composition

Sometimes a Tree Fascinates Me /  by Todd Henson

The more time we spend around trees the more opportunities we have to see something interesting. Trees are like people. As much as any two of them may at first look alike, each one is different and unique, and the more time we spend around them the easier it’ll be to see and appreciate these differences. Today, though, I’m not thinking so much of those subtle differences you really have to look for, but instead I’m thinking about those trees that immediately stand out as different.

How did it grow this way?

The tree in the photo above is an example. How did it grow this way? It’s almost as if it were intentionally growing into a large bench for tired and adventurous hikers to rest on. Was there perhaps something below it when it first started growing, and now whatever that was is gone leaving this unusual horizontal growth and a second trunk growing vertically from it? And look at that little knee joint at the corner. I do like how you can see some of the large roots growing out below the second trunk seemingly to give more support and balance. This is a good sized tree so there’s a lot of weight in the second trunk.

Creekside tree

I’m often drawn to trees that grow along the bank of a creek. Frequently, you can see more of the root system and sometimes the trunks will grow in different ways. In the case of the tree above it’s not all that strange or unusual but I still find myself drawn to it, along with the fallen tree resting horizontally above the water.

Coming together

In the photo above we see two trunks coming back together, fuzed into one another. I didn’t think to photograph the tree at ground level to see if perhaps it’s a single tree that splits into multiple trunks. Either way, though, I found it interesting how one trunk branches out and then somehow attaches itself to and merges with another trunk.

The Troll

And I’ll leave it up to you to determine what you see, if anything, in the photo above. Trees often develop growths and sometimes they take on shapes that resemble other things, similar to clouds or rock formations. I don’t currently know what causes these growths. My guess would be they are similar to cancer in humans, but I’ve yet to do any research on the topic. If you happen to know please comment below.

So all these examples are my long-winded way of saying, sometimes a tree fascinates me. 😀

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Considering Composition for a Wild Geranium /  by Todd Henson

Finding a pleasing composition can take some effort. There are so many options, so many ways of arranging all the elements in the frame even when photographing only what nature provides. You can choose what to include, what to exclude, what angle to use, how close or far from the subject. Sometimes a single composition immediately stands out, you just know that’s how you want your photograph to look. But other times it can be more challenging.

Today’s images present an example of a scene that I struggled with. There was a beautiful pink wild geranium against some lovely green leaves. Simple, right? Why would something like this present a challenge?

I consider the first image I made the opening scene. It contains all the elements, but I didn’t necessarily put a lot of thought into it yet, beyond capturing this lovely flower.

1 - Wild geranium and green

Then I wondered if maybe I was showing a little too much greenery. Perhaps I could move the camera a little closer to the flower, or crop the image after the fact. The flower is centered, there’s lots of green leaves on the left and just a little hint of leaves to the right. As an interesting side note, I don’t believe the leaves on the left are those of the geranium, but I believe those on the right are.

2 - A centered wild geranium

Was I still showing too much? Was that little bit of vine-like growth on the leaf to the left adding anything to the composition or distracting from it? Would zooming in a bit more create a more pleasing image? How about moving the flower just a bit to the left so it wasn’t dead center? Maybe I should have found a way to move it even more to the left (or to the right)?

3 - Slightly off-centered wild geranium

Then I realized the flower and that small leaf beside it might be an interesting combination, so I recomposed to line up both of these. The depth of field was fairly shallow so I didn’t get both of them perfectly in focus, but I thought the composition was interesting.

4 - Wild geranium aligned with a leaf

What would happen if I simply flipped the image on its side with the leaf down below and the flower up top? This gives a slightly different feel than the horizontal arrangement.

5 - Wild geranium vertical

I don’t have any good answers for you this time. I didn’t end up with a single composition that stood out to me far more than the others. Instead there were several that I found interesting but I still don’t know exactly how I feel about any of them. That’s one reason why it often helps to let photos sit for a while. But I figured this time instead of doing that I’d share some of the thoughts I go through when composing some of my photographs. Sometimes they are very conscious thoughts as I compose but other times they are more a flow of feeling as I explore without really thinking.

What do you think? Does one of these stand out to you more than the others? Do none of them work for you? Can you think of other compositions you might have tried given what you’re able to see of the scene?

Regardless of any of that, though, I hope you enjoyed seeing what I find to be a very beautiful wild flower that blooms around here in the spring. I found this one in Prince William Forest Park on May 12th of 2022.

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A Fly on the Rail /  by Todd Henson

A fly on the rail at a local wetlands park

When heading out to photograph nature with a long telephoto lens most photographers, including myself, would be on the lookout for wildlife of some sort: birds, maybe deer, a shy fox, perhaps. But I try to keep my eyes open for anything because long lenses work great for other subjects, as well.

I was walking along the boardwalk of my favorite wetlands park. They have a slightly elevated section with a larger observation area with railing and benches. I was heading down the boardwalk from here towards the section flat against the water with no railing. And just before the railing ended I noticed a large fly, sitting on the metal rail. It remained where it was as I walked by, so I turned around, setup the tripod, and began photographing this patient little subject. I liked the angle of the railing and the interesting light patterns in the background. And, of course, flies are always fascinating subjects when viewed closer than we typically see them. Click on the image to see a larger view of the photo.

If you’re curious about the technical details I was using my 200-400mm lens at almost 400mm with a 1.4x teleconverter giving a focal length of 550mm. On a crop sensor body like my Nikon D500 this gives a 35mm equivalent focal length of 825mm. That’s a fair bit of reach.

My lens has a minimum focusing distance of around 6.5 feet, and I’d moved in as close as I could get. I set the aperture to f/8 to give the photo a little depth of field but still completely blur the background. I probably could have stopped down a bit more and gotten more of the fly in focus. This would have dropped the shutter speed or forced me to raise the ISO, but I had room for both in this situation.

With the light conditions what they were I had the ISO set to 400, giving me a shutter speed of 1/400 sec. I don’t like to let the shutter speed drop too low with this long lens, even when on a tripod. Too many chances of vibration blurring the image. I have a mild case of essential tremor, so there’s always a risk of me introducing vibration, which a long lens will amplify. And the fly was on railing attached to the boardwalk, which can vibrate far more than you’d think when people are walking on it nearby.

When photographing in this situation I tend to wait for folks to walk by and let the boardwalk settle before shooting. Then I try to focus on my breathing to calm myself and relax. And I very often put the shutter in burst mode and shoot in short bursts of 2-4 shots at a time. This can be a waste of frames and creates many more images I must sort through when I get home, but it also increases the chances that one of those frames will be more in focus than the others, so it’s often worth the extra effort.

Next time you’re out in the field, whether photographing or just out for a walk, look around you. Really focus on your surroundings. What do you see that most of us might overlook and walk by? Is there a chance it might make an interesting composition if you had a camera with you? Practice this exercise as often as you can, train yourself to see more in the world. I do this all the time but still have so much to learn. I see photographers I admire create compositions I doubt I ever would have seen the potential in, and yet they create something absolutely fantastic. We can do that, too, if we better learn how to see.