lonely tree...

[gurvinder77]

Hi all,
Posting this image for c&c of esteemed members...
Wish I could get as crisp borders as Jiro!
and wish I could get as nice PP as others...
I am trying to get a hang of PP, and am using LR 3; and CS5...
This is a photo that I had clicked long time back, when I had a point-and-shoot camera, shot in jpeg; but i somehow liked this image; and so thought of processing the jpeg itself...
I would look forward for comments on composition and other suggestions...

[Donald]

Gurvinder

I have inserted your image into your post, so that it appears at a size people can see properly, rather than the thumbnail.

Have you read through the guidance 'How do I post images ...?' available from the HELP/Rules menu button above. This should help you with the final last step you need to take to get your images into your posts. If you continue to have problems, do let us know.

[gurvinder77]

Thanks Donald,
I had earlier posted photos from my album in CiC; and this time I tried to upload from my PC, so this goof up...
Anyways, thanks for your help...
Gurvinder... :-)

[Donald]

Gurvinder

I think that's a very strong candidate for a conversion to black & white.

The branches of the tree make a nice shape, but I think the colour on the ground (the grass, the flowers, etc) do not support the bleakness of the tree. I think it would work better in B & W.

I would also consider whether cloning out the telegraph poles and the wires, would strengthen the image.

[Rasbury]

I agree with Donald as it would look good as a b&w photo.Might i also suggest that you crop out the left side of the photo some so the tree is moving left to right instead of being almost centered moving to the right.

[gurvinder77]

Thanks Donald and Ron,
I had made a black and white edit, but was not sure which one to post... Have worked on it further to clone out the wires and poles (to me the clone work still shows... )...
I have cropped the image a bit, but that has made it lose its original proportions...
Would await further comments...
Thanks for your time...
Gurvinder...

[Donald]

Oh yes. That is much, much better. That, I think, is now a very atmospheric image.

[jiro]

I like this image, Gurvinder. The dried, leafless tree against a foggy day. Then there's the lonely, desolate road the leads to nowhere. You have an eye for a good subject! My first impression was that the tree is almost at the middle making it less dynamic. The house on the left does not seem to help on the theme so I would probably delete that area totally and leave the tree alone on the left side of the frame. I wish you could have shown more of the road on the right side of the frame. I would also probably clone out the pole and the pole lines.

I would certainly agree with Donald that this shot shines more if converted to black and white. This is the edit that I would like to do if this were my shot:



And this would be my final edit in black and white:



This is just my personal taste so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

[gurvinder77]

Oh yes. That is much, much better. That, I think, is now a very atmospheric image.

Thanks a lot Donald, for kind words...
It is quite encouraging to have good guidance...
I am grateful...
Gurvinder... :-)

[Rasbury]

I like this image, Gurvinder. The dried, leafless tree against a foggy day. Then there's the lonely, desolate road the leads to nowhere. You have an eye for a good subject! My first impression was that the tree is almost at the middle making it less dynamic. The house on the left does not seem to help on the theme so I would probably delete that area totally and leave the tree alone on the left side of the frame. I wish you could have shown more of the road on the right side of the frame. I would also probably clone out the pole and the pole lines.

I would certainly agree with Donald that this shot shines more if converted to black and white. This is the edit that I would like to do if this were my shot:



And this would be my final edit in black and white:



This is just my personal taste so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Good crop on the left side Willie but i would never have thought of extending the frame on the right side.Did you do that by cloning or selecting a portion of the image and moving it over?

[Geoff F]

My initial thoughts were that it needs a slight crop but I couldn't quite decide how.

Willie's version works very well for me.

[jiro]

Good crop on the left side Willie but i would never have thought of extending the frame on the right side.Did you do that by cloning or selecting a portion of the image and moving it over?

When you enlarge the image area, you are adding an empty space at the right side of the frame. What you do then is to select that empty space (transparent, actually) and then go to EDIT > FILL > Content Aware. Photoshop CS5 will then interpolate on the nearest neightboring pixels on how to "magically compute" the added details on the empty space. The content fill is not perfect so you edit it to make it look realistic by using the clone tool. Hope this helps, Ron.

[gurvinder77]

This is the edit that I would like to do if this were my shot:

This is just my personal taste so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Hi Jiro...
I am very thankful to you for your time and demonstration, and for your kind words! You have a knack of making images stand up and ask for attention...
When I saw this tree on cold January morning, the eerie atmosphere and despondency of subject was captivating. And there was pretty stark contrast with small yellow mustard flowers shining near the base of tree. I agree that this is a sad image...
Your edit has made the mood of moment quite consistent...
By the way, I did read your workflows for PS and for LR... Your demonstrations are quite helpful...
Thanks a lot, once again...
Gurvinder.... :-)

[Rasbury]

When you enlarge the image area, you are adding an empty space at the right side of the frame. What you do then is to select that empty space (transparent, actually) and then go to EDIT > FILL > Content Aware. Photoshop CS5 will then extrapolate on the nearest neightboring pixels on how to "magically compute" the added details on the empty space. The content fill is not perfect so you edit it to make it look realistic by using the clone tool. Hope this helps, Ron.

It dose help Willie.It's unfortunate that i'm using CS3 as i don't think it has content aware in it's arsenal.

[Donald]

And this would be my final edit in black and white:

I understand the thinking behind this. However, the result is to remove the building at the extreme left-hand side.

I know it is at the very edge of the image and that is not ideal. But I see it as an important element in the image. For me, it is part of the story that the image tells. So, I would not want to lose it.

[rpcrowe]

There is a lot I like about this image but one thing sort of disturbs me. I "think" that I would like this image a bit better if the road continued past the tree at the bottom of the image. I kind of feel a little left out that the road disappears into the bottom of the frame.

Of course, showing the same image to five different photographers will get you five different critiques and suggestions, all probably valid...

[gurvinder77]

.............showing the same image to five different photographers will get you five different critiques and suggestions, all probably valid...

Thanks Richard, for your views... Guess I must frame the same subject in more ways than one, so that later on one may choose the correct perspective.... this was a stationary scene, so, that would have been easy....
Gurvinder.. :-)

[gurvinder77]

I understand the thinking behind this. However, the result is to remove the building at the extreme left-hand side.

I know it is at the very edge of the image and that is not ideal. But I see it as an important element in the image. For me, it is part of the story that the image tells. So, I would not want to lose it.

Hello Donald,
I am grateful for your comments and perspective...
It helps a lot to have different opinions...
Thanks,
Gurvinder....