Looking For Images
Posted on | March 12, 2010 | No Comments
This post was delayed due to a fierce nor’easter that left us without any power for five nights and six days!
On a sunny afternoon a few days after the last snowstorm (I hope), I packed a few lenses in my backpack, picked up the tripod and went for a walk through our local nature preserve. I didn’t have any subject in mind but with warmer weather just around the corner, I wanted to get back outside looking for images.
The path in the preserve is a 2 1/2 mile loop. Within a few hundred yards of the car, I found a clump of moss snuggled up against a tree with its setae glowing in the sunlight. Since the setae are only 1/4″ to 3/8″ tall, the challenge was to get the camera low enough to capture the appearance of the backlit forest of golden spikes without getting lens flare. After adjusting the tripod and camera to ground level (wet knees and elbows were just expected), I had my first image of the day. The size of the entire subject in the image is only 3″x2″.
A hundred feet further along, I was captivated by the warm reflections of trees in the stream contrasting with the snow covered banks. I exchanged the 180mm macro lens for the 70-200mm zoom and looked for a composition where the reflections weren’t blocked by brush and twigs in the water. Clean snow not marred by footprints and gentle curves in the stream completed the scene. This location worked, and I had the second image of the day.
I continued my walk stopping here and there to try to find additional pictures. There were not an overabundance of photographic opportunities. I worked on one wide angle shot for quite awhile but never pressed the shutter. Don’t get discouraged when this happens. It is always a good exercise to try to find images, work on them and more importantly – try to understand why they don’t work. This day, I passed on more images than I captured.
However, in my mind, the day was a complete success. I was outside with camera in hand, added some images to our photo library – and even got some exercise!
For those of you in the Northern NJ area, we are doing an evening multimedia presentation/lecture at 7:30 PM on Wednesday April 28 at Backyard Living in Ridgewood, NJ
Two days later, on April 30th I am doing a macro workshop 9AM-4:30PM at New York Botanical Garden in NY. The course number is GWP 934.
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