It’s fall and that makes for many and varied targets for your photography. When you are out and about it’s a good idea to keep a sharp eye out. Sometimes the simplest thing can lead to a lovely image. Or, at least I think so!
The Leaf
Looking for piles of leaves that might make a nice mage I came across this single leaf. It grabbed my attention in its imperfect perfection. But, a nice subject doesn’t necessarily make for for a nice photograph. It’s a mistake see often as I’m reviewing or judging images for competition. Photographers see a pretty object and without enough thought make a capture. A solid photographic image has to do with the light and composition among other things to be recognized as a good photograph.
Happened upon this leaf with lovely shape and color. It needed a cleaner background and some nice lighting to bring it to life IMO.
Finding light and background
Looking at various possibilities I happened upon this textured rock being kissed by dappled light. For me, it was the light filtering through the trees made this spot for me. Luckily the wind was blowing and it added that bit of randomness to the different captures. I made bracketed exposures to make sure I could dial in the exact lighting which I wanted by blending the images
A quick scan around revealed this boulder with dappled light crossing the surface. IN addition, it was made coming through the leaves which were blowing in the wind which added just a bit of randomness as I fired off multiple exposures.
It still need a little help in post but that’s where much of the next level of imaging begins. If that is something you are not willing to do then your image making will suffer. Take a look at any of Ansel Adam’s negatives and the difference in what would become the final print after experimentation, paper choice, dodging and burning and much time in the darkroom.
Work it
After catching the image I had in my mind I then tried some different compositions. It was also time to try some ICM. Intentional Camera Movement can be a way to capture something totally different with an artistic feel. It calls for letting go of what the outcome might be and continually experimenting.
This is the final image I imagined when I first started making the capturess.
Then it was time to explore more with some ICM. In Camera Movement can give you a more painterly abstract quality. In this case it was a camera spin around the subject. I also tired zooms in and out, along with pans all at different shutter speeds. Light processing with dehaze and a bit of saturation was ll that was used here.
Processing
Once I blended two exposures, one technically correct and one two stops under. Then it was some selective sharpening, blurring and color adjustments.
Then it was time to play with the ICM images to see if there was a little more life in them. I find normally a bit of Contrast, Color and maybe Dehaze pulls them from flat and uninteresting to an image I’d like to place on my wall and share with others.
Used various techniques in post-processing including sharpening, glow, saturation Dehaze.
Gear
This was a simple setup with camera gear. I used the OM System OM5 Mark II with 12-45 f/4.0 lens. I opted for a light simple camera and lens since I was on an extended hike. Here’s a link to my review of the OM 5 Mark II.
I consider Adobe Photoshop my darkroom and a part of my gear!
Let me know your thoughts in the comments on the process and final image.
Yours in Creative Photography, Bob
