Last week I went out to shoot the mid-June bloom of Mountain Laurel. I found some nice patches of laurel along the edge of a pond, but it started to rain too hard to photograph. So I ducked underneath a spruce tree to get out of the rain. As I was waiting for the rain to stop, I noticed all the rain drops glistening on the spruce needles. So I went with what I was given, and shot the spruce boughs against the OOF background of the surface of the pond. A green subject on green background can be tough to pull off, but in this case I think it actually worked. I also liked how these spruce boughs were elegantly suspended like this.
I’ll eventually get around to posting some mountain laurel images, but I’m often pleasantly surprised by what I find when I’m initially looking for something else.
Specific Feedback Requested
any critique or comments are welcome
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Canon 5D MK4, Canon 70-200mm f4 lens at 154 mm, ISO 400, 1/5 sec at f11
I like the sense of layers Ed. The in focus spruce branches sit nicelyagainst out of focus and brighter shade of green branches immediately behind, and then all the twigs against the out of focus and darker color green water. Beautiful.
This was on a tripod, virtually 100% of my shots are from a tripod, even my recent post “Ants Eye Vew of Spring”. I use a tripod to make fine tuning compositions easier, as much as I do for image sharpness.
Oh this is a lovely image Ed. Way to think out of the box. This is a creative image. I’ve also found that same color with different tones can look real good. Dried grass images are pretty much like that. Nevertheless, those brown danglers add a lot to this composition. And the dense bough does not. I don’t suppose a crop would to bring out one and remove the other? No, I tried it and yours looks better.
Ed, I can feel the rain coming down in the background. Must have really been pouring. You’ve reminded me to stop and look around, it is amazing what I see when I just stop. Nicely seen and captured.
thank you all for your comments, I’m glad that you enjoyed the image. If I hadn’t ducked under the tree to escape the rain, I never would have seen this image. As I made this shot my back was right up against the spruce trunk.
I noticed the dense bough too, and tried a few alternate in-camera comps, and various post-processing crops too, but this one felt the most balanced. So instead I added some localized shadow recovery to the bough in the ULC, does that help any?
Wow, this is gorgeous, Ed. The revision is even nicer than the original. Absolutely no nits from me, just admiration. Excellent job in composition and post processing!
I have been enjoying this image a lot, but this is my first chance to comment. Great use of depth of field to add separation from foreground to background. I really like the rain drops on the pine needles. The bokeh is pleasing and there are no distracting areas which pull my eye away from the main subject. Great work Ed!
Really beautiful photo, Ed! I love how the branches and pine cones hanging down mimic the outside rain falling down. It’s kind of like looking out of the window at the rain, except this window is a part of a tree house!
The whole frame is exceptional and what really keeps me coming back to the post is the way the background has a vertically smeared feeling look. It’s captivating paired with the sharply presented boughs.
Isn’t it great to create such a beautiful piece of work from an unintentional event?
Thanks Paul, I’m glad you like it. The look of the background was a lucky convergence of events. The OOF pond completely filled the background view. And the pond was far enough away from the tree that f11 looked good for the bokeh, while still keeping the boughs sharp. Even then, there was enough wind that I had to take 7 or 8 shots in between gusts to get one where the boughs were sharp enough.
Really late on this one Ed as I’ve been out of town for a while but boy do I love this image. This is so well conceived that I have no nits at all. Composition is just about perfect. The small pine cones add tremendously to this image but even without them it would have worked well. The vertical trees along with the vertical raindrops provide a soothing and complimentary background to the very sharp and in focus pine needles and cones. The slight variation in greens adds a ton too this image as well.
Working with what you’re given worked out really well for you Ed. However, you have to be open to what you’re given and always on the lookout for these kids of things. So many photographers are so narrowly focused that they can’t see this kind of a shot even when it’s right in front of them. I get this way a lot when I go out to shoot a particular THING. Well done for you to have noticed this potential Ed! Just a terrific image!
