Saman Tree

[ktuli]

I currently have a poll for these two compositions on my blog if you are interested in popping over there to vote for your favorite.

Anyway, I saw this absolutely awesome tree in St. Kitts on a land tour during my most recent dive trip. The tree is absolutely impressive - over 350 years old, 24 feet across at the base of the trunk, and the branches span over half an acre.

So I had to fight with difficult lighting conditions (late afternoon in the tropics, so incredibly bright sky with dark shadows under the tree), because I was on a dive trip and had to lug all that gear, there wasn't room for a tripod or monopod, so this was shot handheld, and then there was the simple challenge of even framing a single tree that spanned half an acre.





All C&C is greatly appreciated, and any clues on how to mitigate the challenges I faced with this shot are welcomed!

Thanks for viewing.

- Bill

[FrankMi]

Hi Bill. Your comments really help understand the image but without them, other than the bench there is little indication as to the size of the tree. Both images are very busy and don't give the eye any place to rest so the feeling is more towards tension rather than serenity. In the first, the foreground adds to the sense of depth but competes with the tree as a subject rather than complementing it.

To make a subject stand out you can often use focus/blur, contrast, brightness, or color to help differentiate it from the background. With foliage, this can be challenging but if you succeed, very rewarding.

As the only thing of significance that isn't green is the tree trunk, I think I'd start there to try to make a difference in the look of the image. Hope this helps!