High Contrast, Sidelight

I found this scene quite difficult to process. The camera recorded deep shadows and bright highlights on the grasses and tree stems, as a result of strong side light from the setting sun. Trying to balance out the exposure and provide detail in the shadows, without destroying the illusion of strong light, took a few attempts to achieve a natural look.

Initially the weathered logs caught my eye, almost green in the warm sun, but I thought on their own not enough to make a photograph. So I used them as a foreground leading to the more uniform graphic verticals of dark/light tree stems. I excluded the sky because it was too bright.

I think this one looks better on black.