Same tree and vantage point as my "Single Tree" entry, which made the #3 spot on my profile page. I've actually made a bit of a project out of this tree and I've been stopping anytime I see interesting clouds and light around it. I now have a growing collection of this same tree, and all of the photos look different.
It's been a great subject for me. Besides making my 3rd highest score on this site, I've had three, now four, of these shots get explored on Flickr and one was nominated for "picture of the week" in the D/FW Metro group on Flickr.
Pre-challenge notes:
I feel a little guilty entering a shot that feels like a DPC cliche, and a rehash of a previous success. On the other hand, many others do it, and I've been photographing this tree anyway, so it makes sense to use one of them in this challenge.
I can't envision this bombing out in the low 5's. When I did my "Sepia Dawn" entry, which came in at a 6.30, one commenter suggested it would have been be better in color. I'll find out. I am geusstimating this is good for a high 5 or maybe a low 6.
[Apr. 30th, 2009 12:08:16 AM]
Wow! First voter thought it was only worth a 3, but it shot straight up after that. By mid morning the first voting day, it had passed my previous PB. Got up as far as 6.91 and has dropped into the 6.8 range now. Seems to be getting to the point where it will likely float around here for a while. I've almost certainly got a new PB here.
Post-challenge notes:
WOW! After a year and a half beating myself up in challenges, I finally did it! I was hopeful, but really expecting to not see this! Thanks to all the folks that encouraged and helped me learn what was needed to get this.
I think what did this was getting it right in the camera. I had a lot to work with, and didn't have to do an awful lot of advanced editing tricks. I also knew from experience where I could get a great shot for this challenge.
-shot in RAW, converted to TIF in Canon DPP.
-Adjusted all the usual. Levels, curves, some saturation. (Being careful not to overdo it)
-Duplicated and ran a noise reduction pass on the lower layer, erasing through so that NR layer gave me a nice smooth sky.
-Merged and then some dodge/burn on the clouds.
-Cloned out a couple of very tiny street lamps that were barely popping up over the horizon on the far left. Probably nothing that would even be noticable at 720 pixels.
-Resize and sharpen, then some selective sharpening of the edge of the tree and grass.
Statistics
Place: 2 out of 263 Avg (all users): 6.8679 Avg (commenters): 7.8333 Avg (participants): 6.5455 Avg (non-participants): 7.0519 Views since voting: 12546 Views during voting: 391 Votes: 212 Comments: 92 Favorites: 11 (view)
This is one of those images the "substance" people hate. But that's not what we're going for here. We're going for the art of color and form. You did a very good job, obviously, as reflected in the score. If I were to tweak it, I would have cloned out the brush or tree or whatever that is at the bottom of the trunk. This image is about simplicity and so detail like that is a downside, not an upside. Composition is great and you did well in your sharpening. I tend to oversharpen stuff like this and it usually looks worse.
Congratz on that well deserved red with this amazing shot. Browsed your portfolio whilst i was here and i must say i am impressed by much of your work. Some really diverse stuff in there and with varying styles and techniques.
Steve! You crazy Texan you...congrats on your ribbon!!! :) This is a beautiful shot and you've done a fantastic job on the colors! Well deserved ribbon!!
So happy to see you ribbon, Steve, and congrats on the new PB!! I love the vibrant colors, your exposure is wonderful, and how cool that you continue to image this worthy subject :-)
Wow, I didn't realize you'd just got your first ribbon, dude. 'Grats, and welcome to the club! Now get the heck out of that thread, you know the one I mean :-)
Woohoo! Congrats on your new PB and first ribbon! Don't let the cliche nature of the shot bother you. There's a reason people (not just DPCers) like shots this: it's beautiful! Just don't let the fact this one did well convince you not to try other stuff. :)
Way to go! What a perfect tree with such surreal colors. Sorry to see you leave the minor leagues and step up to play with the big boys. Your always welcome to come back and visit us ordinary non-ribbon folk. We will keep the beer cold and the pizza hot for you :) Big congratulations, very well deserved.
I didnt vote in this challenge but when i flicked through i thought yours stood out from the crowd, i would have given it a 10 and thought it was an easy first place but you can't complain with a second...congrats
I love that you decided to stay with a more natural lighting and still won a ribbon. Didn't need any fancy topaz/tonemap/over-done HDR for this! no sir!
The crack of dawn
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