26: Enchanted forest

pyry

You know you have an art project when you have 100 shots all going toward a single image.

Enchanted forest




Composite of 11 frames, and officially a half a gazillion flash pops - one speedlite. I lit the path with just the bare flash on 1/128th power and 60 Hz, walking around with it. Trees at 1/2 power through a 2-foot by 2-foot softbox. I used 10-second exposures and fired the flash by hand.

The place was magical, nightingales singing everywhere, the smell of the bird cherries in full bloom floating around - and enough midnight sun to be a problem! I love early summer :lust

Edit: Version 2 with a little bit of soft focus.



Edit: Version 3, dimmer switch.

richtersl

I was JUST thinking of you today and wondering where you've been when suddenly I saw your C&C thread.

The photo is lovely! And, the lighting is A+. The only thing I'd suggest is to consider cropping the photo a bit from the bottom -- up to about where the treeline on the far right begins. Doing that seems to move the "sweet spot" to a stronger position, at least that's how it appeared when I scrolled this shot around on my screen.

Your country at this time of year is PURE magic!

pyry

richtersl wrote:

I was JUST thinking of you today and wondering where you've been when suddenly I saw your C&C thread.

Thanks I'm still here, I've just been a little bit too busy to get anything creative going on.

richtersl wrote:

The photo is lovely! And, the lighting is A+. The only thing I'd suggest is to consider cropping the photo a bit from the bottom -- up to about where the treeline on the far right begins. Doing that seems to move the "sweet spot" to a stronger position, at least that's how it appeared when I scrolled this shot around on my screen.

Your country at this time of year is PURE magic!

Thanks for the feedback! I tried a few different crops and I thought that there needs to be enough of the black foreground to give the illusion of darkness, so I went with a compromise where the edges meet the path and just miss the dim light on the left.

JAG

oooo I like!

Greensquared

I think you're really on to something here. I don't think you need all the light on the trees in the background though, as they detract from your eye following the path. I'd like to see a version with the detail of the leaves just barely visible.

DsrtVW

I am glad I am not the only running around in the dark playing with flash. I am just glad there was no around to see me do it. Sanity could have been question at 3 in the morning.
I agree with what our esteemed MC #4 winner said the focus on the path would be cool and just enough detail on the trees for reference.

divamum

Greensquared wrote:

I think you're really on to something here. I don't think you need all the light on the trees in the background though, as they detract from your eye following the path. I'd like to see a version with the detail of the leaves just barely visible.

I love it, but a little bit less light would actually increase the sense of mystery and enchantment.

So beautiful...

Katmitchell

I like it.. perhaps you can throw some curves in PS on it to bring down the light and move "in some shadows" over the trees on the right there so that as they suggested your path stands out more.. I do agree with your decision to soften it with the blur, that alteration was nice..

one more thing.. something is off for me on the composition.. it looks skewed. can you crop it on the bottom some and bring us in and straighten it out just a bit in PS? it feels a little off kilter, "however" that may just be how it looks from the large curved shadowed area you have us peering into, it may just be giving off the illusion that it is tilted.... so maybe when you tighten the frame and crop it some that will make it look balanced..

Other than that.. this is very creative and speaks well
for the title you gave it..


Kat

pyry

Thanks for the comments everyone

I'll give the less light idea a go. I was going for a location with a lot of bird cherries for a reason (think of the flowers as light sources ), but the thought of shading some more did cross my mind on the field.
That's not much more work than shutting down a layer there.

DsrtVW wrote:

I am glad I am not the only running around in the dark playing with flash. I am just glad there was no around to see me do it. Sanity could have been question at 3 in the morning.

I was seen. An older gentleman who was out listening to the birds took closer look at what I was doing, he initially thought my softbox was a parabolic microphone

KatMitchell wrote:

one more thing.. something is off for me on the composition.. it looks skewed. can you crop it on the bottom some and bring us in and straighten it out just a bit in PS? it feels a little off kilter, "however" that may just be how it looks from the large curved shadowed area you have us peering into, it may just be giving off the illusion that it is tilted.... so maybe when you tighten the frame and crop it some that will make it look balanced..

There's no straight reference anywhere there no matter what I do, the fence is wonky, the trees lean, the path isn't flat and on the right it's at a slight downhill.

pyry

When the trees glow softer, do you see the path?

divamum

Vote for the dimmer switch from here... Gah, that scene is SO beautiful.

Katmitchell

Nice, I like edit version 3.... the light flare at the end of the path on the trees leads the eye right to the path... although I do like the fact that you can see more of the blossoms on version 2 also... but if I had to choose, I would say 3 and yes, the softening of the trees helps to make the path stand out with more punch..

Nice work..

Kat

richtersl

pyry wrote:

When the trees glow softer, do you see the path?

Yep! Like the dimmer switch very much!

pyry

Thank you all for the encouraging feedback, I've entered the dim one now

I'm calling this done, I have an Old Rosie here that says so

jeffgroves

Sometimes, you have to make yourself say I'm done.
... and I think the time was right for you! Excellent job. I like all of them and it is immediately apparent that you do know light. Excellent work.

Thanks for your help and guidance today!

Tango

that last version is looking good... the path looks like a river of light...

pyry

jeffgroves wrote:

... and I think the time was right for you! Excellent job. I like all of them and it is immediately apparent that you do know light. Excellent work.

Thank you Jeff

AaronNelson wrote:

that last version is looking good... the path looks like a river of light...

Great interpretation
Thanks!