree was supposed to be more to the left closer and I had another shot was not as sharp . Man I want a 50D and think they will go more down in price with the 7D.

Get a used 5D! For your images you want the widest view possible!

Don Ferguson Jr. Graveyard Fields​

This is so rich! I really appreciate the span of enough landscape to get the bowl effect of the hills and also the included sky. There's so much more going for this picture in terms of just detectable over laying zones of trees. This physicality, the occurrence of potential sub-zones in your image, is worth looking at. Then there's deciding whether or not they are of any worth to the building of the picture.

We do this with human figures since we know the rules of what makes for a smarty dressed man or woman. for landscape, it's a tough job to find the latent forms and to know what do do with that knowledge. Still, this picture has richness and you can make beautiful prints.

I'd consider whether or not you are O.K. with removing material that potentially conflicts with the esthetics you want to express? So ,for example, the untidy odds and ends of brush on the lower left could be removed and replace with flat ground cloned from nearby, this opening up an entrance into the picture. That or just remove the lower 1cm of the photograph so we start with rich full rounded forms on the right and get rid of tattered naked twigs.

Good job!

Asher

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Thanks Asher . Is the top left too dark ? Not sure exactly where you mean about the bottom left ?

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi Don,

That you will look at, but it's not my concern as much as looking at the lower edge. Whenever there's detailed information, the eye is likely to stop. Now is that what you want where the little twigs encroach on the left edge. The rich foliage appears just 1 cm higher, so losing the current edge gives a better lower border.

Just cropping, lightening the darkest areas you point out and adding a contrast curve and selective sharpening will yield a nice print. My wondering was how the different clumps of trees were situated in overlapping groupings and whether this might be useful to further develop. For example, on the upper left there are lines of trees going up diagonally from left to right. So look at this and ask what is the anatomy of your image? I do not yet know, except that the scene has lots of beauty, but I raised that as an area you might enjoy exploring. I'm not saying one should exploit or develop difference you find, but at least studying what you have and breaking it down into subunits is a good exercise for the brain.

Asher

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

Are you talking about cropping all the way up to the base of the green tree in middle ?

Where are you talking about selective sharpening the bottom half of picture ? I admit this pp is new to me
Asher is this the crop you are talking about ?
Don

Don Ferguson Jr. Graveyard Fields​