Forest (daytime)

[Esterlin]

I've been flooding the lounge with entries but I'm trying different styles
Here is a daytime forest, using a somewhat realistic composition with autumn tones.

[Penguinx]

The texture and sharpness of the floor clashes with the smooth, smudged tree trunks. The highlights on the bushes are more intense than on the trees themselves. The grouping of the bushes directly at the base of the trees seems a little convenient.

The rendering is really nice, but I think some initial references and planning would help sell it.

[Esterlin]

Thanx, I see what you mean. I blurred the outlines of the trees as a final step, so I still have the sharp version. The highlights looked correct in the psd version but the transformation toned the image down and made the difference more apparent.

[Penguinx]

The only reason I'm so blunt is because the work is really good as is, so I know you're capable of pushing it that last little bit.

[Esterlin]

Blur & highlighting fixed as much as I could with the latest saved file I had.
As for the deliberate position of the bushes, I can't do much right now
.png really makes the image too dark :/

[Fizzii]

Nice, but the trees and bushes are far too saturated in colour to be natural, and there's too much blackness in the piece as well. I'm also not sure where the lighting is coming from too (looking at the lit parts of the trees), and the floor seems very bright.

I think you need to plan composition better, and consider lighting and colours first before you start; nature tends to be more chaotic, and your trees are generally straight and nearly evenly distributed between each other.

[Esterlin]

Thanks for the crit, here's a desaturated version with a few additions ( boardsign, nest on the right tree ) and a bit fixed shadowing

The light source is located above the forest as a midafternoon scenery, with blocking effects from unseen trees higher in the field of vision (Hence the mild shadowing)

[jasonjkay]

Looks amazing but I still see too much diffarence with the floor and the tree. My suggestion is to either add a little more texture to the tree, or blur the floor slightly. Then again it looks great as it is.