Frosty leaf duo
Dec, 2013Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in a small public park in my home town.Time
It was mid morning in one of the frostiest days I can remember. For some time I wanted get some winter photos with little success, This particular day the frost had turned to ice and it seemed to be clinging to everything. The light was dropping quite fast even though it was still morning it was like one of those horror movies.Lighting
The day was really overcast even the air felt icy, the fog appeared to have frozen in the sky and the light had a strange silvery colour to it, really flat and over diffused with no shadows.Equipment
I used my first D80, this was my first Nikon. I adored this camera it met with a rather unfortunate accident. I used the kit lens 18-135. It was the set of images from this day that prompted me to go and by a 60mm macro lens. I had left my tripod in the car so I used a nearby tree to lean into to steady myself. It was hard to focus the camera as the focus system was finding it difficult to latch on to a point. I had to bracket the exposure as the lighting was really flat.Inspiration
I knew there was a fountain in the park, I was really after ice patterns in the water. When I arrived at the park I was the only one there, I started to shoot my own footsteps in the pristine surface, the frozen fountain images never happened but i found leaves trapped in the ice and and came across a cluster of leaves covered in frost. I got so carried away I was in the park on my own for over two hours, time just flew by, it was dark by the time I leftEditing
When I first saw the coloured file, I was somewhat disappointed, It was really flat, the colours had no depth and lacked definition. I turned it to monochrome but still wasn't happy. I kept going back to it, finally realised what I liked was the leaf in the centre with the ice crystal around it. I removed all the colour apart from the centre leaf. The black and white was darkened and more so around the edges of the photo. The colour was lightened and intensified. The edge of the leaf was also held back to make it stand out more.In my camera bag
I try to fill my bag according to what I plan to do and want from the time I am out. inevitably I as we all do come across something I did not plan for, and curse myself for not bringing a piece of equipment. My standard out and about kit is Nikon D610, 50mm f1.4, 24-70mm f2.8 and a 105mm f2.8 macro. I generally don't carry my 70-200 because of the weight, but often miss it. I also carry a variable stop down and circular polarising filters. These days I also carry a light meter, in my opinion a seriously under used item.Feedback
How often have we seen those awesome storm, lightning bolt and rainbow images and wished we had been there as well. My only advise is GO DO IT.
