Teasel at dusk
The teasel at dusk glows in the field.
The teasel at dusk glows in the field.
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Nov, 2013Views
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urbanmoon
December 08, 2013
Thank you everyone for your comments. I love the teasle near my house. It's on the edge of a forest behind the houses across the road from me. Right now we are fighting to get a by-law changed to protect that urban forest from being clear-cut by a developer. It may be that some day I'll lose the teasle in the field, but there is hope the forest can be saved.
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in a field bordering a forest behind the houses across the road from my home. It's a favourite spot for me year round and where I often head to capture the natural grasses and teasel. I'm so glad to have such natural beauty in the middle of the city.Time
It was taken after dinner around 7:30 in late summer, just as the sun was getting low. It's always such a beautiful time to be out in the field, so to speak, with an eye to the changing light around us.Lighting
Sunlight shot through the lacework pattern created by the trees of the forest, sparkling glints of light pushed through the dark forest as the leaves on the trees moved in the gentle breeze. It reached ever so softly into the field, backlighting the teasel with a subtle glow. The greens around the browning late-summer teasle melted together.Equipment
I'd always go into the field with a tripod, set on working the scene once I laid eyes on it, shooting and playing, variations on what I see. The camera is a Nikon D5100, 55-300 lens shot at 180 mm. Shot manual: F9, 1/80, 100 ISO.Inspiration
I took the shot on a Saturday evening during some downtime for me. My father was dying and so I was spending a lot of time with him, caring for him and taking him for treatments. Walking into that field across from us was a great escape to capture and appreciate the simple, beautiful things in life.Editing
I try to shoot as best I can in-camera and not over-do any post-processing. As a visual artist, I have specific preferences as to how it should look in the end, I want it to be its best with composition, colour, light, shadow and mood, but I don't want it to look processed. If it needs adjustments to bring it up to where I need it to be, I'll play with highlights, shadows, curves or levels and clarity...but I always, always dial it back a bit from where I bring to, it's how I keep myself in line. On the rare occasion I'll play with hue and saturation, but more often than not, it would be to downplay over-saturated colours (eg. crazy blue skies in my aviation shots).In my camera bag
I shoot mainly aerial (from a Cessna 172) and aviation photography, with some landscape, so I don't have a lot of equipment, nothing at all for lighting. Along with the Nikon D5100 body, I have a couple of lenses, a Nikkor 55-300 and the 18-105 mm kit lens. When I need better for air shows, I just rent a NIKON 80-400MM lens. I like to bring a remote shutter release for landscape and will also toss in a macro extension tube set.Feedback
My advice for capturing anything at this time of day is patience and to stay on top of it, observing and capturing, working the scene. The light and atmosphere change rapidly and the mood it gives can really be exploited if you work it. Play with different settings, different points of view, different lenses. Pay attention to how the light and shadows are playing on your subject, follow the lead and optimize the situation to best capture when you are presented with.
