Jul 13, 2016, 15:42
It was our last session of this term, so the photography group went up a local hill to take a few close-up / macro landscapes. Got quite a few I was pleased with. Here are a couple to be going on with:
![[Image: 28188023042_3fd65295b3_z.jpg]](https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7340/28188023042_3fd65295b3_z.jpg)
![[Image: 28291989995_6f6f642731_z.jpg]](https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7633/28291989995_6f6f642731_z.jpg)
![[Image: 28188016902_f2de089979_z.jpg]](https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7310/28188016902_f2de089979_z.jpg)
Jul 13, 2016, 16:45
Great series, care to explain the technique / approach for the 2nd one?
Jul 14, 2016, 01:17
Thanks Craig.
There was nothing special about the second one except spotting a shaft of sunlight coming through the trees and illuminating some nettles. The light was extremely bright, but very directional - much like a spotlight on a stage. You can actually see this light shaft in the first attachment below. I took lots of shots trying to find just the right angle of view, and spookily, once I got the right angle lady luck again stepped in because the background was now a tree trunk, which came out almost black. This, combined with the shadows, meant I had to do hardly any PP to get that black background.
The shot was 1/400th, ISO 100, f/6.3 on a 90mm macro lens (135mm in full frame money). I'm on a tripod as most shots were taken at very slow shutter speeds, but here that light beam was so bright I took shot after shot, upping the speed each time, until I got the effect I was after.
The second attachment below illustrates almost the same effect, but there's a shadow across the leaf that I didn't like. In other shots the out-of-focus branch in the top right was actually touching the nettles (see first attachment again) and I wanted the three elements separate to give the effect of three things floating in the darkness. So one more degree of turn and we're there.
Cheers
Derek
There was nothing special about the second one except spotting a shaft of sunlight coming through the trees and illuminating some nettles. The light was extremely bright, but very directional - much like a spotlight on a stage. You can actually see this light shaft in the first attachment below. I took lots of shots trying to find just the right angle of view, and spookily, once I got the right angle lady luck again stepped in because the background was now a tree trunk, which came out almost black. This, combined with the shadows, meant I had to do hardly any PP to get that black background.
The shot was 1/400th, ISO 100, f/6.3 on a 90mm macro lens (135mm in full frame money). I'm on a tripod as most shots were taken at very slow shutter speeds, but here that light beam was so bright I took shot after shot, upping the speed each time, until I got the effect I was after.
The second attachment below illustrates almost the same effect, but there's a shadow across the leaf that I didn't like. In other shots the out-of-focus branch in the top right was actually touching the nettles (see first attachment again) and I wanted the three elements separate to give the effect of three things floating in the darkness. So one more degree of turn and we're there.
Cheers
Derek
Jul 14, 2016, 04:42
Super Derek, right place, right time, and, handled competently. Ed.
Jul 14, 2016, 13:17
Great shots, but that middle one is exceptional. Love it.