Bonsai!

[jamesmck]

The bonsai collection at the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, offers many good photo ops.  On a recent trip there, one specimen attracted my attention.  A shot of the full tree is shown in the thumbnail below.



I wanted to capture a detail of part of the curved trunk, its gnarled and aged character, to be contrasted with the green of the 'living' growth (of course, even the trunk is alive).  I also wanted a pleasing and flowing image.  My attempt is below.  I would appreciate comments about how well I may have succeeded, and suggestions about what might have been done better.  BTW, this is a full-frame shot, not a crop. [Panasonic Lumix g1, 14-45mm kit lens]

[rgeorge911]

James,

The first improvement that I can suggest is increasing the exposure a little, and making sure that the texture of the wall behind is not in focus. 

I like the diagonal of the trunk.  I wonder if you couldn't have shot it more from straight on, making the green the primary shape in the top left, and cropping the trunk to go directly into the bottom right corner.

Reed

[rgeorge911]

Here's a quick approximation - cropped, applied a Gaussian blur to background, brightened exposure.

As I mentioned, I think shooting more straight-on may have framed it better.

These were quick adjustment in PS Elements.  I didn't apply the blur carefully, quickly cloned out some elements in corner, etc.  Not polished, just an idea.


Bonsai_JM_ModRG by reed_flickr, on Flickr


Whattya think?

Actually, I would crop it more at the top, now that I look again.  I'd want green all the way across the top.

Reed

[rgeorge911]

More like this, actually:


Not my image by reed_flickr, on Flickr


Your thoughts?

Reed

[rgeorge911]

Or maybe even this:


Not My Image by reed_flickr, on Flickr


And with that, I'm going to sleep...

Reed

[jamesmck]

Thanks, Reed.  You're absolutely right about getting that background texture OOF.  I'd like to do this the old-fashioned way rather than in PS.  But, getting all the trunk and foliage in focus with the close-by background OOF is going to take some thought and experimentation.  I will return to this tree!

And, again, you are right about a more frontal approach.  All your crops are based on the full-tree shot (which was more frontal), and I can see that this is more flattering to the tree-trunk lines.  Of your crops, I prefer Bonsai_JM_ModRG.  The other two cut out too much green for my taste.

Thanks for the thoughtful and helpful suggestions.

Future Scenario:
   She: Where you going, James?
   Me: To the Arboretum
   She: What for?
   Me: Well, there's this bonsai tree.......

[Dennis Gallus]

James,

I've jumped from your picture to the "reply" button without reading any of the replies that have already been added.

You have succeeded in capturing the gnarled character of the trunk and contrasting it with the more alive-looking foliage.  I like the texture of the bark a great deal.  You have used sufficient DOF to capture detail.  The image sort of flows from lower right to upper left.

My eye wanders a bit looking for a central subject, which of course there isn't.  That's the tough part about the assignment you have given yourself.  To bound the area over which the eye wanders, I would crop the right edge of the frame to eliminate the empty white corner at lower right.  I would also crop the top to eliminate some of the darker foliage.  I would keep the same ratio of width to height in doing the cropping.

If I did any more photo-shopping, I might try to accentuate the green hues in the foliage a bit, although I don't know if this would add anything.

That's all I can think of to say, except "good effort, nice work".

Now to see what the other comments have been....

Dennis

[jamesmck]

Thanks, Dennis.  You are right about the space at the lower-right corner.  It's funny, but I have been staring at a matted print of this shot, and the mat just about eliminates that space, and this is much better.  I would resist cropping the top very much, as it seems to throw off the balance between trunk and foliage.

In looking at other shots from the same day, there's one that approximates some of your and Reed's suggestions.  It is more frontal, the background is more muted, and there's no pesky space in the corner.  But, I like that little prong on the trunk in the first one (and I don't care for that OOF piece of close foliage in the one below).  See what you think.  I clearly have some reshooting to do on this one.  Fortunately, the subject is a patient one!

[Dennis Gallus]

James,

I like this second shot much more.  The steeper angle of the tree trunk adds more drama (or at least to me it does).  In addition, there is much less white space in the overall composition, so my eye wanders less. 

You are fortunate to have such a patient subject!

Dennis

[jamesmck]

Well, Dennis, the more I look at that second shot, the more I like it.  Here they are together.  Thanks to you and Reed.

[radiophoto]

James, you and your regular cohorts have pretty much made every possible comment on your bonsai.  Personally, let me add only that I love the contrasting texture of the trunk with the leaves.  Even if I had not known it was a bonsai (!), I would have sensed a Japanese flavor in your close-up.  I do like the way it eventually got cropped, where the trunk meets the lower right corner.

If you have trouble getting the stucco OOF, move the tree to a more convenient place.  If you can't move it because it's actually planted in the ground, come back at night with a chain saw, when nobody's looking. 

Next project: same tree in black & white!

[jamesmck]

Thanks, Pete.  I'm sure I'd be arrested if I tried to move that tree -- it's a few centuries old.  Just to be clear, the two shots I posted (those in the twin photo) are both full frame, no cropping other than in the viewfinder.  I've got to get back there.

James

[radiophoto]

My mistake -- by the time I saw your twin photos I'd lost track of what had and hadn't been cropped.