Live Oak - San Francisco Peninsula Photo

Photographer’s Note

This California live oak tree straddles a trail above U.S. Interstate 280, just south of San Francisco. This stretch of highway is among the most scenic in all of the Bay Area, and runs down the spine of the San Francisco Peninsula. In the background is the Crystal Springs Reservoir, which is the historic reservoir for San Francisco's drinking water. It rests atop the San Andreas Fault and a few miles south of the epicenter of the Great 1906 Earthquake.

nirajsinha, kiwi_explorer, robertosalguero, Mikos, alejandroguzman, cokke, fulvio52, mphotographies has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

nirajsinha (822) 2007-02-25 3:21

Hi Jose!
Nice to see such a landscape which has everything to make it a great picture. I was just thinking that if you could have taken it from a little farther so that it cover all the tree. But overall nice picture.

Love

Niraj Sinha

kiwi_explorer (12195) 2007-02-25 3:24

Hi Jose,
The way I see it you have two subjects here ... the tree and the mountains framed by the tree ... I like your POV. Well composed and very good color quality. Well done.
Cheers,
Renier

robertosalguero (110) 2007-02-25 3:26

I think the color of the grass is a bit oversaturated, however under a bright sun anything can look that way. Overall this ia nice picture with good use of light and sharpness. The perspective is very good. The oak tree is quite dominant here but the background is also a good point to lead the eyes. Nice work Jose.

Roberto

Mikos (4324) 2007-02-25 8:49

Hi José!

Wow what a great and nice picture/place!

Great, because technically, it´s well thought, well seen, and well created. The light is adorable, the point of view, just perfect!

Nice, because this is one of those places one likes to remain, even hours, just enjoying what surrounds you, just enjoying this permanent panoramic, a gift of Nature!

You will be able to see tomorrow, well if you want, one of my favourites "nice place" lately!

Great sunday for you!

Miguel

balatrek (7419) 2007-02-27 16:28

Hola Tocayo,

Has acertado de lleno con la composición, me gusta el primer plano de la hierba, el camino y el árbol cubriendo casi toda la escena, aprovechaste bien el hueco que dejaba la rama más baja para mostrar el paisaje del fondo, gracias a ello la profundidad del trabajo aumentó considerablemente, la luz es correcta así como el enfoque, aunque creo que se podría haber dado un poco más de nitidez en el postprocesado pero con extremo cuidado ya que si nos excedemos el resultado no sería bueno, por último es el tema del color, en líneas generales es bueno, pero el cielo tiene algunas dominantes debidas a la sobreexposición, si te fijas el color de la zona de la izquierda es más natural y el inferior derecha es más artificial, eso puede ser debido al problema que te acabo de comentar o por un postprocesado incorrecto, pero es un pequeño defecto que no desmerece tu trabajo y que se puede corregir fácilmente.

Saludos
José

alejandroguzman (4672) 2007-02-27 19:51

Hola Jose:

I really like the contrast on this picture, as well as the lighting. But I think you shouldn't cut the top of the oak. :-(

TFS
Regards,
Edgar.

cokke (252) 2007-03-01 18:40

Saludos amigo, esta foto ah quedado genial, la composición es de lo mejor, el árbol junto al rio le da un toque bello, colores bien logrados y vividos, una imagen limpia, felicitaciones.

bhima (724) 2007-03-02 13:02

Hi José,

This oak is really impressive. Your compo is interesting with the mountains in the background. Just 2 remarks, maybe the colors were a little bit oversaturated and maybe it would have been interesting to place the oak more in the lower right part. Good shot anyway !

Thomas

Stepan (27175) 2007-03-03 3:21

I like this huge tree, even a king one, ruling the valley we discover in the background. The framing is OK, the colors are great. Great compo, even if I don't understand why you posted that small ?
Stéphane

fulvio52 (8314) 2007-03-04 5:15

Hola Jose,
I planned to stop by this picture for the last few days, but you got me all distracted with those great Bay shots of yours!
I read your post in reply to alejandroguzman and you find me 100% in sync with you : sacrificing the tree is necessary in order to capture enough of the background and foreground to give it context. In a way I feel that cutting the oak's top somehow adds to the general feel of "what's behind there?", which, in my opinion, is a big chunk of this picture's charm. It leaves you wondering, which is... cool!
On top of that : lovely POV and colors.
Good job, my compliments!
A big hug,
Fulvio.