Winter in the wood C&C Pls

Morrisseeee

OK, I revisited the old wood again, but its a much different place now that the leaves are all gone, the place/scenery is very sparce now (compared to the summer when you are well shielded from the elements), & the wind was blowing like mad aswell.
Anyway I took this pic of the mini-waterfall, but which one do ye prefer, the original:



or the topazed (post-processed) one:



I also topazed this one:



Personally I like the (wierd) effect (kinda...gothic) it has on the trees and water.

Mycroft H

In pic 1+2 i think the large trunk is blockin out too much of the background but thats just an amatures opinion ...... I do prefer the topaz one though

Morrisseeee

Thanks,

large trunk is blockin out too much of the background

I did that to knida frame it.

jen_23

I kind of agree but it's not the trunk top and bottom. I see what you were doing with them to frame and it's lovely but the vertical branch joining the two in the middle of the pic is kind of distracting. Otherwise it's lovely.

I love the topaz in the third one. It kind of looks like a dragon coming out of the water (that could be my strange mind though:rolleyes: ). Very nice !

Morrisseeee

Yeah, ye are both right, there's alot in the pic thats distracting, ie. all the twings and branches, but read my description (the wood now has that kinda 'broken, everything in tatters' feeling to it). I think this is conveyed in the photo.

GristlyEnd

The large trunks in the first one are soft and break up the photo. I have to say I'm not a fan of the topaz plugin. The greens look way too sharp but I do think it works on the water. There are some lovely colours in the first photo waiting to be discovered. Hope you don't mind but I did some PP on it. I'll remove it if you want.

Morrisseeee

Many thanks Darren, I tried loads of different effects on this pic, and your effort is very nice, and similar to a 'soft' version of mine, but yours has more color. Thanks again, this is the kind of feedback I'm looking for.

The large trunks in the first one are soft

Is that because they are out of focus, I was using my 50mm, probably at f2.8, ie. I was focussing at the point where the water is breaking.

GristlyEnd

I would have gone with f/8 (at least) for this to get the trunks sharp too. With f/2.8 you have a very small depth of field to play with.

Morrisseeee

Actually, it might have been f/5.6. I see what you mean, but I was trying to make the water the main point of focus, ie. if the tree trunks are in focus then they might take from the shot? I know I said I liked the topaz effect on the trees, but..but.......<gets gun, shoots myself in foot>

Mycroft H

Personally id hav shot at f8 just to hav the trunk in focus too but then again it works the way it is.......... I love the effect the topaz has on the water. Relating to the trunk framin the photo, i would hav shot the trunk in the bottom quarter of the shot at f5.6, so the bottom quarter would be out of focus and sharp on the waterfall