New Image: "Sheltered in Velvet"
We still don't have much in terms of travel plans, so in addition to shooting houseplants and nearby landscapes, I'm taking the opportunity to dig in my image library for photos that I've overlooked in the past, to see if there is something worth editing. I really enjoyed "finding" this one, a shot I took during a short hike at Olympic National Park. I remember this being a pretty quick capture as we were finishing our hike. I noticed the light falling on this little tree and, after a little hesitation, decided it was worth stopping - and unpacking my camera again - to capture it. The reason I hesitated was because the subject being illuminated didn't have much character... It's very thin and scraggly, and it's hard to quickly visually "understand" its form and extents. However, the light and the framing were special enough to have captured my attention, so I took the image. Now, a year and a half later, upon finding it, it strikes me as a stronger composition that I remembered. The lesson here is, if something catches your eye, it's worth taking the photo! Most images that I love have come this way, rather than pre-planned shots.
Technical Information
It was fairly dark in the old growth forest, so I shot this on my tripod using a 1/6 second shutter at f/8 (and ISO 100, since I was on a tripod and there was no wind). I had a lot of distractions to eliminate, including the hiking path itself, so I had to balance that with my desire to include more of the "velvety" framing elements. I framed the shot at 81mm with my Canon EF70-300 f/4-5.6L IS USM.
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