Hello, dear Ladies and Gentlemen.

I would like to ask for a critique of the photo. The photo was taken in an old forest during a walk. I tried to add plasticity and mystery. The photo has not yet been submitted for publication. What category can it be assigned to and should it be submitted for publication at all? Thank you for your time. Canon EOS 6D Mark II, CANON EF 24-105 mm f/4.0L IS II USM, 24 mm, f/9

Hello grzegorz

Thank you for sharing this forest image with us. It has wonderful details and textures and is the kind of photo I sometimes enjoy taking myself. I think the light on the log on the left is a little bright and detracts from the central mossy trunks, so I have added a vignette to try to focus more on the central area. I have also made the colours slightly richer to add to the atmosphere. As for the category, it might suit Abstract.

Good light, Elizabeth

Thank you very much for your help. You are right. I will try to improve the graphics and focus on color.

Hi and welcome see attached some dodge and burn tool work also Nik Tools Tonal contrast to add texture and contrast.

Thank you very much.

Grzegorz,

Thank you for posting the photo in Critique.  I like it a lot.  Forest floor scenes often suggest mystery and timelessness.  Your choice of dark tones and strong autumn colours works well in my opinion.  The trees were cut down long ago, but the green moss on the trunks is a hint of re-birth and new life.  

My suggestions are similar to those made by Elizabeth and Daniel above.  Darkening some of the bright areas to direct viewers' attention to the stumps that are the main subject, and lightening the shadow areas a little to show just a bit of detail.  I shifted the scene to the left by adding some space to the right side with the Content Aware Fill option of Photoshop's Crop tool, and then compressing the left by making a rectangular selection and applying 'Edit>Transform>Scale to that area.  When the Shift key is held down while transforming, the change is restricted to one dimension - width or height.  

The detail, textures, and colours are beautiful, but what I like most about the photo is the theme of forest renewal.  One hundred years hence there will be strong new trees there.  That's a long time in human terms, but a very short one for Nature. 

As an afterthought I also tried a de-saturated version.  That was done with 'Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation', setting the slider to 50%. 

Thanks again for sharing the photo with us. 

. . . . . Steven, senior critic

Thank you very much for your great help. It's good that I can count on people with so much experience.

Hello Grzegorz,

Thank you for sending your photo to this forum.

I really like the forest and its secrets. It seems that you have captured some of this forest mystery. The light is also interesting.

My proposal is different from the proposals of my colleagues, namely, for me it fits here to show this frame in black and white. In my opinion, this will allow for a stronger emphasis of this mystery. I made changes in PSCC 2024 using masks for shadows and highlights to emphasize the light more or to suppress it in some places of the frame. The effect of these changes is shown in the attached photo.

Best regards

Slawomir Kowalczyk - SC.

Thank you very much for your great help.