January 2012 -- Tangled Branch
 

How I did it - During a fall trip to Shenandoah National Park, I came across this oddly shaped tree branch. After converting to B&W, I applied the Texture Filter, increased the sharpness, then cropped the image to bring out the circular shape.

COMMENTS:
 

Neal R Thompson MD	Interesting branch but is somewhat lost in the tangle of underbrush. Perhaps darkening the background and lightening the subject branch would help.
Dennis Hirning, EPSA	Good eye to see this thing. It makes you wonder why it is shaped that way. I would like to see the branch more dominant in the image. I tried adding contrast to it and played with the brightness a little and came up with this. Does that make much difference? I don't know.
John Roach	I like where you are going with this image. I think some additional selective dodging and burning would create even better contrast and focus on the primary subject (the interesting curved branch). It may also be enhanced with some perimeter vignetting to help focus the viewer's eye very specifically onto that branch.
Martha Mitchem	While I see a lot of confusion with the many branches in the image I like the way you did attempt and accent the particular branch. I will try your method when I run into a similar situation. Would it have been possible to move the camera to the right and gotten a closer view and angle of the branch, eliminating the upper branch?
Sol Blechman	Tangle indeed! The major branches make a fine pattern and giver the eye somewhere to focus. The rest is a bit confusing and I'm not sure what to suggest here. Either darkening them a lot or taking some out or both. It good you converted to B&W as I think this does help simplify.
Mohamed Terzaki<	I searched for Shenandoah park and found plenty of water falls and forest. Did no found the meaning of Shenandoah!! Your photo is a difficult one. You wanted to document the fact that trees can grow in such unusual manner. I think this is the best angle although I would try other one with the main trunk more obvious.

Member Bio
	Shahron Williams van Rooij - Biography Shahron is Assistant Professor of Instructional Technology at George Mason University.  As an avid SCUBA diver, she does most of her photography underwater.  In the past year, she's been trying to improve her above_water skills and recently purchased a Nikon D80.  Shahron joined PSA in 2006 and is looking forward to sharing with and learning from everyone.