Forest Sky

clicknick · 24th July 2005

Hi, this is my second post in critique corner.

Story behind this photo:
I was shooting in SBG yesterday, and was walking along a heavily wooded path, big tall trees lining both sides of the path, causing the surrounding to be quite dark. Then I looked straight up through the trees and saw that these particular trees have very interesting leaves pattern that looks like flowers. I also notice through the trees that it's a beautiful day, blue sky and white clouds. So I decided to shoot straight up to the sky throught the leaves, hoping to capture the nice pattern of the leaves and branches, with the sky/cloud as the background. I also decided to convert to sepia, to give it a traditional chinese inkbrush painting feel.

Let me know if this works for u and how I can improve. Thanks.

zaren · 25th July 2005

i'm afraid this photo lacks a clear subject and focal point. while the trees and leaves form an interesting frame, there is just too much empty white space in the centre of the pic. one suggestion would be to wait for a bird flying overhead to fill that empty space between the trees, to give the photo a stronger subject.

mattlock · 25th July 2005

I quite like the emptiness.
the forms are pretty, but the white is almost too strong and contrasty I think. perhaps adjusting the highlights to something more muted would help it

eikin · 25th July 2005

Originally Posted by clicknick

I was shooting in SBG yesterday, and was walking along a heavily wooded path, big tall trees lining both sides of the path, causing the surrounding to be quite dark. Then I looked straight up through the trees and saw that these particular trees have very interesting leaves pattern that looks like flowers. I also notice through the trees that it's a beautiful day, blue sky and white clouds. So I decided to shoot straight up to the sky throught the leaves, hoping to capture the nice pattern of the leaves and branches, with the sky/cloud as the background. I also decided to convert to sepia, to give it a traditional chinese inkbrush painting feel.

interesting idea, can develop further. do many of these shots, see what you get. if you interested, watch Kurosawa's Rashomon (1950, black and white film) and study the way he plays with light and shadow.

ziedrich · 25th July 2005

i find it quite lovely, the soft effect and the relationship between the trees and sky. the emptiness is quite appropriate here ("works" for me too). feels quite dreamy.

reminds me of romance of the 3 kingdoms, 3 influences fighting for unity of the land

clicknick · 25th July 2005

Thanks all for all the comments, appreciate it.

I took about 10 shots, slightly different composition, some showing more of the branches on the left and some of the right branches. I chose to post this shot because it seems to strike a balance between the top & bottom left and top right branches and the sky, and giving more room and "emptiness" in the middle for the clouds, looks less claustrophobic. I also did not include any extra subjects like birds to keep it simple.

I guess to me the branches represents beauty in a random chaotic manner, and the clouds gives me a soft serene feeling that contrast the branches, so I try not to let one overwhelm the other, sounds very zen huh?

Mattlock, I am not very good with PS, so will try to see how to adjust highlights to see if it helps.

ziedrich, 3 kingdoms is an interesting interpretation. I guess pictures like this, without clear focus subjects, allows the viewer to have their own connection to the pic and their own interpretation. So I guess the top left must be Liu Bei?

ccube78 · 25th July 2005

Interesting concept of the chinese painting, it indeed reminds me of that. Sepia seems to be a good choice too.

The picture can be more compact, there's too much empty space in the middle. Maybe capturing one 1 main branch, and 1 secondary one will do. Have some sky, but not too much, the focus is on the branches.

clicknick · 25th July 2005

Was thinking alot about the comments and about the space, and decided to look through my other shots. Anyway, here's a link to another similar one shown in portrait, for comparison.

http://forums.clubsnap.org/showthread.php?t=142937

24th July 2005	#1
clicknick Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Hougang Posts: 1,403	Forest Sky Hi, this is my second post in critique corner. Story behind this photo: I was shooting in SBG yesterday, and was walking along a heavily wooded path, big tall trees lining both sides of the path, causing the surrounding to be quite dark. Then I looked straight up through the trees and saw that these particular trees have very interesting leaves pattern that looks like flowers. I also notice through the trees that it's a beautiful day, blue sky and white clouds. So I decided to shoot straight up to the sky throught the leaves, hoping to capture the nice pattern of the leaves and branches, with the sky/cloud as the background. I also decided to convert to sepia, to give it a traditional chinese inkbrush painting feel. Let me know if this works for u and how I can improve. Thanks.

25th July 2005	#5
ziedrich Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 294	i find it quite lovely, the soft effect and the relationship between the trees and sky. the emptiness is quite appropriate here ("works" for me too). feels quite dreamy. reminds me of romance of the 3 kingdoms, 3 influences fighting for unity of the land __________________ rainmuse.com rainmuse.com/fs

25th July 2005	#7
ccube78 Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 84	Interesting concept of the chinese painting, it indeed reminds me of that. Sepia seems to be a good choice too. The picture can be more compact, there's too much empty space in the middle. Maybe capturing one 1 main branch, and 1 secondary one will do. Have some sky, but not too much, the focus is on the branches. __________________ http://changcaiphotography.blogspot.com

25th July 2005	#2
zaren Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 7,713	i'm afraid this photo lacks a clear subject and focal point. while the trees and leaves form an interesting frame, there is just too much empty white space in the centre of the pic. one suggestion would be to wait for a bird flying overhead to fill that empty space between the trees, to give the photo a stronger subject.

25th July 2005	#3
mattlock Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 1,733	I quite like the emptiness. the forms are pretty, but the white is almost too strong and contrasty I think. perhaps adjusting the highlights to something more muted would help it