Lonely Tree........Lighting Effect..

[LarryD]

This tree up the mountain looked interesting... It took 200mm to be able to reach it, but the initial cut looked flat and uninspiring..

I thought I could bring some high-lighting on the primary subject to bring this otherwise bland shot to life without resorting to radical cropping:

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa67/LD_album/Nature/Red%20Rock%20Canyon/WildTree.jpg

[ArvThePie]

Hi Larry
Nice picture!
Love the blue sky (is this untouched/original), this sets of the forground nicely.



However im brand new to this and have no idea on how to take a photo like yours, But i can't speak through experience, only through what i see and like .;)

Arv.

[LarryD]

Thanks for the kind words Arv.

There is only a bit of contrast added, and, of course, the highlight lighting..

The original was shot in RAW using a 30D, 70-200 2.8L @f5.6 and 200mm, 1/800s. Light was bright sun from behind my back at 11:00am.

Here it is, downloaded straight from RAW as a jpg for Photobucket:

http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa67/LD_album/Nature/Red%20Rock%20Canyon/WildTree2.jpg

[Bill Boehme]

I think that does make it more interesting, but the spotlight is a bit too "tight" on the subject. Also, I think that it would help if the effect were reduced considerable where the ground is the background. Where the sky is in the background, broaden the light and make the transition to the darker sky more gradual. Where the image has been darkened, the contrast looks a bit flat. Instead, I think that I would create an adjustment layer and use the Shadow/Highlight adjustment so that it maintains good contrast.