Well, Postcards From The Woods just didn’t seem appropriate. It’s not all foreign travel for Alpha Whiskey, though (well, mostly it is). Sometimes I’m happy to amble through the forest on a bright and breezy weekend afternoon. And while it was more about the walk than the photography I thought I would try to demonstrate how even the most ordinary of environments can provide interesting photographic opportunities. We can all marvel at stunning vistas captured from a mountaintop at sunrise but that’s been done to death. Real creativity comes from challenging yourself to reveal something different from the places and subjects you see everyday. I’m not claiming to have that creativity myself but I’m willing to give it a try.
The forest is an absolute reservoir of stimulation, providing you with a buffet of compositional ideas. Towering tree trunks offer directional lines into the upper echelons of the canopy, while their branches intertwine to create the arterial scaffolding through which light leaks down to the ground. Walk into a densely wooded area and look up for an infinite array of patterns and constructs.
The light itself becomes the arbiter of composition, either by casting shadows and contrast, or illuminating secluded spaces.
Of course, light will also cast radiance upon leaves, either in bunches or in isolation. Carefully using the spot meter allows you to expose for the light and render the surrounding much darker, thereby isolating your subject on the basis of its brightness.
The tree trunks and branches themselves can do more than simply lead the eye; they can be the subject, having a variety of shapes, heights and structures. I was lucky enough to find one tree crossing its legs and another with a dinosaur for a branch. And I’m not even looking for this stuff; I’m just walking along observing.
They can also be used as a convenient means of framing a subject, as I tried to do with my accompanying friend here in one of those pockets of light. It’s always a bonus to walk with someone and my friend also made a rather fetching lens caddy.
The devil is also in the details and there is obviously no end of flora and fauna in such a rich environment. A wide aperture will help isolate small plants or insects from their background, and a longer focal length (than I have used here) will provide better subject separation.
Gear wise I used the most important trifecta of equipment in my collection, namely my brain, eyes and legs. Anything else was a just couple of small primes. While I don’t care to please the colour averse among you, I took on board some of the ‘feedback’ from my previous post and actually desaturated some of the hues. Heaven only knows how terrible they look on your monitors now. And while I would stress that revealing something about your subject should be done at the location with creative composition and lighting, it is true that our processing is part of the revelation. Nasim himself taught me that (so in fact he’s to blame for my crappy images! Just kidding, Nasim.) Aim not only to capture the scene as you find it, but to reveal its potential as you imagine it. It might be a trifle dull otherwise.
Anyway, apologies for such a brief and simple post, but encouragement to practice your craft should arguably never be rationed. Use the impending summer weather to take a forest walk yourself. You’re bound to find something interesting to shoot. More from my walk can be found here.
Good luck!
Wow. You can really excite some tree branches alpha. In europe you only need to drive for a couple of hours and your’e in another country. So i get why you have so many foreign visits. I like your phrase “rather fetching lens caddy” so she was rather fetching and was also fetching lenses. Was the dual meaning intended? I didn’t like the sitting position of the girl in the photo. She would have looked prettier standing. Of course she might have been too tired to stand. I like it when you present yourself as a colorful man with female companions.
You may be the best argument against GAS that I know of. Beautiful work!
Very nice, well-composed and vibrant images! It would be great if you could include basic EXIF info (camera mode, lens, aperture, ISO, shutter speed) as it could be helpful to junior photographers like me who often learn by watching other people’s work. Thank you for sharing your work.
Wonderful article by Alpha Whisky to inspire people to go out and explore. You not only take fab pics but also give a great context and story behind your projects, w/o which the pics would be difficult to fully appreciate.
Agree w/ Vipul that it will be very helpful and a learning experience for the readers if basic EXIF is included.
Thank you.
I love this post. I walk in the woods behind my house every day, in the middle of suburbia so it’s not mountainous, etc. But they are beautiful in their own right and I often look for interesting things/ways to photograph. Very often it’s not a photography walk though so I need to “schedule” time as such. I usually have just my iPhone and am walking/running for physical/mental for my doggie and me. Thank you for the simplicity of this post and encouragement to just get out there and practice. Thank you for the note on wider aperture and longer focal length. I would love more simple tips like that in these posts.
Thank you for you post. I would love it if you would add the standard data to your pix to lend insight into how you achieve these beautiful photos.
Great post I had a similar walk in Salcey Forest yesterday, as an ex Brit living in Australia it was great to be back amongst the oak and beach trees ,I can only hope some of my images are of similar quality. Ps I had no problem with your previous post
I enjoyed viewing your basic straight forward approach to the subjects in the woods. Taming the high contrast by isolating the the important elements is something I need to think about more. When I only shot transparencies, i had to consider the narrow light latitude. It is also an important part of how I pre-visualize with digital as well. You have reminded me of this fact. Thank you.
in viewing your image #12-“Dinosaur”, I can readily see the drowsey dino. Additionally, if I observe only the “eyeball” itself, I see a dogs head in 3/4 view looking right. I really enjoy the resemblance of many objects to other forms found in nature. Of course if no one else can “see” the dog head, then perhaps it’s time for a Rorschach Test!
Finally, thank you for informative and enjoyable lessons.
I saw the dogs head first along with the eyeball! You’re not alone:-)
My first instinct told me that this looks like a snake head – with eye placement and such, but I definitely see the dog after reading your comment!
Needless to say wonderfully captured.
Not only beauty is in the eye of the beholder ….. it’s also what you see ….. Instead of a dogs head I see a little puppy curled up !!
that is really what I see also! I didn’t express it correctly. its a sweet capture :-))
That is really a wonderful collection of images and the colors are very nice.
Very nice pictures. I see as more prominent, the resting head of a dog, on your dinosaur log.
Love the pics; NOT because ‘the beautiful light’, not because the ‘DOF’ (or whatever combination of the letters of the alphabet), but because simplicity pleases the eye!