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Runner Up in Below The Knees Photo Contest 2023
Top Shot Award 22
Runner Up in The Tree Lover Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Celebrating Nature Photo Contest Vol8
People's Choice in Low Vantage Points Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Low Vantage Points Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Tall Trees Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Earth Day 2017 Photo Contest
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Contest Finalist in Above Or Below Photo Contest
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MaryAnne306
September 03, 2020
Your choice to shoot from the ground, including roots(?), creates and unusual version of this kind of photo. Great work!
ronshattuck_9532
September 07, 2021
I love shots like this it almost looks like you can walk right out on the trunk like walking down a dirt road.
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this picture just a few hundred meters from my home. When I lived in Stuttgart (Germany), we had an appartment literally at the border of the city. On the other side of the street was a field, followed by a forest. A perfect area for walking the dog, so I often went into these woods, always looking for some interesting subjects ...Time
The photo was taken 10:13 am in April. I had the habit to often take my camera with one lens with me when I was walking the dog. On that day, I chose the fisheye and tried to get some shots of the trees with the fresh spring leaves where I could use the fisheye perspective in a creative way.Lighting
As it was morning and the sky was a bit cloudy, the light was not yet too harsh (although you can see that the light on the wood of the roots almost started to clip)Equipment
I used a Nikon D200 and a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom. For this shot, I set it to 10mm to get a full 180° field of view.Inspiration
When I saw this tree with the roots coming out of the ground, this reminded me of title of the Jethro Tull album "Roots to branches". So I tried to capture the whole tree from top to bottom or from "roots to branches".Editing
I always shoot in raw. Straight out of cam, the highlights in some parts of the sky and on the roots were blown, but by adjusting the values in camera raw, I could fix that. Apart from these adustments, there is not much post-processing (a bit sharpening, lifting the shadows on the right side of the tree a bit, that's all).In my camera bag
It very much depends on where I'm going. I love to take just the camera with one lens with me when I go to locations which I visit often (as the trail which I use when walking my dog). This forces me to see the "well known" area with new eyes, depending on the chosen lens (fisheye, super wide angle, macro, tele, big aperture lens etc.). When I visit a new location, I take more lenses with me to be prepared. At the time of this picture (in 2008), I had a Nikon equipment. I later upgraded to a Nikon full frame camera with the according lenses. But as the camera bag grew more and more heavy, I switched to the micro four thirds system. I currently use an OM Sysstem O-M1 with lots of lenses from a fisheye to a super tele.Feedback
You can only take pictures of the subjects you see. So to make better pictures, it is important to train your eye. Great subjects are sometimes hidden in plain sight. You don't have to travel to exotic places (ok, it can help of course ;) ), to find interesting subjects. To set yourself apart from the millions of pictures shot every day, try to use more exotic focal lengths (i.e. perspectives which you cannot create with a smartphone) and / or move the camera away from the standard eye level perspective. Putting the camera to the ground or above your head can sometimes change a "boring" standard subject into an interesting picture.