Autumn is coming

[purplehaze]

I was hiking along the Winnipeg River outside of Kenora on September 1. I fell once on the rain-slicked rocks, more or less on top of the D750 and the Tamron 24-70 mm. The lens looks a little banged up, but appears to have survived.

This is one image I have managed to process. My subject is the line of tree trunks at river's edge and the colour-changing leaves. The river in the original was very bright and distracting, so I dropped the exposure on it. I am wondering whether it looks too flat. I was inclined to keep the trunk on the left in frame to help give the picture depth, but am not sure it is doing its job. What say you?

[DanK]

Janis,

Sorry to hear about the fall, but glad that you and your equipment weathered it.

I'm afraid this image doesn't work for me. I didn't know what the subject was until I read your description. I have spent a lot of time in the Adirondacks, which looks much like this. Most of the photos I took in the woods were discards, sometimes for the same reason, that is, I ended up with images that didn't have an obvious subject. Other times, the subject was apparent, but I couldn't really capture what made it special.

I spent a little time with Carl Heilmann, who has made a very successful career photographing the Adirondacks, and I marveled at his ability to find a focal point when I really couldn't.

Dan

[Shadowman]

As you only expressed concern about the camera I assume you weren't hurt, hiking is always a bit of concern after a rain I've fallen quite a few times myself when venturing out this season. Regarding the tree as a frame, you could get away with a slight crop leaving a cms exposed, if you want to give a scene like this more depth try focusing on one of the closest trees and use wider aperture, nice effort.

[purplehaze]

Janis,

I'm afraid this image doesn't work for me. I didn't know what the subject was until I read your description.

Dan

Drat. The image was so arresting IRL, I was sure I would be able to wrest something out of it. Thanks for your honesty, Dan.

[purplehaze]

As you only expressed concern about the camera I assume you weren't hurt, hiking is always a bit of concern after a rain I've fallen quite a few times myself when venturing out this season. Regarding the tree as a frame, you could get away with a slight crop leaving a cms exposed, if you want to give a scene like this more depth try focusing on one of the closest trees and use wider aperture, nice effort.

Thanks for the tip, John.

Actually, I did hurt myself; felt the pain on my right side for a good ten days, but it has finally dissipated. My body has taken such a beating in the last 18 months, I am becoming inured to it. I was most definitely more concerned about the photography equipment.

[Geoff F]

I think there is an acceptable scene to be had here, Janis, with a little bit of work on the composition.

Maybe, I would lose that bit of tree on the left, then the branch in the top right corner is causing me distraction problems as well as making the image appear 'top heavy', so perhaps a mix of crop and clone from the top? That should concentrate on the bright foreground foliage but still with some tree base bark to add a different texture and a little apparent height to the scene.

[Shadowman]

Thanks for the tip, John.

Actually, I did hurt myself; felt the pain on my right side for a good ten days, but it has finally dissipated. My body has taken such a beating in the last 18 months, I am becoming inured to it. I was most definitely more concerned about the photography equipment.

Hi Janis,

Sorry to hear you were actually hurt.

[Manfred M]

I'm happy to read that you survived and that your gear has only superficial damage coming from the incident.

My analysis of the image is very much along the same lines of what Dan has already written. The lack subject or centre of interest is not working for me either.

I find your comment about leaving the tree on the left interesting and I understand why you might want to do that, but the light areas on the right hand side of the tree is so bright that it pulls my attention there, rather than into the rest of the image. Burning that down a bit (and some generic burning and dodging elsewhere) might be worth looking at.

[billtils]

Janis

Sorry to hear about your fall, but glad equipment unscathed and, more importantly, that you are not too badly hurt.

Dan's comments resonated with me - I have shot and dumped countless images from what were delightful days out enjoying nature, most of them associated with autumn colours and mists. It just seems so difficult to translate what the eye sees and the mind enjoys in the scenes to something that makes a good photograph.

I don't have anything to add to what the others have said about your image, other than perhaps it would have been better not to bother trying to capture the scene and simply concentrate on the patch of leaves at the base of the tree trunks (and cut out the water completely).

[mugge]

Good that you didn't hurt yourself, Janis. If I were you I'd whinge a bit. I have just had a man cold and drove my beloved mad

Keep the tree on the left for without it I don't think you'd have a good picture.

Manfred's edit of the tree is a definite improvement.
Cheers Ole

[Wavelength]

Excellent image

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Nandakumar. I think Manfred has improved it. I will see what I can do about getting of that errant limb, but I am going to have to go into Photoshop to do it (a learning opportunity for me).

I appreciate what you say, Bill. Whereas I have developed some discrimination in knowing what will and what won't make a good image, I guess I still have a lot to learn. Second, I was hiking with a group of non-photographers who were out for the physical exercise. They only paused to wait for me to catch up and so I didn't have the leisure of studying each scene that I shot. I should know better than to hike with such people (my family), but sometimes one has no choice.

[purplehaze]

If I were you I'd whinge a bit.
Cheers Ole

Thanks, Ole. Believe me, I have been whinging. I was not able to paddle this summer because my twice-radiated skin has been refusing to heal from a hospital-acquired infection. But on Wednesday, I was at a memorial for the three other members of my dragonboat team who had a recurrence of cancer last year as I did, all of them better people than me. And yesterday I learned that another member severed fingers, tendons and nerves when she picked up a saw to move it and accidentally turned it on. I hope I am done whinging for now.

[Manfred M]

I was hiking with a group of non-photographers who were out for the physical exercise. They only paused to wait for me to catch up and so I didn't have the leisure of studying each scene that I shot. I should know better than to hike with such people (my family), but sometimes one has no choice.

I find very much the same thing, even when i am with a group of photographers. We all have our shooting / composition style and we work at the rate that we do.

A few years ago my wife (who is also a fairly good photographer) and a Belgian girlfriend she had gone to school with in Brussels came to Canada to do a fall leaf tour around the Great Lakes. We generally hiked for two to four hours every day and the friend is an avid photographer. We spent a lot of time waiting for her to take her pictures. In the end she looked at her work and compared what she got with what I shot and tried to figure out why I had far fewer, but far better shots that she did. I think my answer was something along the lines of " I took one or two pictures in the same time that you took thirty".

If you ever want to feel like you are shooting too fast, watch a landscape photographer using a view camera. One of the members at one of the photo clubs I belong to does that. For him "burst mode" is taking two or three shots in an hour.

[DanK]

I've long since learned that I have to calibrate how serious I am about taking photos by whom I am with. When walking with many people, I take nothing more than a little pocket camera or no equipment at all. With some others, I can stop briefly. However, if I am going to do photography that takes substantial time, I go with other photographers, go alone, or work on photos when the others are otherwise occupied. It means missing many opportunities, unfortunately.

Fortunately, my wife is quite patient about this and doesn't mind breaks if they are not too long.

[FootLoose]

I think there is an beautiful image waiting to be liberated from this scene, Janis. The main problem is that you were not close enough. I would crop up from the bottom to about where the red area begins. Then in from the right to about where the branch intersects with the second tree from the right. Then in from the left to about where that little tree is in the background. That will leave you with what I see as the essence of the scene - the colourful plants growing amongst the red needles (?) and a background of bark and lichen. A bit of burning of the bark and dodging of the plants would help too.

The result won't be "perfect" but I think it will better focused.

[purplehaze]

Thanks, Greg.

It's a bit messy, but more to the point, I suppose.

[Wavelength]

A beautiful blend of colours....