The landscape in Extremadura, Spain, is dominated by large thinned holm oak (quercus ilex) forests, called dehesas. Man thinned the forest for his own purposes. Cattle, sheep and pigs are living under the trees in a low-intensity agriculture. This has been going on for centuries, although the system is under pressure now. But many dehesas can still be seen and they are great, diverse eco-systems.
I had been here twice in spring, when thousands of wild flowers can be found under the trees. This time I went in autumn. No impressive fall colors, because most of the trees are evergreens, but I love the light on the trees in the mornings and afternoons in this time of the year.
I chose a panoramic crop for this image, mainly to remove some grass in the foreground and emphasize te trees .
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All comments are welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Pentax K3 Mk. iii, Pentax DA 55-300mm @190mm, f11, 1/100s, ISO800.
No big changes in post-processing.
I love the light playing in those trunks, and catching the lower leaves. I do wish the closer leaves at the top were in focus, and that there was more light playing in the upper vegetation. Igor’s crop addresses both points.
@Han_Schutten
I drove from Salamanca to Seville on country roads through Extramadura. It was one of my favorite landscapes in Spain along with the rolling hills planted with olive trees in Andalucia. One of the things I liked in Extramadura was the Quercus Suber ( cork) oaks standing by themselves here and there, showing their red trunks after cork removal. There were also bull ranches with bulls under the oaks in some places. Oh and the Osborne Sherry bulls on the horizon - 20 foot high black bull signs . They may no longer be around, my last visit was in 1985. I shot 100+ rolls of Kodachrome 64 and it all came out +7 magenta after processing.
Ah, I read that you still feel the pain from the lost Kodachrome slides… I can imagine that. No possibility to simply change the white balance those days.
Maybe a small comfort: I drove to Seville via CĂłrdoba, and the Osborne bulls are still there
The cork oaks are always special; you need some luck to find some with the cork recently removed, for the red faints and darkens fast. But if you find some that have been freshly harvested, it is incredible what strong color they have. Many people that never have seen it in reality but view the photographs think that the trunks were painted, or that the photographer manipulated the color.
Great place.
I think Igor’s idea to use a panoramic plays to the strengths of the light and shapes in the scene, with it’s added emphasis on the tree trunks, and the warm light near the ground. But I agree with you Han, I would go pano, but maybe go all the way out to the right edge in your original post. Igor’s crop leaves a tree trunk too tight to the right edge for me. Alternatively, for another option, I’d start with Igor’s crop and crop even more from the right, to come in to the left of that tree trunk.
With that said, the spacing and arrangement of the trees is very well done, it looks very well thought out.
