Muir Woods - Looking Up

bradtroyphotography

While visiting Muir Woods outside of San Francisco, it's natural to look up. The long lines of the trees draw the eyes upward. Looking straight up in a few places provided a great view of the redwood trees. The shot below is an HDR image that I really like because of the abstract nature of the upper branches that remind me a bit of electricity.

Doug Solis

Beautiful shot.

kdog

Good composition, but the processing is flat and the sky is all blown out.

senorjax

Flat is the new real. Some folks aren't happy until they jack their colors and contrast up to 11. If they want to do that with their own photos, fine, have fun. But I can tell you that everything under the redwood canopy is a little soft and muted. Earthy, dusty olive,tan and gold tones predominate. It's extraordinary in real life and this shot is a faithful representation. I wouldn't make it even the slightest bit less realistic.

bradtroyphotography

Doug - Thanks for the compliment.
Kdog - I get your point, but I do like it with a bit less color and the blown out sky. It makes the image more dreamlike to me.
Senorjax - I agree that it is a fairly accurate representation and I apprecaite your thoughts as well.

Different folks. Different thoughts. That's why we post here, right?

ian408

I guess I'd like to see a little lower contrast in the sky. But you said "dreamy" and when the canopy melts into the sky like that, dreamy is what you get.