Difficult question...how do a get a similar shot

Hello everyone,

I live in WI and near my house there is a farm with a tree in their field. There is only 1 tree in a large field and there's plenty of room for me to move around it and make it look like there is nothing in the background. I want to get a dramatic shot of the tree in the field as I think it would look pretty awesome. I also want to try another rendition of the shot with my friend in the shot in a flowy dress (if anyone can imagine that shot)

This is kind of what I'm trying to get, but I don't know if this is mostly post production or how I could get the best out of doing most of it in camera. I am not that skilled at PS, but I will learn if I have to. I'm pretty good at LR though. Any tips would be great! THanks!

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/7YBS​Q8

Um...not sure what youre asking but the shot is so simple...point and shoot...what are you trying to figure out? 1/100, ISO100, f/16...then boost contrast in post.

The first photo is dodged and burned, improperly too. There is a nasty halo around the tree. The blur in the front wraps around and touches the horizon, so the DOF is faked. If I zoom in I see some nasty jaggies hovering around the leaves so I'm thinking the tree is cut out from another picture. That entire horizon line looks like it was cut out with the polygonal lasso tool, the entire thing is probably faked...sky included.

Also you need to link to the photos if they are not yours.

I guess ultimately I'm looking to get super high contrast in the sky and make it pop as well as getting a lot of detail and contrast in the tree/branches and the person. I would like an ultra sharp image out of it if I can lol. I see what you're saying about the images and I just couldn't find better images to exemplify what I want :/.

Sorry for the credit not being done correctly . I can't find them again...I'll remove them if that's proper.

In the single shot of the tree you can see by the halo around the tree itself that its either had the sky burned in during post, or the tree lightened. So its been manipulated to get more detail in both the sky and the subject.

So in LR I should apply adjustment brushes to burn, add contrast and clarity into the sky and tree to get more of the look I'm looking for? I need work on post production :/

xarik wrote in post #16767742
So in LR I should apply adjustment brushes to burn, add contrast and clarity into the sky and tree to get more of the look I'm looking for? I need work on post production :/

I think the tree shot would have been just as good with the tree allowed to go into silhouette and the sky exposed for detail, but thats just my opinion. If the subject were something a little less huge than a tree fill flash would be an option.

Expose for the sky and your tree will be dark enough, trust me. Get out there and bring us a real shot to talk about, id rather help you on your images directly. Shoot in RAW.

Hey Xarik. Yes, IR = infrared. I have a converted camera. Most cameras are can't do IR without being modified. Digital sensors are sensitive to IR light and come with filters to block any IR light from exposing on the sensor. You need to have it removed.

IR lets you shoot in full sunlight without getting any blown highlights and plenty of shadow detail. Eg: black & white conversion on an IR image. See the clouds? See the detail? See the dog?

You should also look into graduated neutral density filters. Also known as ND grad.

HDR is another method.

There are many tricks.