michaelrauwolf

Tulips in The Golden Hour

I woke up early to photograph the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields one Spring morning and caught this scene with the sun breaking through the trees and the morning mi...
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I woke up early to photograph the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields one Spring morning and caught this scene with the sun breaking through the trees and the morning mist, which created a dreamy, dappled light on the field.
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Mar, 2015

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Awards

Zenith Award

Creative Winter Award

Curator's Selection

Judge Favorite

Great Shot

Superb Composition

+20

Absolute Masterpiece

+15

Top Choice

+13

Outstanding Creativity

+10

Superior Skill

Peer Award

All Star

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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken in one of many tulip fields in the Skagit Valley, located in Northwest Washington, during the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival that occurs every Spring. What made this particular location unique is that it was directly behind a garden where my wife and I got married.

Time

I got up early for this photo - probably around 5:00am. I wanted to catch the early morning light on the tulips, and beat the traffic. I ended up driving around for awhile before settling on this field. I got out of my car, and I remember it being really muddy. I walked around for awhile, accumulating big dirt clods on my shoes, and finally got this shot around 6:30am.

Lighting

I had tried a few different spots, and was on my way back when this particular scene stopped me in my tracks. The morning mist was fading away and the sun was just high enough to be shining through the trees, creating sunbeams on the tulips. In addition, the shadows produced by the trees created a dappled lighting on the field that allowed me to highlight one particular area and show some contrast. I was also drawn to the way the sunlight produced a brilliant backlighting on the petals of the tulips.

Equipment

For this shot I used my Canon 7D, a tripod, and a basic 28-135mm zoom lens.

Inspiration

Every year the tulip festival offers great photo opportunities, but also turns out droves of photographers. There are plenty of tulip field photos around the county, so the challenge for me was to look for something unique that would set this one apart. I had been intrigued by a back-lit tulip photo I had seen once before, and wanted to experiment with that if I could. But in this particular instance, the lighting, the trees, the mist... It all worked out perfectly.

Editing

I knew I would need to expose for the background and foreground, so I bracketed my shots, and later combined them in photoshop. I first applied some basic exposure and white balance adjustments in Lightroom. Then I messed around with HDR and Luminosity masks, but I actually didn't like the results of either, so I simply layered one exposure on top of the other and blended them using layer masks. My foreground was a bit too bright, so I applied a curves adjustment to bring the shadows back down a little bit. Now here's the honest confession: The original image showed a break in the trees and blown out sky to the far right, and I wanted the trees to be continuous. To achieve this I made a layer copy that showed all my adjustments, then I flipped this layer horizontally, applied a blacked out layer mask, and then only painted the new layer back in where I wanted the trees to cover up the gaping hole. It worked remarkably well and so far no one has ever noticed that the trees on the far right and left are reverse duplicates of each other (until now!).

In my camera bag

I mostly shoot with a Canon 6D, and sometimes with my 7D. I now carry a 24-70mm f2.8L lens, along with my 70-200mm f2.8L lens, and a polarizer filter that fits both. I also try to bring my tripod for shoots like this.

Feedback

Getting this kind of shot really depends on timing. It's worth getting up early to make sure you are at the right place at the right time. Shooting into the light can yield some gorgeous and unique lighting, but you need to either bracket your photos and combine them later in photoshop, or try shooting with a graduated neutral density filter. Also, watch out for lens flare, as it is tricky to manage in a shot facing the sun. You're mostly going to be shooting at the wider end of the spectrum for a shoot like this, so having a wide-angle lens is a must, but personally I found that going too wide did not yield favorable results, as I wanted to pull the backdrop of the trees a little closer into the frame. It helps to go into a shoot like this with a preconceived vision of what you are trying to achieve, but at the same time, be ready for the unexpected, and learn to catch opportunities that arise unexpectedly.

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michaelrauwolf

michaelrauwolf

Tulips in The Golden Hour

I woke up early to photograph the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields one Spring morning and caught this scene with the sun breaking through the trees and the morning mi... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow michaelrauwolf

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I woke up early to photograph the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields one Spring morning and caught this scene with the sun breaking through the trees and the morning mi...
Read more

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.