Winter Tree
The sun is short-lived and weak in winter, but the benefit of that is a quality of light and shadow that is amazing. This Ash will have leaves in summer and daf...
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The sun is short-lived and weak in winter, but the benefit of that is a quality of light and shadow that is amazing. This Ash will have leaves in summer and daffodils around it in spring, but today, in winter, it can be this
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Apr, 2015Views
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Awards
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Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
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Virtuoso
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Behind The Lens
Location
We were walking the dog in our village, in the Midlands of England.Time
It was taken in early afternoon, about 13:30 or so, but in late winter that's when shadows become long.Lighting
Not really. This was natural light. Most of my shots are natural light. I rarely use a flash, even indoors.Equipment
This was taken on a Fuji FinePix SL300, one of my earlier cameras. I tend to work handheld.Inspiration
The sun. With me, it's always the way the light catches something in a shot like this. I love trying to capture how the light feels. In late winter, the sunlight is still watery and the frosts can be heavy. After a dark, damp winter, this moment felt like a bit of a miracle, not an overly warm miracle, but the light was so lovely and fragile. I hope I caught some of that.Editing
I keep my developing very simple and work from RAW. That way I have complete control over the final image. I'll adjust for the lens and vignettes, where I need to, then make sure the white balance is where I want it, based on the time of day the shot was taken if I haven't got it quite right. Then tone curves. RAW removes all the extremes, so you do need to go in and work the deepest tones of the shadows and the brightest of the highlights. This is where a lot of my creativity comes in. I like to play with this, figure out which part of the photo is affected by a change and how. You can completely change the mood of a shot doing this and sometimes, I find I don't need to add contrast. Then I tweak the lighting if I need to. Depends on the photo. This shot was fun to work when it came to tone curves.In my camera bag
I've moved beyond the FujiPix, now, and use a Fuji XT-10. My favourite lenses are always with me if I'm out and know I will want to shoot. But I usually have my camera with me when I walk the dog, as well, and I've been learning to use my newest toy, my Fuji 56APD lens, which takes awesomely clear pictures. Either that or my 50-230 kit lens, which is a descent mid-range zoom. Cleaning supplies, extra batteries (learned that the hard way) and SD cards. Especially extra batteries and SD cards.Feedback
Play with your positioning, your ISO and F stops. Try the same shot with several different settings. Sometimes standing straight in front will work, sometimes you need to crouch down to get the effect. I often end up doing a study of a subject with ten or 15 photos in it. You can learn a lot doing that. Seeing where the shadows hit perfectly, which settings capture the light properly. It's also a good way to develop your critical eye ... learning to recognise the truly good and interesting shots from the ones that aren't quite as good is beneficial.
