Critique Black and white tree.

Michael Batten

Michael Batten

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Good evening, I was revisiting some old photos and came across this. This was after I'd been reading the Ansel Adams 400 Photographs book.

As always comments good or bad are more than welcome.

Thanks for stopping by.

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nice shot, how was the original in colour?

Personally i would prefer more contrast but i think thats because i like the moody black and white shots. Think you've got a good balance on the blacks of the tree in its current state. How would you rate the book incidentally?
 
The colour was ok nothing special.

The books fantastic, if you like Ansel Adams you'll love it, very inspirational.
 
I love trees. We are surrounded by trees, not enough of them in my opinion. I think this is an Oak tree and a really good example of one.

Ideally i would like to see a less cluttered horizon but the decent subject and composition does look a bit 'processed' ie a silver efex filter.
 
I also think you need a tad more contrast, but only a little bit. I'd like to see that bird on the LHS cloned out as well as it's too small and looks like a distracting speck lol. Overall great shot though, I especially like the texture of the clouds.

I might have to have a look at this book you mention :D
 
Carl Hall said:
I also think you need a tad more contrast, but only a little bit. I'd like to see that bird on the LHS cloned out as well as it's too small and looks like a distracting speck lol. Overall great shot though, I especially like the texture of the clouds.

I might have to have a look at this book you mention :D
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The general consensus is that it needs more contrast so I will give that a go tonight.

I know what you mean about the bird but I considered at the time that it's in its natural environment so I kept it. Perhaps I'll clone that out and see what happens.

Thanks all for your comments.
 
Michael Batten said:
The general consensus is that it needs more contrast so I will give that a go tonight.

I know what you mean about the bird but I considered at the time that it's in its natural environment so I kept it. Perhaps I'll clone that out and see what happens.

Thanks all for your comments.
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It's not a major distraction, but it was the first thing that caught my eye. I think a bird would work in this scene if it was a bit bigger and closer to the tree, or if there was a flock of them. It's got the traditional "V" shape but I think it's a bit small to work. If you want to keep the shot "real" then you could always crop the bird out which would also remove the edge of the dark tree that's poking out of the side and make it feel more balanced.
 
Carl Hall said:
It's not a major distraction, but it was the first thing that caught my eye. I think a bird would work in this scene if it was a bit bigger and closer to the tree, or if there was a flock of them. It's got the traditional "V" shape but I think it's a bit small to work. If you want to keep the shot "real" then you could always crop the bird out which would also remove the edge of the dark tree that's poking out of the side and make it feel more balanced.
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Funny you should say, this morning when I looked at the picture I thought why have I left that tree/bush on the left hand side! Thanks for your comments.
 
The trees right and left may seem a little awkward but they actually perform a vital function in the picture, giving it a certain spatial dynamic. Strip them out and the image becomes more boring, too simple, more like a specimen shot of the oak.
 
It's a great looking tree, and a damned handy fence!
However, given the title, the first though when I opened the thread was....well it's not Black & White....it's grey.
There isn't a great deal of range in the tones.
Toby's right though...this tree should be visited often.
 
viv1969 said:
It's a great looking tree, and a damned handy fence!
However, given the title, the first though when I opened the thread was....well it's not Black & White....it's grey.
There isn't a great deal of range in the tones.
Toby's right though...this tree should be visited often.
Click to expand...

I agree with Ruth ... you needed a greater tonal spread.

how did you do the B&W conversion ? This has the look of a shot thats been desatuared ? if so you might want to try gradient map , or possibly plauying with the colour chanels before B&W conversion.

It would be interesting to see this subject with an IR filter as well
 
There appears to be so much detail in there just waiting to burst out, --a little PP work and you have a really good picture,

Geoff
 
big soft moose said:
I agree with Ruth ... you needed a greater tonal spread.

how did you do the B&W conversion ? This has the look of a shot thats been desatuared ? if so you might want to try gradient map , or possibly plauying with the colour chanels before B&W conversion.

It would be interesting to see this subject with an IR filter as well
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that this was a Silver Efex Pro 2 conversion finished off with a selenium filter hence why it's not truly back and white. Hadn't thought about an IR filter, maybe I'll try that.
 
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