Confusing tree photos

[Hamish Gill]

I mention to Brian Moore a while ago that I often dont like trees in black and white photos ... I counldnt really justify it ...
I decided to challenge my preconceptions and try and take a lot of tree photos in black and white (more coming) these are the ones that I took with it in mind to really push the limits of what I like and dont like ...
and funnily enough im not sure if i like them
I would really like to know what others think of them!

Ilford delta 100 processed in ilfosol 3

 

[Dan Cattermole]

Pretty good to be fair Hammer!
I like the reflections in number 2, very nice and sharp!
Trees can be a difficult one.... Even in colour. IMO it has to have some things appealing to the shot.
Many can take shots of a tree/trees and keep the composition safe. Relflections, ageing, condition, motion, location, season, and many many other characteristics can have a different impact to the intentional compositional purpose of the picture, and even more so in B&W. Trees are around us all the time, and by making a tree shot delightful is getting some what difficult these days regardless of B&W. It is a difficult one.
What does everyone else think??

 

[adrian jordin]

The problem, IMO, lies with the fact that you can easily end up with no obvious focal point for the image, so your eye just wanders aound the picture and finds nothing to really latch on to.

#2 works as the steam leads the eye into the frame and gives some structure.
#3 doesn't have anything that really stands out, even the big tree doesn't help much (IMO)

 

[Milan Vjestica]

Hamish,

The second is the pick of the three. Personally I find they are all too cluttered, the second getting the clutter from the reflections. I have seen some good photographs of trees in B&W. Unfortunately none by me! That puts my opinion in it's place!

I do like colour with trees though as they often have a great colour spectrum which when combined with the texture can make a very appealing image. Here is one for you with a lot of colour and texture.

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I think it is an aptly named Red Bloodwood (Syzygium crebrinerve). The bleeding is caused by injury or as a protection against Termite damage.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Tress can be berry interesting either when dominating an image or when captured as part of a larger composition. But I think the three images are to "busy" to really catch my eye. The second one might be cropped some to make it best but in general I feel there is just too much going on in these samples.

 

[Hamish Gill]

I tend to agree!
my problem for ages was that I struggling to cope with trees in ANY black and white photos find them busy and distracting ...
To the point that I picked up on it in one of Brians photos, my comment was shot down as if i was being a mad person ... fairly i think ... so i thought i would try and remedy it by seeing if i could take some photos of trees that i was comfortable with ...
these
http://www.realphotographersforum.com/landscape-architecture/3765-powick-mill.html
[URL="http://www.realphotographersforum.com/landscape-architecture/3766-sun-through-trees.html"]http://www.realphotographersforum.com/landscape-architecture/3766-sun-through-trees.html
[URL="http://www.realphotographersforum.com/landscape-architecture/3740-fort-royal-hill-panf.html"]http://www.realphotographersforum.com/landscape-architecture/3740-fort-royal-hill-panf.html
[/URL][/URL]were all part of that

this thread was the extreme end of that mission I suppose ... Im actually quite comfortable with these, more so than I expected to be ... but im not sure they are really any good ... the upshot is that i suppose i am now more comfortable with back and white trees as i have found a way to pp them that sits well with me!

Cheers for the comments though!

Milan, did you see Petes cut down tree texture shots, similar red coloured wood ... i cant find them as i cant remember what they were called but hopefully if pete sees this he will link!

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Ralph - good description - busy.

Maybe the old saying 'can't see the wood for the trees' applies - if you backed up, and shot from a more distant viewpoint, you'd see the trees in context in their landscape?

 

[Hamish Gill]

like this ...

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Exact-tree!