Taken in the front yard. I find the coolest things in my yard sometimes. We had just a bit of snow and I went out and took a bunch of pictures. The first batch included this branch, but I wasn't happy with the DOF so I reset everything, put the long lens on ('cuz it creates great background bokeh) and tried again.
Actually used the flash for this to get some extra glisten. I really like how it turned out. Not expecting a great score but I am very happy with the snow, which looks like little diamonds decorating the cedar branch.
PP - converted from RAW twice, merged with HDR, cropped, cloned out some twig edges to even out the edge, increased saturation and shifted hue a little towards green, cloned a couple of hotspots to tone them down, added border, resized, sharpened with noise reduction.
Statistics
Place: 260 out of 428 Avg (all users): 5.3957 Avg (commenters): 6.0000 Avg (participants): 5.4674 Avg (non-participants): 5.2553 Views since voting: 918 Views during voting: 190 Votes: 139 Comments: 9 Favorites: 0
I can see that the best focus seems to be at the tip so pulling the composition towards more negative space would have been better..The contrast would have shown the glittery bits of ice better.. The dof causes the rest of the ice seem oof and the eye goes straight to that part rather then what should the focus.. Great find though..
I'll also echo the DOF sentiment. If the whole main branch was in focus I think it would help. Also you might try to isolate the branch and highlight it in some way (maybe even lighten it up, or burn the background bokeh. That said the composition and colors are good. I probably would have voted this a 6 as is.
This is a very interesting catch. I love how you used the green and white to pop out from your bokeh background. I think I would have liked to see a little more focus on the entire branch since it's color is prominent like the part that is in focus. This is a beautiful find!
This has such potential. I really, really like the composition and the whole concept. Brilliant that you used the flash to bump the glisten. The colors seem very accurate. I wish the DOF was a touch deeper to encompass more of the branches. i think you would still have great background bokeh, but you wouldn't feel the need to "see more of the subject". It looks a touch flat. maybe a bit more contrast or shadow/highlight to bring out a little more detail?? (What do I know.) The frame is not adding to the photograph, IMO. :) Overall, I really like this shot. It's sad that the "non'mainstream" shots don't do better here.
Beautifully composed shot and a lovely subject. I actually think you could have achieved a far superior bokeh with you 50mm 1.4 - the bokeh on this doesn't quite convince me and I reckon the DoF could be a little shallower as well. But none of that takes away from the fact it's very nicely done indeed!
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
