Autumn Colours, Westonbirt Arboretum
Aug, 2015Views
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Action Award
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People's Choice in colours of nature Photo Challenge
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Boothmeister
November 26, 2015
What a fantastic image. The orange just pops like mad and the little splash of green just helps it even more. Lovely.
nandicmb
November 26, 2015
Congratulations on your People's Choice category win in Colours of Nature Photo Challenge!
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken at the National Arboretum at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire. It was a trip organised by the Bristol Photography Meetup Group to take advantage of the special trails the Arborteum arranges every year to show off the wonderful autumn colours.Time
This shot was taken just before midday on a dank, wet day at the end of October.Lighting
The lighting was fairly flat as it had been raining for several days and was very overcast. Add this to the fact that I was in the middle of a wood and there wasn't much you could do with the lighting. It was a case of trying to expose for the main colours and look for shots with natural contrast that I could bring out in processing later.Equipment
This was shot with an Olympus E410 and 14-42mm lens. (As the olympus is a four-thirds format camera this is equivalent to 28-82mm on other cameras.) The camera was handheld and I managed 1/80 at f4.5 with ISO 200.Inspiration
This was in a group of trees all with wide spread branches that made strong graphic shapes against the background of the autumn colours. There was a lot of reds and golds in the foliage around and above us which added to the atmosphere and, with the wood being so wet, the branches became almost black and added even more contrast to the colours. It was then a case of trying to inlcude both the shapes, the full colour of the leaves and some of the other background foliage colours to produce an astmospheric shot that summed up the feeling of that glade.Editing
I cropped the image to concentrate on the shapes, then boosted the contrast and saturation to copmpensate for the flat lighting.In my camera bag
I took more than usual that day. I loaded my larger camera bag with the 14-42mm (28-84mm equiv.) and the 40-150mm (80-300mm equiv). In addition I had a 35mm Macro (70mm equivalent) with me as I anticipated getting some close detail shots of individual leaves, lichens, fungi etc. I didn't take a tripod, thoiugh I had a small 'gorilla pod' if I really needed some support. I also included at least two tools to make sure everything stayed dry. I usualy have a circular polariser in my bag as well.Feedback
If youi're happy to do some post-processing to increase contrast, etc then even with heavily overcast and miserable weather there are still photographs to be had. There is also a lot you can do by looking at the details rather than general scenes and don't forget the shapes some of the older trees grow into over the years.
