Aspens in Montana

[Urbanflyer]

Processing photos from our May trip. Comments always welcome

Montana Aspen by urbanflyer, on Flickr

[Manfred M]

I'm not convinced that the large aspen in the centre of the frame is working all that well.

[DanK]

I'm not either. However, I have to say that I have failed to get good images of this sort 100% of the times I've tried. I have spent a good deal of time in forests but haven't gotten a single image of them that I was willing to put on my website.

Despite my failures, I have a large photo of quaking aspens by someone else hanging in my dining room. I can't entirely put my finger on why his worked and none of mine have, but I think it's because he captured them in a way that the pattern formed by the trunks is interesting.

[Round Tuit]

I would have to echo Manfred and Dan's comment. The large tree seems to be your main subject but yet it blends in with a very busy background. As Dan mentioned, pictures of forests are tricky to pull off. Either you need a specific point of interest that stands out in the forest or else you need to capture an overall theme that unifies the picture.

Of the hundreds of picture of forest that I have taken, this is the only one that I am reasonably happy with; yet you would probably never find it in a gallery.



P.S. Looking at it from a fresh eye, I think it helps that the foreground gradually morphs into the background.

[Geoff F]

I agree with the others. No real subject, although a very difficult scene to photograph.

Andre's image gives the impression of a path winding between the trees with a good sense of perspective, which creates a definite subject.

[tybrad]

The first image would benefit from being a black/white/high contrast image to my eyes. But even then, I feel it's too busy.

[DanK]

I went back to my website and realized I wasn't quite accurate: I should have written that I discarded ALMOST 100% of photos of groups of trees. I had forgotten two, but both where images in which there were clear patterns or leading lines.