March Challenge is a Tree or Trees-Post Here

[fishinchicks]

I'm not sure if this is cheating or not, either. I thought it was an effective use of shrubbery in this monument. This was taken at the Korean War Memorial in Washingtion DC on March 8th. The shrubs and trees were planted to simulate the conditions of the rice paddys and terrain in Korea. There are rows of shiny granite in between the rows of shrubs to make it look like water in the rice paddys. This is my favorite memorial to view on the night tours.

[mmeyer]

No critique from me Jonny. I like it a lot!! I think the sepia looks great on it.

Fishin Chicks, That might be cheatin just a little but it is a very nice shot and I like the explanation about the shrubbery.

[dockothebay]

Nice image Jonny - I love the sepia tone and they way you captured the shadows on the road, it has a really nice dimensional look IMO.

Fishinchicks - nice picture, I'll bet it's spectacular at night!

[finnbay]

More great pix! Yak, nice and peacefull. Dkhunt, crow-trees are fair game. Jonny, very nice - like the mood with the light and the sepia. Fishnchicks - all's fair in love and war! Well done, all!

[mmeyer]

Yakfisher,

I missed yours, sorry. i like the reflections in the creek. As Ken said, it looks very peaceful. Nicely done!

[MN Shutterbug]

There have some really neat trees posted here, along with cool branches and broken chunks. It's been quite entertaining. I'll admit, I didn't actually go on the hunt for trees. Pretty trees are in short supply, in this neck of the woods. I ran across this tree, while avoiding my in-laws on Easter Sunday. I think the tree has character, but my wife thinks it's plain. I was going to post a closer up shot, but I like the partial fence included in the foreground. It helps cement the idea that this is agricultural land with one tree left to oversee the fields. If you think it's ugly or boring, don't hold back. I won't feel insulted. Trees aren't really my forte.

[mmeyer]

X, I really like it. I wish it was a little smaller though so I could see it all without scrolling up and down. Also it has a blue cast to it, but, for not being your forte, you picked a very interesting subject and I like the fence in the foreground also.

Nice work!!

[MN Shutterbug]

Mmeyer, thanks. Regarding the blue cast, my fault. I increased the saturation for just the blue channel, to bring out a bit more blue in the sky, and I guess it affected the whole picture. Duh. I should have just isolated the sky. It's just my lazy way of doing things sometimes. I'm going to repost the photo a bit smaller, but not change anything else. That way, everyone will understand what you mean by blue cast.

[Steve Foss]

fishinchicks, you're not cheating at all. The theme was a tree or trees, and that theme runs through your image. And we said right at the beginning to use imagination. I view these themes loosely, and really enjoy it when someone thinks outside the "tree."

I was looking around pretty hard for a sign at a greenhouse/nursery that said "trees," so I could take a cool pic of that sign and use it for this challenge. Alas, none of the nurseries I've seen this month had such a sign. I also started looking very closely at wooden fence posts, which all were trees in their former lives and still show their grain and knots. Then I started looking for signs that have renderings of trees on them, but came across the image below before I could find a cool sign.

Is it the breast feathers of a screech owl, or it is tree bark?

Considering the title of the thread and the monthly challenge theme, I guess you know the answer, but I as standing outside staring at this bark today and realizing how well camouflaged a screech owl usually is against tree bark.

[finnbay]

Well done, Steve! Like it in b/w.

[Steve Foss]

Ken, believe it or not it isn't B&W. There's just not even a smidge of color that I can see in it.

[finnbay]

Wow, I was there and I wouldn't have believed it! Well done!

[DonBo]

This is my first post on this forum. Am just an amateur with a point and shoot Sony DSC-H2. Really enjoy looking at the pros photos here.

This was taken in B&W. Not sure now that was my best option but here's what I got.

Suggest away...

[Steve Foss]

DonBo, I really like the composition. The sharp dark lines of the branches, and the way the snow clinging to them is a different tone than the background, is cool.

The meter in your camera calculates the best exposure. But the camera meter, when taking in a scene, tries to meter for the middle. That means if you take a picture of a scene that's mostly white, the meter will expose it so it's a mid-range gray, and it will look underexposed, like this image does. Same holds true if the scene is largely very dark. The meter will expose it to be mid gray, and it will be overexposed.

Not really much you can do about that when taking the photo, DonBo, unless you want to learn about the histogram and use the camera's manual settings to spoof the meter into rendering a white snowy scene as white instead of gray. Those are things that can easily be done, but it's up to each person whether it's worth their effort or not.

Meanwhile, if you have any software at all for working on digital images, all you have to do is brighten this a bit and it will look whiter.

It's a neat photograph.

[finnbay]

DonBo - I like how it's put together. A little brightening and it would be great!

Ex - missed your shot earlier. I like it. The offset trees make for a good composition.

[DonBo]

Thaks for the advice guys. I tried to lighten it with the bit of editing possible in Photobucket but, to me, it mostly just washed it out. What do you think if I would have used a muted flash to brighten just the closer parts?

[Steve Foss]

Flashing the foreground, even with not too strong a flash, would have caused a darker background. Not that it would necessarily been a bad thing, just different.

[mountaindew]

Hey guys.

Sorry I haven't been around. Was away from my computer most of the time.

Looks like quite a few people posted their pictures pretty fast in a couple of days!

Let's see if I got all the people here...

dukhnt - No cheating. Looks pretty cool actually. All kinds of branches and blue sky, and a sharp lookin' crow on it. That's a good picture!

jonny_redhorse - Wow. That looks very nice. I really liked the sepia color of it. Tall trees, snow and clounds behind it. That looks just great! Nice job!

fishinchicks - Not sure about the pic for the challenge. BUT I really liked that shot!

X-tackleman - I like it. Don't want to insult or anything like that. I wanted to share an idea with you. See if you can take another shot of the whole tree there. Maybe get on the ground and try to capture the whole tree..? I can see it's got some cool colors on the wood. And the bark's all off. Would have looked pretty cool if increased the saturation on the tree that would bring out the colors deeply with the blue sky along with a hill behind the tree. Cool shot though.

stfcatfish - That's an AMAZING shot! I love it. I really liked the deep looks of the bark. Thick and wide. Wow. What kind of a tree is this? Old big white ash tree?

DonBo - Very nice picture! Amazing how thick snow would do on the branch, bringing the tiny branches down by the weight of the snow. Very cool! As stfcatfish said about the exposure..looks like it need more? If you have photoshop, try to highlight/shadow and see if you can tune it in? Very nice job taking that shot!

Hope I got everybody. Great job you all! I love this challenge. It's tough challenge I know, but it brings the best out of all of you! We all learn from this, by communicating with others here. I know I learned a great deal from this.

Great Job everyone!

[All Outdoors]

Trees.....

Some vertical, some horizontal.

[Steve Foss]

Hey A.O., welcome to HSO/FM. Great to have you here. And nice photograph of trees in several forms!

[finnbay]

I like it!

[mountaindew]

All Outdoors - Welcome!!

Trees, trees, and more trees! Nice photo of the cabin with trees surrounding it. Like the choice of b/w!

[DonBo]

Nice photo. What a cool old cabin. There are several that are similar along the upper St. Croix River near where I hunt. Makes me want to get back up there!

[mmeyer]

Hey All Outdoors, Welcome!

That's a very cool photo. It looks like a cabin I saw in Yosemite park. Is that where it's from?

Thanks for sharing

[hendenhook]

This one will have to do if I am going to get in this month. I have been looking for a lone fully branched out tree as I travel around and this is the best I have found this month. A challenge it is - not as easy as you would think. This tree is in Lake City over looking Lake Pepin.