Moss. Sadly, not Kate Moss.

The idea was there in my mind when I composed the shot, and pressed the shutter: stark dead tree with moss, a pattern in the distant background, chose the largest aperture to ensure it was out of focus to highlight the bleached branches... but I don't think the photo quite worked, as art anyway. Any suggestions on what else I might have done?

This is uncropped and not adjusted except for some sharpening. Shot as a JPEG. EXIF data should be embedded.




If anyone is curious, it's taken from the road to Lake Mountain, off Woods Point Road out of Marysville at the southern end of the Great Dividing Range in Australia. Altitude probably about 1,000 metres, looking west down what I think is the Taggerty River valley.

[Groundloop]

Hi Steve,

The EXIF data is showing f/9.5 at 1/250th of a second, so while your thinking was correct, you didn't open the lens up far enough. f/5.6 or even f/4.0 might have been better choices, and you'd still have plenty of flexibility as far as shutter speeds for bracketing. I don't know if it was possible, but moving closer to the tree would have helped to soften the BG as well. You wouldn't have gotten the same framing as in this shot, but it may have opened other possibilities.

Still, that's some beautiful countryside you have there. Here we have gray skies and slush everywhere.

Sigh.

[Peter Zack]

I think Groundloop's got some good points and I would suggest you try bracketing some shots more often. It can lead to some interesting results and teach you what works best for your vision.

With this shot I'd also suggest a re-cropping to move the tree a little off center and convert to B&W. I also tried to correct the light fall off in the corner.

Attachment 7318

What I like about the B&W version is the 4 layers of grey from top to bottom. I think it makes the tree stand out more.

[G M Fude]

Thanks very much for the advice, guys, much appreciated. I took the photo from a few different angles (my toes were right on the edge of a cliff!) but should have bracketed the exposures. SHould also not have been too lazy to try one with a polarizer, too. That B&W conversion works really well for the shot, Peter. The light fall off in the corners was a tad disappointing to me from my new DA 18-250 lens. Oh well.

[distorted_vision]

nice shot mate,... i have been up to lake mountain and marysville is a place where me and my family used to stay every easter break. its a beautiful spot for photos thats for sure.. any more shots mate>?