Trees(serial thread), Critique Please

[NorthernFocus]

Historically I've been so engrossed in seeking photos of wildlife that I haven't paid nearly enough attention to landscape photography. Which is unforgivable because where we do our boating on Prince William Sound is considered rain forest and I'm presented with awesome opportunities every time we go out there. Another reason I don't shoot as much landscape it that I find it more difficult than wildlife. But this year I'm challenging myself to do justice to the rain forest and would appreciate feedback and advice. Photos will be of trees and/or forest.

1) Rain Forest: the intent here was to capture the overall feel of the rain forest. The misty/wet world and the seemingly endless expanse.

What I found difficult:
- how to treat WB i.e. how far to "correct" WB vs. retaining the cool feeling of the scene
- how to make the mist/fog look most interesting i.e. how much tree detail to try and pull out of it
- what to do about the bottom of the frame i.e. whether to bring the scene all the way to the shoreline or not
- how much detail/sharpening to do overall

200mm, 1/400s, f5.6, ISO200

Uploaded at 1200px on the long side so please use the light box.

[Wavelength]

Very nice... if mist is thinning and thickening in quick succession, you could have taken a series and choose the right one for your taste or show for others to choose

[tbob]

Funny that you find landscapes harder than wildlife. The exact opposite for me. At least landscapes stay still! And you can move about to get a better angle.

Sharpening: In this instance I tend to only slightly sharpen the trees within the mist. And only a bit as the loss of detail is an integral part of the scene Overall sharpening makes the trees outside the mist overly sharp. and weird. I am doing less and less sharpening as time goes on, perhaps this is because with the Nikon D850 I no longer need to. But I am finding overly sharpened images a little off putting.

I would force the viewer to concentrate on the mist and trees by cropping just below the mist. No need to lecture you as I know your skills; just a point with landscapes: You have to determine what it is that attracted your attention and really hone the image to be only that.

White Balance. I would really play with the sliders to get your artistic vision In this image I think you have it right. I tend to like warmer images. However, landscape genre gives you a fair bit of latitude to be creative in interpreting the scene. This is art not science. The intent is to portray the "feeling" you want to elicit. Sometimes the camera and/or nature don't get it right.

[Geoff F]

I agree with cropping a bit from the bottom. You ideally need a bit of a 'reference point' which is clear of mist but you don't need as much as this. Maybe lose about half of the distance between the bottom edge and start of the mist?

[Donald]

Nothing to add to what my learned colleague from Dawson Creek has said.

I would emphasise the bit about the composition. What did you want the image to say/to be about? It was about the trees and the mist. In that case don't introduce another element (the shoreline). If you had wanted to say look at these trees by a lake, then, fine, that would have brought in the shoreline.

[wilgk]

As a viewer, landscape images that give me a feeling of being the one there seeing the scene, hold more appeal than those which give me an image of what you the photographer saw.

I look forward to seeing more of this wonderful country, through your images..... maybe one day we will visit, it is on the list.

[Shadowman]

I would've shot with WB set to shade just to breathe some warmth into the scene, however that would've given you the opposite of what you wanted to achieve. Nicely captured.

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks for all the replies, folks. Below is a version cropped per the suggestions. I agree with that as suggested it is a stronger composition.

Nandakumar, I did take several frames of this scene with slightly different compositions and as you pointed out by definition with different amounts of cloud/mist as it changed.

Trevor, I'm in the same boat with using less sharpening with the higher resolution Nikon bodies which lack AA filters. I've also noted that sharpening scenes like this has the effect of altering the perceived color saturation. Almost like glare on the leaves.

Geoff and Donald, thanks for the comments. The crop below was intended to simplify the image and focus attention on the mist.

Kay, one of the things that I struggle with when shooting landscapes is the mind's eye/memory that I have of the scene. I don't yet have that discipline of seeing only what the viewer sees in the image.

John, generally speaking I also tend to prefer warm scenes. I definitely alter WB to render the scene as I want it to look. That's what I struggle with. Just how far to push it one way or the other. I shoot auto WB but by the time I was done processing this one is actually pretty close to what LR would call shade, i.e.7500K. I realize even at that the trees still look cool.

[Cantab]

Dan,
I think this reworked image works well. I've seen views similar to this a couple of hours drive up the southwest coast of the Vancouver Island; you've managed to capture the essence of the scene.