Lost

[tbob]

Curious to see if others think this works to evoke a feeling of dread.

When I shot this I intended for it to be a study of coast rainforest and my dislike for the dense forest. I lived on the coast for ten years and hiked in this stuff. Very easy to get turned around. One time coming back from fishing on a small river I barely made it out before dark. Would have been a very scary, cold, wet night.

[Shadowman]

I can see the possibility of dreadful things occurring in those woods. Not meaning to change your style or theme but wondered if there could be some even more eerie shapes within those shadows.

[rtbaum]

It reminds me of an adventure many years ago.

It was a hot day in July. My brother and I were camped on the Little Isabella River and we decided to hike to Forest landing, an old CCC lumber camp.....about halfway between Ely and Isabella, Mn. It was as hot dusty 2 mile walk along Lake County 1 to the intersection of the forest road that lead to the old lumber camp, another mile perhaps. We made it there without incident and completed the tour.

It was when we decided to cut cross country back to camp, that things began to unravel. We were not total fools we whipped out the trusty map and compass, took a bearing and set out in a south-easterly direction. It soon became much like your image.....lots of dead falls to be climbed over, assorted bogs to be circumnavigated.....all the time, using the compass to keep a south-easterly course. We were getting wee bit concerned, as the short cut was taking twice as long as the longer road route. We were very surprised to hit the river where it should not have been! Probably saved our bacon...as we were able to follow the river to a portage trail and followed the trail out to to road.

What we had not considered was that the entire area is rather rich in iron ore which is magnetized in many spots...thereby making a compass useless jewelry , the lesson learned, don't go wondering in these woods.

[Mike Buckley]

The mood is wonderful for me. That it conveys beauty rather than fear for me is unimportant.

[NorthernFocus]

Trevor, I know the feeling. Been there, done that. The image doesn't convey the feeling for me. I have no constructive suggestions because I've tried similar shots many times without hitting on the right composition. I guess we need to ask ourselves what specifically gives that sense of dread. Then once answered, how to capture that in a two dimensional image.

I guess what bothers me in those circumstances is not being able to see the sky and/or horizon and/or distant landmarks. Therefore my natural (usually very good) sense of direction is impaired. Add a cloudy day to boot and I have virtually no sense of direction in those conditions. So for me, to convey my personal sense of dread, that would be it. A closed in world with a sense of sameness.

The only thing that makes that situation worse is to be stumbling about confused and to come across a pile of fresh bear scat...

[Wavelength]

Good; but not in the list of your superb images

[tbob]

Trevor, I know the feeling. Been there, done that. The image doesn't convey the feeling for me. I have no constructive suggestions because I've tried similar shots many times without hitting on the right composition. I guess we need to ask ourselves what specifically gives that sense of dread. Then once answered, how to capture that in a two dimensional image.

I guess what bothers me in those circumstances is not being able to see the sky and/or horizon and/or distant landmarks. Therefore my natural (usually very good) sense of direction is impaired. Add a cloudy day to boot and I have virtually no sense of direction in those conditions. So for me, to convey my personal sense of dread, that would be it. A closed in world with a sense of sameness.

The only thing that makes that situation worse is to be stumbling about confused and to come across a pile of fresh bear scat...

This may have to be project to work on. There is some old growth left north of where I took this, perhaps it might be a better subject.

A friend was doing a study on mountain goats on the coast. To get there they were dropped off with their gear on the side of an inlet and had to climb the mountain. Getting off the beach involved traversing about a mile of alder/devils club/bog. For those of you who have never seen this stuff, think of trying to get through a mile of hedge , some with spikes on the branches. The only passages were created by grizzly bears. With a visibility of only a few feet and once in no way out except back or forward. He took his thesis advisor on one trip, amazingly the next year there were funds to have a helicopter drop him off.

[IzzieK]

The mood of the shot doesn't really indicate a dreaded moment of walking through it. I've had worst traversing a road with big trees like that. We just went on and on as if to nowhere but found a little place where it was so quiet and almost feel like "home". We were there for hours and tried tried to get out for hours using many forks on the road only to come back to the same place. Then I told my husband that we won't get out of that place ever unless we put our shirts on inside out. Whether you would believe it or not, we got out of there like as if we haven't been. We saw a road that will point us out to the right direction to home. A few weeks later, we tried to find that place again and we can't, no matter how and what road we took to go back there.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I get this sense of dread whenever I'm too far from the ocean to get my bearings. Going to Kansas City this past summer was a real challenge. Thank goodness the Interstates have those big green signs telling you where you are, except when you're in the middle of no where it seems.
Nice shot Trevor, but I'd lighten up the shadows just a tad more to show a little more of what's in there, or not in there as the case may be.
Do bears go in the woods?

[bnnrcn]

A moody and nice image Trevor

[Dave Humphries]

Trying to convey an enveloping feeling of dread in a flat 2D image is probably impossible (esp. if the viewer is looking at it on a tiny mobile screen at arm's length).

It occurs to me that one possibility might be a 360 degree panorama, ideally spherical; so even looking up and down shows nothing but unpleasantness.

VR goggles is likely to be the only way to truly give the feeling though.

[dennybeall]

A smidge too dark for me - I have to search for understanding and it's too dark for me to see it quickly.

[tbob]

Trying to convey an enveloping feeling of dread in a flat 2D image is probably impossible (esp. if the viewer is looking at it on a tiny mobile screen at arm's length).

It occurs to me that one possibility might be a 360 degree panorama, ideally spherical; so even looking up and down shows nothing but unpleasantness.

VR goggles is likely to be the only way to truly give the feeling though.

Maybe try viewing it full screen, in a dark room, with the music from the shower scene in Psycho playing.

[NorthernFocus]

Or watch the bear scene in revenant several times then go for a walk about in deep rain forest.

[Jeff S]

I wondered whether darkening the photo might increase the sense of dread. I added a B&W layer (normal blending mode) with the indicated slider adjustments and slightly more than 50% opacity, and a gradient layer above it with a "soft light" blending mode (but no other adjustments) and got a darker, less colorful image which to me seemed more dreadful. The darkness gave the photo a sense that night was approaching, which made the dense forest seem pretty creepy.

Note: the online version posted here is a tad darker than the one on my computer screen in PS.

[JBW]

Curious to see if others think this works to evoke a feeling of dread.

When I shot this I intended for it to be a study of coast rainforest and my dislike for the dense forest. I lived on the coast for ten years and hiked in this stuff. Very easy to get turned around. One time coming back from fishing on a small river I barely made it out before dark. Would have been a very scary, cold, wet night.

for me 'dread' needs shadows as it lives right next door to creepy.