i saw this tree last summer, and had been wanting to get back it. this challenge gave me an excuse. granted it doesn't have the same cachet as the Eiffel Tower, or Big Ben, or the Washington Monument, but all the same, it is a landmark.
and, yeah, the sky is kind of washed out, but, hey, that's the way it looks around here at 7:30 am...whadaya expect...this ain't iceland, ya know!
post: adjusted levels, brightness/contrast, hue/saturatization, cloned out some faint power lines, and sized.
filename: 120504-IMG_7674-v2-s.jpg
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Reminds me of an Ent from the Lord of the Rings, in many ways - with the almost 'arm-like' branches.
Compositionally being a bit lower might also work, to isolate the tree more against the sky and increase the size with some perspective. You might struggle to retain the sweep of the road, but getting close to the center line might really emphasize/ dramatize that sweep along with the tree- probably then becomes a portrait orientation shot too.
Technically to my eye it looks a bit over sharpened and over saturated - there is some haloing on the horizon and around the tree branches, and the yellow/brown parts of the tree appear to be oversaturated to the point of losing some detail ? (you can see this in levels in Photoshop btw)
A good, original interpretation of Landmark, and the perfect time of day to shoot it. Very good. With advanced editing allowed, I wish you had cloned out the shadow of the power line.
Turn right or left?
The colors, composition, and lighting are pleasing. The focus seems to be a little off, and then oversharpened, but that might be from resizing & saving to web.
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