[fgates]

I find it very difficult to take good pictures of forests. I don't think this is the best forest picture that I have taken, but I hope to get ideas from the critique. There is no shortage of forest around, so there is plenty of opportunity to practice.

[Dabhand16]

I like this one Fred

It's the light and the ground cover that makes it for me. Bit of a spoiler are the buildings in the background though.

I think getting good pics in woodland is difficult as you can't get all of the trees in, so unless the image is a real belter, you always think you could do better.

I think the trick is to get a really interesting tree, tree trunk or other detail as the focal point and the rest will just make a great natural background.

Nice shot I like it a lot.

[Markulous]

Agree with Graham, you need something to "base" the image around - so a feature: tree, tree stump or even a patch of light. Then use the available light (but you need to control the highlights which are burning out here) and the trees to "fill" the image. Oh, and yup, lose the buildings!

[AQ]

I agree with the others about the buildings etc.

I have always found that the best way to learn is to pinch ideas from others then play with them. If you put "forest pictures" into Google you get something over 15 million hits. The top one I got was

Photography: Forest Pictures and Pictures of Trees

That seems to be a good starting place to see how it has done by others.

[fgates]

Thank you all for the advice. I noticed the buildings in Photoshop , but decided to post anyway. Forests often look so beautiful, but the high contrast and that inability to capture the whole scene usually result in a disappointing picture.

I'm still waiting to stumble across an interesting bear, elk or wood grouse, around which to build the scene, but they hear me coming and are long gone.

[chrisa]

Originally Posted by fgates

Forests often look so beautiful, but the high contrast and that inability to capture the whole scene usually result in a disappointing picture.

One of the reasons HDR may be worth a try to deal with the High Contrast. Also agree with previous posters on them. You can try in PhotoShop or download a trial of Photomatix for free, to see the effects.

For example one of mine (added a fog effect post HDR).

[fgates]

Nice one Chrisa, it almost looks like a painting. I tried Photomatix but was not keen on it for landscapes. I have to try it on some forest pictures.