Trees technique

[koraks]

I can't really comment, because I don't go beyond snapshots. I just walk around and take home what grabs me. What can I say?

[Vaughn]

I love trees and have worked with Vaughn in the Redwoods several times and I am a dedicated carbon printer as well...

Get busy developing those Alabama Hills rocks films! I have 11x14 film I exposed over a year ago still to develop! great oaks!

[Lenny Eiger]

In the same way that "no man is an island" neither are trees. Trees live in a world that is connected, just like us. They might lean to the left, maybe because there is a rock blocking the way to the water, or maybe its because there are prevailing winds. They are surround by their world, a particular kind of light, the other types of things that grow there, water, the animals that live there, etc. IMO, good photographs are borne of understanding.

If the understanding is something we all understand, then it becomes a "universal" understanding. If its subtle, and reveals itself by your photo, then the photo has a fair amount of effect, perhaps making us feel that we all know something together... as humans, about something.

The only way to accomplish this is to "see". I do my best when I get to some place to stick my hands in the dirt, get the drive in the car, my work life, etc., out of my system; and see nature, in nature's light. It's a type of hyper focusing. If you can get in tune with what's happening around you, listen closely, see more deeply, then the photographs will come.

I'd try looking at something else besides Adams and Sexton. IF you want contemporary, Paul Caponigro was very good at this. I also like the work of O'Sullivan, Weston and Frederick Evans. For design, I look to the photos of the PhotoSecession. Design is important in landscape, its not easy to separate out the exact concept you are attempting to talk about.

Hope this helps.

Lenny

[Greg Miller]

As a general rule, I photograph trees when the sun is low on the horizon (preferably filtered by clouds). The low angle of the sun works well on tree trunks so that one side of the trunks have light and the light gradually wraps around to a shaded side. This gives the viewers' brains visual clues to the dimensionality of the trees on the 2 dimensional print. Much like a portrait of a person.

[sanking]

"As a general rule, I photograph trees when the sun is low on the horizon (preferably filtered by clouds)."

I also like to photograph trees with the sun low on the horizon, or with the sun just below the horizon. Very soft light from mist, fog, or smog, also works well in many cases, especially when there is some back light.

The feature that attracts me most in determining if I want to photograph a certain tree is the elegance of the lines of the limbs, roots and trunk, or special quality of the leaves. If this works, I can usually find a way to make a nice photograhh of the subject.

In terms of study, some of my best pictures of trees have been "snaps" in that I saw immediately the potential of the photograph, and captured the image within a few minutes. Even so, many of my images, whether from digital capture of film scans, receive a fair amount of crafting in PS to enhance tonal relationships.

Sandy

[Kirk Gittings]

I'd try looking at something else besides Adams and Sexton. IF you want contemporary, Paul Caponigro was very good at this. I also like the work of O'Sullivan, Weston and Frederick Evans.

George Tice too. This image in the flesh is breathtaking.I'd try looking at something else besides Adams and Sexton. http://www.photographydealers.com/wp...ee-Holmdel.jpg

[sanking]

And some interesting work with trees by Beth Moon, a bit on the exotic and unusual side.

http://www.bethmoon.com

Sandy

[Drew Wiley]

Trees can become anything you wish. People like Stieglitz turned them into dark subconscious "equivalents", others turn them into anthropomorphisms, others into texture studies, some into graphics experiments with distribution of shapes and shadows. Me.. all the above plus a helluva lot more. Technique-wise, I love chasing the constantly shifting interplay of light and shadow, which can change every few seconds. .. Beating the wind. I lost to the wind last week. Pulled the 8x10 neg out of the wash water last nite and noticed that the wind had blown my lenshade in and cropped out a top corner. So thought to myself, I'll just crop that whole side, print the thing vertically instead of horizontally, and what the heck - the image actually looks better that way. With 8x10 you've got a lot of real estate to work with, esp if it's only enlarged to 16x20. Soft lighting brings different opportunities. There are no standard rules. Invent your own.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

"I'd try looking at something else besides Adams and Sexton"

I do, and its right here on the pages of this forum! Its called "Post your trees" in the Image Sharing (LF) thread.

[David_Senesac]

With trees my task is not about technique but rather locating exceptional subjects and then capturing them in good light. Once located a specific woodly subject may be imaged using the similar photographic techniques as with other landscapes. With any tree given their variable graphic shapes, the finer task is to with patience, find a tripod position for a most aesthetic result.

Generally a common issue with most species is that they are not isolated subjects but exist within woods and forest in ways that limit what is possible. Photographing any sizable landscapes down under forest understories in sunny conditions is usually hopelessly contrasty unless one has diffuse cloud overcast light.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/images/print_06-HH-53.html

Even better in our dense forests are intimate subject trees in cloud or fog. Here I use one tree species, the giant coast redwood back lit as silhouetted background and bright fog to display the dainty rhododendron.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_B/14-G-14.jpg

At the other extreme, species like Sierra juniper, foxtail pine, or bristlecone pine living in isolation at timberlines, atop ridgelines, and on rocky outcrops, sunny conditions are not an issue but rather orientation of the sun. In these remote environments tis the better hunter rambling about that may find a prize.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_B/06-Y-12.jpg

For more intimate tree subjects one ought understand that wet wood often has more saturated color just like some wet rocks such that the best conditions are just after rains. Below for this manzanita subject I'd surveyed, drove back out one Sunday morning then hiked in rain suit a couple miles just as a rain front passed.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_B/10-A-2.jpg

Of course much more better suited for commentary in a coffee table "Tree Book". So again the issue is not so much about unusual technique but rather subject and light.

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/Spring_2...ng_2015-1.html