Sepia Branches

[Marko]

Took this shot yesterday at Boucherville National Park not far from Montreal.

All comments/critique appreciated - Thx! marko

[Marko]

No comments

Lookin' for input here, feel free to be brutal.

[Greg_Nuspel]

Marko, I'm lost in it. I like many features like the curving lines, but I am finding it too busy so I don't see a focus.

[Mad Aussie]

Brutal ... I can do 'Brutal'

First I can see what attracted your eye. Those curvy branches are certainly an oddity.

The snow looks to be blown out a bit here and there ... but tough to get it right though with the dark branches.

I agree that the shot looks messy with all that grass in the way ... obviously cloning isn't an option here.

I think a much lower perspective/ camera angle might have worked better here by shooting through the grasses and using a wide aperture to blur the foreground grasses more. I realise though that you were limited in this choice as the lower you go the more the curvy branches are lost in the background of trees.
Maybe a totally different position could have isolated them again a lighter background? Maybe not if there was a road or building etc behind you.

In the end, if the big curvy branch was your main subject here then perhaps getting in closer and featuring that branch more might have been the trick? Some selective blurring might have worked as well to achieve this.

That's all I have right now

[Marko]

Cool thanks guys - Mostly just wanted to know if it appeals.
The exposure was good here, I tried to really print the snow light with hints of texture and almost render this as i would have done in the darkroom toned in sepia. I liked the effect the grasses had on my eye with the branches. But I can see how it feels a bit busy tho...

Thx all - Marko

[MoinMoin]

Good morning Marko,

sorry - my times are a little different as yours for commenting ;-).

Here I have the same problem like Greg with the focus. The main attraction for my eye is the branch with this many curves likes a snake - but it's nearly lost among the other branches.

[AntZ]

I like the lower section of snow, grass and branches. The top section is kind of messy. I don't mind the foreground grass because its all so random. The curvy branches are cool.

[edG]

I like the curved branches and the sepia, but as stated by others there are other elements distracting my attention. If a different pov produced a "tortured path" to follow down the length of the twisted branch - it would have great impact in my minds eye.

[Marko]

Thanks everyone! I think this one is my own fault...I got lazy and felt the cold.....I had an ultrawide with me but didn't use it even tho i wanted to

[Sephibox]

I really like the idea and also agree with what has already been said.

I noticed, that automatically I squint my eyes when looking at the snow part of it, probably because of the high contrast between the white snow and the black branches. On the other hand, I can't really distinguish the branches from the black background on the top lefthand side.

I'm no expert at flash at all, but I wonder if a bit of flash, could have helped, to give the branches some highlights to stand out more.