Fall Foliage

[FrankMi]

It was supposed to be oh, so simple. I was in New England at leaf-peeping season and every now and then, I'd get a chance to sneak off and take a shot or two. One day, when I couldn't stop as I was on my way to the airport, I saw the most fascinating tree. One side was a deep green of late summer and the other side was a brilliant red of fall.

Try as I might, I couldn't locate that tree again, or perhaps by the time I got back the colors had turned dull. Nonetheless, I took it as a queue to try to get some foliage shots when I got a chance. I finally found a tree that was bright red all over. Trying to get the shot was another situation altogether.

From the side there were telephone poles and numerous heavy cables blocking the view. Another tree blocked the view from the other side. From another angle across the street, where they had cut limbs for power lines, the tree had an awkward shape. With the sun directly behind me, the wind had flipped most of the leaves showing their dull backsides! One last hope - shoot directly into the sun and use the tree trunk to block out most of the sun's rays. Trickier than I thought.

Depending upon exposure, either the trunk was black in shadow or the sky was bright white with the leaves bleached out. In the end I had to shoot bracketed exposures and try to blend the result in post processing. Not a great compromise but better than not getting the shot at all - maybe.

In the end it was quite a challenge to get a decent image shooting directly into the sun. The result has it's obvious faults but is it worth keeping? Or, should I just wait for next year to try again?



Keep as an also ran, or toss?

[Sponge]

Definitely keep, I find it refreshing to see a backlit version of fall colors and I think you did a great job given the circumstances. Personally, I'd clone out the other trees' leaves/branches in the top right and probably even top left.

[Marie Hass]

To those questions, Frank, I think you will get as many answers as there are CiC members!!!

Keep what you have done, but earmark what you have done as a good lesson.

I also am terrible about shooting into the sun, though I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

'Rie

[Otavio]

Frank, it is not an easy task to shoot backlit subjects and still keep theis colours and textures/contasts. you have achieved this, with this really wonderful tree.

It looks a very pleasant place, by the way.

Cheers,

[Mike Buckley]

It's not an award-winner but it's definitely a keeper, if for no other reason than to remind you to go back to the area when the leaves are ablaze.

[Stagecoach]

I would keep it Frank, if only as a reminder of the colours that can be captured when the opportunity arises and as an incentive to attempt a repeat.

[FrankMi]

Definitely keep, I find it refreshing to see a backlit version of fall colors and I think you did a great job given the circumstances. Personally, I'd clone out the other trees' leaves/branches in the top right and probably even top left.

Yes, Patrick. After I posted the image I realized that there is too much sky above the subject tree and the top right and left branches accentuate the excessive height.

[Kaye Leggett]

Definately a keeper after all that effort.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[IzzieK]

A keeper, Frank...not as good as the backlit one of Binnur recently...but definitely a keeper. Shooting into the sun is not fun at all but the most beautiful shots for me are the ones that can be achieveable despite the bright sunlight...

[bnnrcn]

Hi Frank, I loved your image with those lovely colors and I think it is a very successful 'into the sun' shot and you blocked out the sun rays very well. If it was mine I would crop most of the sky , clone the leaves of other trees and I would certainly keep it

Isabel, thank you very much for the compliment. I just want to say that the shooting conditions of Frank's image and my image are really different from each other. Mine was taken in the afternoon and there were a lot of leaves around to block the sun rays. Frank shot this in really bright light conditions and the tree trunk was the only thing in hand to block the sun rays. That's why his shot is more difficult than mine and I think I wouldn't be able to shoot this tree so well

[FrankMi]

To those questions, Frank, I think you will get as many answers as there are CiC members!!!

Keep what you have done, but earmark what you have done as a good lesson.

I also am terrible about shooting into the sun, though I am drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

'Rie

Shooting into the sun does indeed have it's issues. On the other hand, it can produce a stunningly different kind of image if it can be well managed. Thank you for your comments Marie!

[FrankMi]

Frank, it is not an easy task to shoot backlit subjects and still keep theis colours and textures/contasts. you have achieved this, with this really wonderful tree.

It looks a very pleasant place, by the way.

Cheers,

Hi Otávio! In most cases when we photograph a tree, we are seeing reflected light on the leaves. I wasn't sure that the translucent light coming through the leaves would work at all but it seems to have picked up the colour quite nicely. The biggest problem was the edges of the leaves against the sky. I had to use tonemapping to get the blue sky against the red leaves. Without it I would either get blue sky and very dark, almost black leaves, or red leaves and a white (grossly overexposed) sky.

This tree was setting beside the driveway of a restaurant in rural Maine, positioned several hundred feet from the road on a huge piece of land. The grounds of the restaurant were quite appealing. Very pleasant indeed!

[John 2]

Yes, Patrick. After I posted the image I realized that there is too much sky above the subject tree and the top right and left branches accentuate the excessive height.

I agree but it's a keeper none the less Frank. The splash of colour is captivating. It's just one of those images you should have in your portfolio.

[FrankMi]

It's not an award-winner but it's definitely a keeper, if for no other reason than to remind you to go back to the area when the leaves are ablaze.

I would keep it Frank, if only as a reminder of the colours that can be captured when the opportunity arises and as an incentive to attempt a repeat.

Definately a keeper after all that effort.

Nicely captured.

Thank you Mike, Grahame, Kaye, and John for the sincere encouragement and kind words!

[FrankMi]

A keeper, Frank...not as good as the backlit one of Binnur recently...but definitely a keeper. Shooting into the sun is not fun at all but the most beautiful shots for me are the ones that can be achieveable despite the bright sunlight...

Hi Izzie! I took quite as few images of this tree while I was working the scene. As I get the chance, I'll try to see if I can get a better rendition but for the moment I think I'll sit with it for a bit and contemplate how to approach this scene differently - if that is even possible.

[bnnrcn]

IMO your shooting and PP skills made the shot look best Frank. No need to worry to make it any better I personally hesitate to shoot such scenes because I know that I can't manage it. This is a scene for experienced photographers.

Hi Izzie! I took quite as few images of this tree while I was working the scene. As I get the chance, I'll try to see if I can get a better rendition but for the moment I think I'll sit with it for a bit and contemplate how to approach this scene differently - if that is even possible.

[FrankMi]

Hi Frank, I loved your image with those lovely colors and I think it is a very successful 'into the sun' shot and you blocked out the sun rays very well. If it was mine I would crop most of the sky , clone the leaves of other trees and I would certainly keep it

Isabel, thank you very much for the compliment. I just want to say that the shooting conditions of Frank's image and my image are really different from each other. Mine was taken in the afternoon and there were a lot of leaves around to block the sun rays. Frank shot this in really bright light conditions and the tree trunk was the only thing in hand to block the sun rays. That's why his shot is more difficult than mine and I think I wouldn't be able to shoot this tree so well

IMO your shooting and PP skills made the shot look best Frank. No need to worry to make it any better I personally hesitate to shoot such scenes because I know that I can't manage it. This is a scene for experienced photographers.

Hi Binnur, I haven't seen the image of yours that Izzie is referring to but I will certainly look for it.

I really need to go back and look at some of the other captures I did of this tree. I may be able to salvage some of the shots from other viewpoints but what I'd really like to play with is some of the other images I took from this vantage point. Knowing that the basic image is worth investing some time in, I'll try, with the encouragement I got from the fine folks at CiC, to address some of the issues I see in this rendering such as the excessive sky (easy to fix) and the black spots caused by the tonemapping process (not so easy to fix!). I won't know if I can make it look better unless I try!

Thank you for your valuable feedback Binnur!

[FrankMi]

I agree but it's a keeper none the less Frank. The splash of colour is captivating. It's just one of those images you should have in your portfolio.

Your kind thoughts are very much welcomed, John!

[FrankMi]

You will likely laugh at me. The tree was so stunning in color that I really wanted to get a good capture. The more I tried working the scene, the more frustrated I got at not being able to capture the brilliance given the wind, wires (yes, I cloned them out), and shape of the tree. I wasn't the only one who had stopped that day to photograph this particular tree so I had the opportunity to compare notes with other photographers at the time. Well, I just counted and found that I had taken 92 images of this one tree!

Given that I have a couple of different shots to choose from, I took a different set and started again from scratch to try to pull a better result. I was encouraged by your feedback. This time I thought I'd include the entire tree which enabled me to go to landscape mode and minimize the excessive sky the was prevalent in the first attempt. Hopefully this image more accurately captures the essence of what I saw that day.