What ruins this forest image....

[Fidur]

Beyond the traces left by photoshop, there is a detail that in my opinion ruins this composition (otherwise a great forest):



Which one(s) would those be for you?

 

[Paradox]

Most of the trunks are similar in size which doesnt give the composition depth
The trees are a little to spread out across the "pot"

 

[_#1_]

That fern plant thing on far right ruins it for me. Otherwise I liked the composition.

 

[Fidur]

That fern plant thing on far right ruins it for me. Otherwise I liked the composition.

Yes, that's also what ruined it for me!. Usually are these out of scale details what upset me in similar compositions....

 

[penumbra]

The giant fern is glaring to me.
Also, the picnic table should be more weathered looking.

 

[Srt8madness]

The giant fern is glaring to me.
Also, the picnic table should be more weathered looking.

Where is the picnic table?

 

[sorce]

Aye the prehistoric fern!

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

Where is the picnic table?

 

[ralf]

The composition as it is presented is not realistic - so many mature trees on a small rocky island? But as a fairy tale it looks great. If only the crown of the dominant tree or rather the left part of it has more foliage. It looks too shabby for a dominant tree that gets the most of light...

 

[ABCarve]

The composition is very lateral. All the trunks are in the same plane. It would help if some were behind or in front of the focal point. Also what paradox said about trunk caliper. Still a pretty pic!

 

[penumbra]

The composition as it is presented is not realistic

Many, if not most bonsai are not.

 

[rockm]

This whole treatment ruins the planting for me. Photoshop is mostly a shitty thing. Geese, fantasy lake? Might as well have an HO scale railroad track with Thomas the Tank Engine...Bonsai, for me, invokes MY sense of landscape in my mind, even if it is someone else's tree. Such obvious, trite and artificial looking stuff like this is not really bonsai such much as it is diorama making...yeah, I'm a snob and a purist.

 

[Paradox]

yea the fern does seem a bit out of scale

 

[ZombieNick]

Besides what others have mentioned, I am not a huge fan of the branches going straight down on the rightmost tree. Can't really see what's going on there though, the fern blocks it.

 

[A. Gorilla]

This is unforgivable.

 

[A. Gorilla]

Really though, if I just let it punch me with an impression without thinking this is seriously charming. Welcoming. Feels great.

How can someone say one aspect "ruins" it? Wtf.

 

[penumbra]

Besides what others have mentioned, I am not a huge fan of the branches going straight down on the rightmost tree. Can't really see what's going on there though, the fern blocks it.

I see them hanging down like that all along the Shenandoah River. I think the planting looks pretty real if you take a pair of scissors to the fern and get rid of the photoshop.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

The fern ruins it. Makes it look like the world's largest fern from the age of dinosaurs

Otherwise I like the composition. It might be a little too regular, in terms of constant spacing between trees, but that's a small gripe.

 

[Lorax7]

The lack of any negative space between the trees and the water on the left side is the glaring flaw in the composition from my perspective. I didn’t even notice the fern until I read the other comments because my eye never made it over to the right side, the focus was so intensely drawn to the left.

 

[Mikecheck123]

Beyond the traces left by photoshop, there is a detail that in my opinion ruins this composition (otherwise a great forest):

View attachment 446890

Which one(s) would those be for you?

The enormous fern.