light

Lines of Light and Shadow in a Late Fall Forest /  by Todd Henson

Lines of light and shadow on the forest floor

The last weekend of November my father and I picked a trail we’d not hiked before, which can be a slightly risky thing as we don’t know exactly what to expect, and some of the trails through the park have a fair bit of elevation change to them, at least for us. But it’s also a bit exciting because we’ve no idea what we might discover and whether this might become a favorite trail we long to return to.

A brisk morning in the woods

What leaves are left

Being late November most of the leaves had fallen. It was a clear day which let the sunlight stream through the trees creating all kinds of interesting lines of light and shadow. The trail we chose happened to go directly into the sun, which is a bit of a mixed bag. It makes it a challenge to see clearly sometimes but it also let us see some great dynamic lighting effects.

Hiking into the sun

I’m sharing a small sampling of the photos I created that morning. I think I barely scratched the surface of the theme of lines of light and shadow in the forest. Any trail we took might present completely different scenery showcasing even more fascinating lines. I hope I can continue exploring this theme on future hikes. And I hope you enjoy the photos.

Looking back

And as a bonus, below is a photograph of the late November leaf litter. It’s mostly oak leaves of two different species, but there are also beech leaves, a lone red maple leaf, and I think I see a poplar in there, as well. These are some of the more common trees in this forest.

Late November leaf litter

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A Scintillating Spider Web /  by Todd Henson

A scintillating spider web

Light is everything in photography. Without it we wouldn’t have photography. So I watch for changing light and how this affects the scene in front of me. And sometimes I’m amazed by what light and nature create.

My father and I were hiking the Oak Ridge Trail in Prince William Forest Park one morning. As is often the case on these hikes, I wasn’t looking for anything specific to photograph, but instead remaining open to anything we stumbled across. I often travel with just a single lens which limits what I’m able to capture, but that sort of constraint can sometimes be a good thing (as is the lower weight and bulk of my pack!). On this morning I was carrying my 105mm macro lens, so naturally I was drawn to smaller subjects.

One thing that’s hard to overlook during early morning hikes are all the various spider webs (sometimes crossing right over the trail, so watch out!). It really is amazing just how many spiders are out there. We saw so many webs, each different, and from a wide variety of spider species.

Then we rounded a corner and noticed how the light was hitting this one special web, creating such beautiful scintillations, colors and shapes just twinkling and sparkling. It was like looking through one of those old kaleidoscopic tubes, twisting it and watching the colors and shapes swirling and changing.

I quickly pulled up my camera and tried to capture some of this incredible sight. I was hand-holding and it was early enough that this part of the forest was still fairly shaded. Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of wind, so the spider and its web weren’t moving too much, but I still needed to raise the ISO to between 1000 - 1600 to give me a shutter speed of between 1/80 to 1/320 of a second. I have a bit of a shake to my arms so it wasn’t a perfect situation and using a tripod would have been better, but sometimes there’s more benefit to the flexibility of not using a tripod.

Spider glow

A couple minutes later the scene had completely changed, all because of the shifting light. I continued photographing the same spider, which I believe to be a filmy dome spider. This time, though, the light was enough to light up just the spider, letting all else fade to black, the web almost invisible, the spider appearing to glow. It makes for a very different image, doesn’t it?

Clinging to the web

About a minute and a half later, and from a slightly different perspective, I created this final image. This time we can see the web, but with a very different look than the first image. In this one it’s far more simple, a multitude of little threads. I liked how you can see where the spider’s legs touch the web and how they sometimes pull on it just a little. Notice how different the spider looks in this light, too. You get a more detailed view of it, helping with identification.

Any light can be good light for photography. You just need to be open to the possibilities and willing to experiment. Always be aware of the light around you. It can shift and change in so many ways as the sun travels across the sky, clouds move in and out, trees sway back and forth. Spend some time in one location and notice how the light can change and how this affects the scene.

It’s a beautiful world out there!

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