Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts

Monday 18 January 2021

On Home Territory

So, what's your photographic home territory? I kind of want mine to be the high mountains, but it turns out that I really have to work at that. Where do you find yourself shooting instinctively, not having to think about compositions? Where is photography second nature for you, where the shots throw themselves at your feet? It may simply be that it's I've spent more time here over the last 10 months, but I'm really finding that my local fields and woodlands are where it's at for me. And the Dolomites perhaps. I don't have to think about it there either.

Cedar Rushes || Olympus 21 mm, f/8, 1/40 s, ISO 200 

This afternoon I went for a walk between the local villages. There's a triangle between Kaltenberg where I live and the neighbouring two villages - Hausen and Walleshausen. There's a small mixed woods, fields and many copses and spinneys. I've walked through this area a couple of times in recent days, once on Friday in the hoarfrost and again today in fresh snow. Yesterday I was in the Allgäu, our favourite local mountain range, particularly during lockdown as it's in Germany and we don't have to cross to Austria. I'd gone cross-country skiing with my wife. Granted the light conditions were quite tricky - blue skies and a real contrast between light and shadow, but almost every shot was a challenge and editing was a chore rather than a breeze. Even - or even especially - my favourite bridge down at Bad Hindelang was proving a royal pain in the @rse. I had to shoot about 5 shots at various EV settings to accommodate everything from the sunny high slopes to the dark waters of the Ostrach river.

A Hoary Afternoon

Even though it was just after lunch, because it was cold and because the fog had persisted until late into the morning, there was still some hoarfrost on the trees around the village. As soon as the sun touched the trees, however, it fell off. In this first photo of a birch twig, you can see what look like snow falling in the background. It's actually hoarfrost falling off the tree.

Frosty Birch || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/400 s, ISO 200

These thistles caught our eye as we walked along the local hedgerows. Hoarfrost had formed on the spines and then melted again as the sun fell on them.

Hoary Thistle || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

Similarly, the frost had formed on these thistles too.

Frosty Thistles || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/160 s, ISO 200

We weren't the only people taking a walk in the fresh air. Two couples, one standing watching, the other walking away. I wonder what story this represents?

Two Couples || Olympus 100 mm, f/9, 1/800 s, ISO 200


Skiing in the Allgäu

The next day we made an early start to Gunzesried, scene of a most enjoyable mountain sunset shoot and moonlight walk back at the end of October. The car park was a lot emptier than then, especially when we arrived. The avalanche warning level was high - 4/5 and so the ski-tourers were not out in force as they might otherwise have been. The temperature on the car thermometer was -5.5°C as we geared up for our first cross country ski tour since Norway last February.

Fold in the Snow || Olympus 50 mm, f/8, 1/25 s, ISO 200
This was by far and away my favourite shot from the ski tour. A subtle fold in the snow, presumably hiding a stream below and forming a zig-zagging leading line towards the saplings. In an ideal world, I would have been able to get better separation between the saplings and the forest behind, but it'll do.

There are a couple of majestic old maple trees in the valley that I plan to revisit in autumn some time. In the meantime they stick out from the forest thanks to the fresh snow outlining their ancient bows.

Wizened Winter Maple || Olympus 50 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

The Bridge at Bad Hindelang

This was my third time shooting at the bridge near Bad Hindelang. The first trip was on a murky day in autumn when I discovered this wonderful covered bridge on a horseshoe bend. I returned in December, but the conditions weren't quite optimal. In an ideal world I'd have had some mist in the valley or some clouds swathing the forested peaks, but I'll take this for now.

The Bridge at Bad Hindelang - HDR || Olympus 8 mm, f/8, 1/13 s, ISO 200

Instead of the usual route home, we decided to come back over the Oberjoch pass. We waded through the snow to reach the overlook looking back down west over Bad Hindelang and the Jochstrasse.

Jochstrasse in the Allgäu || Olympus 8 mm, f/8, 1/250 s, ISO 200

The More It Snows...

The forecast was for 30-50 cm new snow in the Allgäu, 10-20 in the valley. It essentially snowed steadily all day at about -2°C, slowly building up in the garden. After lunch I took the camera out for my usual round between the villages. I love the way the snow highlights the tree branches. In any other weather this photo wouldn't work; there'd be zero separation and it would fall flat.

Snowy Boughs I || Olympus 57 mm, f/8, 1/40 s, ISO 200

Snowy Boughs II || Olympus 50 mm, f/8, 1/100 s, ISO 500

Beech trees always seem to hang onto their leaves for the longest time. Their golden yellow leaves always provide a striking counterpoint to the snow.

Hung out to Dry || Olympus 86 mm, f/5.6, 1/1250 s, ISO 1600

Beech Sapling in the Snow || Olympus 35 mm, f/5, 1/60 s, ISO 500

The confusion of the young birch (?) trees takes on a degree of regularity with a dash of snow.

Plantation || Olympus 50 mm, f/5.6, 1/100 s, ISO 320

As Sharon wandered off down the path...

Into the Forest || Olympus 29 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 s, ISO 400

One of the nice things about snow is that it lightens up the forest floor, making photography a lot easier. It also creates beautiful pastel colours, firstly as it throws an opaque layer in front of the subject. This will be more or less depending on the intensity of the snow, distance to the subject and length of exposure, all factors that need to be taken into account. The quality of the light is also beautiful and soft, being omnidirectional, at least whilst it's snowing.

Enchanted Woodland || Olympus 16 mm, f/5, 1/80 s, ISO 200

Cedars || Olympus 12 mm, f/5, 1/60 s, ISO 200

The Lonely Bench || Olympus 12 mm, f/5.6, 1/60 s, ISO 200

Into the Canopy Chaos || Olympus 18 mm, f/5.6, 1/40 s, ISO 400

Berries || Olympus 86 mm, f/5.6, 1/200 s, ISO 320

Winter Birch I || Olympus 38 mm, f/8, 1/20 s, ISO 200

Winter Birch II || Olympus 57 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Ghost of an Egret || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/100 s, ISO 200

Cedar and Rushes || Olympus 29 mm, f/8, 1/30 s, ISO 200

Sentinel || Olympus 80 mm, f/8, 1/30 s, ISO 200

Slow Rushes || Olympus 92 mm, f/4, 1/125 s, ISO 200

Reaching Out || Olympus 61 mm, f/8, 1/20 s, ISO 200

Above Hausen || Olympus 86 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Hunter's Perch || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/30 s, ISO 200

Out for a Spin || Olympus 57 mm, f/7.1, 1/60 s, ISO 200

Sledging in Hausen || Olympus 15 mm, f/7.1, 1/100 s, ISO 200

Three, || Olympus 61 mm, f/7.1, 1/80 s, ISO 200

or Four? || Olympus 50 mm, f/11, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Wintery Hausen || Olympus 54 mm, f/8, 1/100 s, ISO 200

Winter Walk || Olympus 100 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

Reduced to Geometry || Olympus 92 mm, f/8, 1/80 s, ISO 200

Gateway to Kaltenberg || Olympus 31 mm, f/8, 1/50 s, ISO 200

So what's your photographic muse? What do you find easy to shoot and which scenes present you with difficulties?

Monday 14 December 2020

Out and About December

There is (or probably more accurately, was) a trope in exploration films of the last century that the natives would refuse to let themselves be photographed for fear of losing their essence, that the camera would magically capture their soul or 'essence' and leave them somehow diminished. As enlightened people we pooh-pooh such superstitious nonsense, especially the more scientifically minded of us (I have a PhD in biochemistry). But more recently I've come back to this question, from a slightly different perspective. Not that I'm advocating that capturing light reflected from a subject on a sensor in any way takes something away from the scene, but the idea of capturing the essence of something.

At The Castle Gate I || Olympus 61 mm f/6.3, 1/100 s, ISO 250 
It all boils down to the age-old question; what makes a good photo? Obviously there are n+1 answers to that question, where n = the number of photographers asked, and a lot will depend on the genre of photography in question. What makes a good portrait photo isn't the same as what makes a good product, macro, wildlife, abstract, street, sport or landscape photo. I'm not even sure that there's a single over-arching principle that captures what constitutes a good photo for a single one of these genres, but I think that the concept of capturing the essence of the subject comes close. 

The Setting Sun: Composite || Olympus 100 mm f/5.6, 1/320 s, ISO 200
The shot above is a three-shot composite. I hesitate to use the term HDR as it was more a case of exposure blending - manually combining the correct levels of exposure from the three otherwise identical photos instead of a computer (or camera) -generated HDR. Hand-held. The essence of the scene is the setting sun in the context of the ice-covered branches and wintery sky.

A portrait that tells you something about the subject's passions by capturing the person in their environment, a sports photo that conveys the tension of the game, a landscape photo that transports the viewer to the environment and scene in question will always be more compelling than a plain documentary shot. But how do you get such an image?

A Man and His Dog; Rule of Thirds || Olympus 100 mm f/7.1, 1/30 s, ISO 1600
This is where the standard rules of photography composition play a supporting role, but no more - which is all they should ever do (IMHO). The rule of thirds (above, horizontally and vertically), the use of leading lines to direct the viewer's gaze, focus point and depth of field, centred reflections are only ever aids to arriving at decent photos and never a guarantee. It's easy to take a photo that obeys all the rules, but taking a photo that captures the essence of the scene requires something more than following a list of step by step instructions. This is what separates the good from the great.

The Village Oak Tree || Olympus 31 mm f/5.6, 1/60 s, ISO 250
A great question that can help really capture a photo that tells a story is to ask yourself which aspect of the scene really caught your attention. Once that question has been answered, the next one is more technical; how can I take a photo of the scene that accentuates that aspect. Which focal length do I need to use to emphasise the aspect in question? What light do I need to light the scene? Exposure? Depth of field? Sometimes the response to all of these questions is instinctive and you just know as soon as you look at the scene what you need to do, but this instinct requires training. 

The American photographer Joshua Cripps sums up this process with the following analogy: "a good landscape photograph is like a caricature: it simplifies and exaggerates". I think that's a great concept to hold in mind as we as ourselves these questions. In the photo above I've done this partly in post-processing, emphasising the brightness of the snow on the branches. Trees with a low amount of snow on them like this are infinitely more interesting than without, or even with tons of snow on them. What would otherwise have essentially been a high contrast image without the snow - more or less black and light blue, gains an extra dimension.

Winter Evening Personified || Olympus 41 mm f/7.1, 1/80 s, ISO 1250
When looking through my photos from December so far, this was an concept that I had in mind. Which of these photos capture the essence of early winter, that transport the viewer to the scene at the time? Which of them leave the viewer feeling the cold on the end of their nose and tips of the ears? Or hearing the crunch of snow under their feet as they walk the local fields?

At The Castle Gate II || Olympus 23 mm f/7.1, 1/50 s, ISO 1600
My daughter gave me the idea for the shot above as she crouched close to the ground to catch the reflection of the gate in the frozen water. Never be too proud to steal a good idea, or to get your trousers grubby/wet for the cause!

Winter's Morning || Olympus 61 mm f/6.3, 1/100 s, ISO 250
Equally, it's always good to be able to go at the drop of the hat. This wintery sunrise shot was shot pretty much from the front doorstep

Landsberg Christmas Tree || Olympus 11 mm f/3.5, 1/13 s, ISO 250
I love shooting in the blue hour - the hour or so after (or before) the sun goes down. Whether in towns such as our local Landsberg (above) or out in nature catching the first stars whilst there's still enough light to illuminate the mountains. Any earlier for this scene and the Christmas lights would have been overwhelmed by the daylight, much later and there wouldn't have been enough light to see the buildings properly.

Between the Villages || Olympus 61 mm f/6.3, 1/100 s, ISO 250
Another venerable tree, a solitary beech in the fields between us and the next village. Again, the snow on the branches make an otherwise relatively dull subject a lot more interesting. The ploughed field and resulting lines help to add interest and geometry to the shot. In retrospect I should have got a little closer to the tree to get more separation from the tree behind it, but it's not disastrous.

Across the Fields || Olympus 61 mm f/6.3, 1/100 s, ISO 250
I really like winter skies, especially towards the ends of the day. There's often a lot of pink in the clouds even when sunset isn't imminent. This photo was taken just an hour after midday looking south.

A Glimpse of Sun || Olympus 31 mm f/20, 1/15 s, ISO 200
This is a good example of a caricature image. The things that caught my eye were the sunlight twinkling through the tree tops and the snow lying on the downward sloping branches. I deliberately stopped the aperture down to f/20 to achieve the little sunbursts. Combining low aperture with fragments of sun - whether it's just breaking over the horizon, peaking from behind a mountain or behind trees like here lets you get these classical star shapes. Some lenses will give more, others, such as the Olympus Zuiko 12-100 mm here, less, but they still give that classic sunburst. This is another manual exposure blend, one for the sky and one for the forest. The pile of dead wood in the foreground emphasises the snowy branches by repeating the pattern of lines.

Into the Woods || Olympus 18 mm f/8, 1/60 s, ISO 800
Classic leading lines here heading into some local woodland. Exposure bracketed / HDR in order not to overwhelm the shadows and highlights in the final image. The curve of the track really strengthens the image, as do the snowy branches left and right and the upright trunks of the firs at the back. The fact that there's some light at the centre illuminating the trees also helps; the eyes are always naturally attracted to the light. 

Unearthly Glow HDR || Olympus 15 mm f/8, 1/10 s, ISO 320
I really like this last shot. Walking back towards the house through my favourite local woods the low afternoon sun and slight mist caught my eye through the trees. Taking care to hide the direct sun behind a tree I shot an exposure bracket (again, +/- 2 EV), combined as an HDR image in ON1 Photo Raw. The snow on the ground and the high branches (you had to look back didn't you?) really set it off.

So, that's my December photography so far. How's yours going? What weather have you got? Are you able to get out still?