"Joel" <Joel@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:bmj4s35vrcitiahakvobnhp942olpo4r4t@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Ken Hart" <kwhart1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> <snip>
>> Also, use those lines individually: For example, If you are taking a
>> photo
>> of a tree, don't put the tree in the middle, put it at one of the
>> vertical
>
> Well, *if* you take picture of ONE tree then where you gonna put it?
Joel, that is an awesome question.
In order to decide where I'm gonna put that tree, I first have to decide
what it is about that tree that demands I take its picture. And, for
that,
I need to imagine what I would find interesting in a single tree.
First, if I were to snap a shot of a single tree, I would try to imagine
what type of location would have a single tree that was photogenic enough
for me to devote a few megs of storage space. Obviously, it's not going
to
be in a forest, because I can't imagine one tree being so special that I
would take the time and expend the energy needed to isolate it from its
fellows. No, the tree would have to be in an unusual location, or at
least
in a location where it would dominate the scene and perhaps iconicize some
ideal I hold im****tant.
As I open my mind's eye, I see a desert scene. No, no dunes and scrubby
cactus, I'm visualizing a place that's more on the edge of a desert where
wind tangled trees start to make a stand.
The tree is almost the same colour as the sand, so I can't have it in the
lower part of a picture; instead, it needs to be up in the skyline. This
demands that the skyline be pushed down to the lower third of the image
area.
So, now I'm looking at a tree that's jutting -- no sweeping -- up from the
drabby, sparsely vegetated soil into a nearly void area, which isn't good.
Something is needed to juxtapose against the tree in order to give it
meaning.
The easiest thing to put into the sky is a bird, maybe a vulture, but the
scene is starting to get too morbid. I don't want this image to be
symbolic
of death -- which is where it's heading. I want it to be more of a
celebration of stamina and perseverance. So, I nix the bird and start
dragging some clouds in from the side. But, which side?
Well, this is determined by where my tree is placed, which is the point of
this whole visualization thing. Thus, I have to take a closer look at my
tree.
It's on the edge of a desert, and winds have been whipping around it for
many years. Accordingly, it's kind of pushed over a bit, and leaning to
one
side -- the left side.
Okay, now I've got a problem. The tree is leaning to the left, which
means
the desert is on the right, but I'm going to need to put the tree on the
right because I want it flowing into the image area and not toward the
edge.
This means I'm going to have to cut the desert out of the picture, right?
Well, maybe not. If I use a really wide-angle lens, I can possibly
squeeze
in a bit of the desert sifting in from the right while simultaneously
exagerating the tendril like threads of the trees branches as they reach
across the central part of the picture, and a bit towards the rear.
Hey, I like that.
Now, I need to think about light. Where is it coming from? What is it
like, soft, medium or harsh.
This is where I have to pause for a moment and start layering in a few
different special effects.
At first, I thought that a dark stringy silhouette reaching across the
image would look good, but then I changed my mind. The tree is old,
weather-worn, and full of character, so I want to bring that character to
the fore. So, I need either some split lighting where one side is a fair
bit lighter than the other, or I need some fairly soft light that will
contrast with the harshness of the pictorial elements.
Whenever I try to use the split lighting in my mind, I'm faced with the
problem of which side does the light come from, and how will the shadow
affect the image.
I could possibly use the shadow as a foil (to borrow a literary term) to
the
tree, but that would mean that I'd have to give more ground room to the
shadow, and that would entail moving the skyline up to the middle or top
third of the image, which I'm not keen on. It could work. But I just
can't
picture it. I'm going for the wide open, wind-swept western look here,
and
raising the terrain starts to close things in too much.
So, I opt for a softer, more surreal approach. And, the time becomes
sunset -- a little hack-kneed maybe, but it works for me.
Now, I want to add some meaning to this shot.
On its own, a tangled tree with a sunset in the background might make a
nice
postcard, but I want something better than that. Besides, putting the
sunset behind the tree means I have to use a fill flash to bring out
detail
on the close side, or else I'm back to the silhouette again. Therefore, I
move the sunset off to the left. I could put the sun on the right, but
that
would throw the balance off. The right would be bright and have the tree.
The left would be darker, and have nothing but sky and a bit of clouds.
Once again, the overall mood would start taking a nosedive. Brightening
the
left with the dull glow of the sun along the horizon makes the time
indeterminate (unless you know the area). Is it sunset or dawn? It could
be either. For me, it's sunset, but you as the observer might take it to
be
early morning. But, I want a positive feeling regardless of what time you
think it is,
Which is why I said earlier that the tree is reaching back into the
picture
as it flows across to the left. This makes it look like the tree is
reaching towards the sun, and it invokes our elementary grade-school
lessons
that plants tend to turn towards the sun. So, we have a bit more
complexity
in the environment. The wind has swept the tree in one direction, but
that
direction is where the light is coming from. So, has the tree yielded to
the wind? Or, is it gaining strength from the sun. We can't say for sure
because the interconnections of our environment are simply too complicated
for us to say with any certainty which factors determine what effects. In
some cases we can say with some degree of authority what is happening, but
not in all, and this picture illustrates one situation where we see that
we
have a number of forces at work on an object, but the end result simply
gives us something to think about, and maybe a bit of inspiration because
we
see that the tree has used one force to survive against the other.
Now, I didn't exactly have that theme in mind when I started this
exercise,
but it grew out of my desire to imagine why I would want to photograph one
tree, and how I would do it.
So, Joel, in answer to your question, I'd put the tree at the lower right
junction of the horizontal and vertical grid lines, but it would grow up
and
towards the upper left junction, which would be above and in front of a
glowing horizon.
At least I'd do it that way this time. The next time I do it, I might
think
of a tree that has fallen across a stream...
Now, I have another picture to track down and photograph.
Thanks, Joel, for the inspiration.
Dudley
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