Story Behind Image

Flowering Tree in Spring /  by Todd Henson

A flowering tree in early Spring

In early Spring flowering trees of many varieties begin blooming. During a hike a couple weeks back I photographed the flowers of one of these trees. I don’t know the specific variety, but I think they’re beautiful, as so many of them are.

The tree, and many others like it, were along the edge of a gravel road. Typically the road is part of a wildlife drive visitors can use to explore a small portion of the refuge by car. But the road was blocked off and only allowed hikers because of a pair of nesting eagles further down the road who have been returning to this location for a number of years. In fact, the road is completely blocked, even for hikers, just a little beyond this point to protect the eagles.

To help the flowers really stand out I found an attractive grouping of them standing against a darker background, a group of trees a bit further back and in the shade. The trees didn’t have many leaves yet so it was mostly a dark stand of tree trunks and shrubs. If you photograph a very light subject, like these flowers, against a very dark background, like the trees, and you expose for the lighter flowers, then the background can be made to go very dark, sometimes almost completely black. That’s what happened here. Later in post I adjusted the exposure to further lighten the flowers and darken the background, but it didn’t take much as most of this happened naturally in camera.

Showing the flowers in the context of the path through the refuge

Here is another photograph that shows the flowers in context, with the road leading down towards the eagle’s nest. You can see the darker lines of trees I was referring to. Just a slight shift in perspective, from facing the road and the lighter sky, to facing the dark line of trees, can make a huge difference in the look of the photo.

I hope you and yours are staying safe and healthy.

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Cherry Blossoms by the Jefferson Memorial /  by Todd Henson

Cherry Blossoms by the Jefferson Memorial

Spring has come to the region and it’s the time of year when many flowering trees bloom, such as the famous cherry trees in Washington, DC. There are usually many events surrounding the cherry trees, most associated with the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. But this year will be different. Many, if not all, of the events have been cancelled. I don’t know what the scene will look like this year, and I don’t expect I’ll be a part of it, but I thought I’d share how the scene looked in the Spring of 2011.

This photo was taken on April 2, 2011, along the shore of the Tidal Basin facing the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. I liked how the cherry blossoms reached overtop the paved path, hanging over the water, with people walking below them, sometimes stopping to photograph a group of blossoms. I was pleased to capture a couple of paddle boats in the scene. And I chose to partially obscure the Jefferson Memorial with the cherry blossoms. On this day there was still construction at the waterfront of the memorial. I’d have liked to capture an image without construction, but it doesn’t stand out too much, and it is what it is.

Overall, I’m pleased with the outcome, though I worry I may have done too much in post-processing. I worked on this image more than I do most, trying to create a realistic impression of the scene, but also push it a bit, trying for a more three dimensional look, enhancing contrast and color. It’s always a fine line when trying to create art as an idealized view of life, reflecting more what we felt at the time than exactly what we saw.

Let me know in the comments below whether you feel I pushed too far in post, or whether you think it works as it is. Would you have done anything differently?

Wherever you are I wish you well. Stay safe, and stay healthy!

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Soft Autumn Bliss /  by Todd Henson

Soft Autumn Bliss

Fall is fading, and with it go the yellows, oranges, and reds of autumn, falling with the leaves of each color. Autumn can have a dream-like quality at times, that transition between the various shades of green to more of a clustering of dark greens interspersed amongst the browns and blacks of bare trunks.

And so I wanted to create an image with a piece of that dream-like quality, something that spoke of the season but in a whimsical way. I was thinking about using one of my Singh-Ray I-Ray infrared filters to help create the softer, more ethereal quality that would shift the image from reality more towards dream. But I didn’t want to lose the beautiful autumn color. So I shot two photographs and combined them in Photoshop.

The first photograph was a natural light image, one in which I was fortunate to capture a special little surprise for those of you who find it. The second photograph was a black and white infrared image created with the Singh-Ray I-Ray 830 infrared filter, which blocks out all visible and ultraviolet light. The filter requires a long exposure time so in addition to the soft infrared glow I might also have had a bit of movement in the leaves when any breeze blew by, further softening the image.

In Adobe Photoshop I overlaid the infrared image atop the natural light image and combined the two, adjusting how much to show of each, finally arriving at the soft colorful look you see. Then I selectively removed the infrared look from specific parts of the image, mostly tree trunks, branches, and that special little surprise I mentioned before.

This is not a style of photography I practice often, leaning more towards the artistic side and using creative license in manipulating the image. But I very much enjoyed the process of visualizing what I’d like to create, thinking through how to do it, heading out into the field and finding a scene that fit the vision, and then playing around in the post-processing sandbox.

I think working on images like this, ones that differ from your usual creations, can be a great way to help ease yourself out of creative slumps. It gives you something new to try, has you thinking and seeing in different ways. And even if the end result isn’t a keeper it can still be a lot of fun and a real learning experience.

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Do you periodically try something completely different than you’re used to? How has that worked for you? And if you don’t do this, give it a try sometime and let me know how it works out.