Unique branch!

[Lydia-B]

I was wandering around my yard the other day looking for interesting shapes and sights to photograph, and I noticed this branch on a tree in front of our house. I had never noticed it before, but I thought it was interesting because to me it looks like an elephant! So I decided to take a picture of it.
It was a little hard to compose because it’s so close to our house. These are two pictures that I took on two different days, slightly different angles. Which one is better, and why? Or do you have thoughts on better composition? The 3rd picture is just a snapshot of the tree and our house so you can see it’s surroundings and generally what I’m working with!

Camera: Nikon D3100

1st picture
Lens: 55-200mm | Focal length: 85mm | ISO: 200 | Shutterspeed: 1/320 | Aperture: f/5.6

2nd picture
Lens: 18-55mm | Focal length: 36mm | ISO: 400 | Shutterspeed: 1/160 | Aperture: f/5.6

(Focal length for 3rd picture: 18mm)

Attachments:

1. 
2. 
3. 

[Morgan Giesbrecht]

Hey @bennett-family!

Neat shots! That really DOES look like an elephant…even down to the little eyes! 😉

I favour the first shot for a few reasons…
1) The image is sharper.
2) I love the textures, contrast, lighting, and colours!
3) I find the composition of the shot more appealing.

And thanks for showing the “behind the scenes” of what you had to work with! It’s my personal opinion that the sole purpose of telephone wires and poles is to annoy photographers trying to compose an image without the poles and wires in it! 😂

Well done, Lydia!!

[Lydia-B]

We’ve lived in this house for 9 yrs, and NO one in my entire family has ever noticed this branch before! We had no clue there was an elephant right in our front yard! Haha.

Thanks for your comments, I rather favor the first one as well.

And I agree! Telephone wires are a pain! My younger brother and I were just discussing this the other day and thinking there must be a better way…. 😁

[Morgan Giesbrecht]

Haha, that’s hilarious! Now imagine your neighbour’s surprise when you tell them you have an elephant in your yard! 😁

I totally agree! In some neighbourhoods, they put the wires underground. (Great idea!) But, of course, in the most picturesque/inopportune places, there must be poles and wires…haha! 😏

[James Staddon]

This is so creative, @bennett-family! I can’t wait to bring these up to talk about them tonight during the webinar! https://www.lenspiration.com/photo-critique-with-lenspiration-july-10/

[James Staddon]

I really enjoyed critiquing your photo, @bennett-family. 🙂

Anyone in The Click, you can watch it here: https://www.lenspiration.com/video/webinar071118/

[Lydia-B]

I enjoyed listening to your critique, as well!

I plan to try to take re-take it at the most colorful point in the day possible as you suggested (which isn’t very long due to LOTS of shade in that part of the yard), fool around with different edits, and post that once I get all that done. I may enter the photo in our local Grange fair in August… I’ve entered photos there before, and though I don’t quite know what to make of the judges, I’ll see how much of a sense of humor they have! 😉

[James Staddon]

Sounds good!

[Lydia-B]

Ok, @jamesstaddon (and anyone else who wishes to comment :D), here are my “wacky edits”. What do you think? I have never edited pictures this way or this dramatically so I don’t know if I edited them “correctly” or not!

Here are two edits….

Attachments:

1. 
2. 

[Lydia-B]

And here’s a third edit. This one looks the most “cartoonish” to me.

Attachments:

1. 

[James Staddon]

I’m liking the natural edits better, actually. 🙂 The middle, greenish one is interesting, but I think you can just go back to editing the way you feel looks best. 🙂

[Lydia-B]

Ok sounds good. Thanks, @jamesstaddon!

I have to say, ever since discovering that branch, I can’t go through that part of our yard without smiling; it still strikes me funny whenever I look at it. :p

[Author]

Posts