It seems to have happened so quickly, that just a few days ago the new growth on the hardwoods and conifers of the Smokies had unfurled to reveal a fresh season of green; but now summer has arrived way ahead of time. In the last week of April, on an otherwise sunny day, I visited Middle Prong of Little River in the Tremont section of the Park in late-mid-afternoon. There were just enough floating stratocumuli to break the worst of the contrast, but I decided to use them to my advantage, so I waited until a small one diffused a bit of the direct light, in particular, lighting the sycamores on river right while shading the trees on river left. I was prepared with my composition and had taken a couple of test images to help gauge my exposure settings and to determine where my ultimate values should be. When the cloud reduced the overall light, the exposure was just what I wanted, so I released the shutter and then made a couple of spare files to have before the cloud floated past. There is a lot of information in the scene, so careful placement of elements was necessary for the outcome, most importantly deciding what to exclude and how. A focal length of 45mm, a “normal” focal length, gave me the angle of view I wanted. An aperture of f/14, given the camera-to-subject distance, gave sufficient depth-of-field. And a shutter speed of 1/6th second at ISO 100 gave me an overall medium exposure.
It looks like a great day for a walk in the park. I like your choice of focal length and time of day. It makes everything seem very real. The light is illuminating the spring green, the C curve with an opening between two larger rocks in the foreground create an invitation to explore more. A perfect place on a perfect day. Thanks for sharing.
The composition is awesome. I love the way you used the natural light to balance the colors.
Hi Nancy T. and Jessyca. Thank you both for joining me for this conversation. I agree with both of you that this was a very interesting day for this kind of imagery. If it had not been for the number and size of the passing clouds, I might have decided to think about something different, but there was enough shading created so that the contrast seemed like something I could work with. I’m glad both of you liked the composition; as I mentioned in the description, it was as much about what was not included as about what was. Nancy T. thanks for pointing out how the big rocks on either side of the river serve to emphasize the “C”-curve as it disappears around the point, And thanks too for reminding us that the light is illuminating river right, which the cloud has shaded the trees on river left, but that the result has mainly been the creation of a tonal change in the green. The light isn’t extremely dramatic, but it does serve to illustrate what can be done even with rather mundane illumination, if you work with it. Jessyca, thanks for your kind words and your observation on the use of natural light to create something other than a postcard. Balance is one of the principles of graphic design that I try to emphasize to my students. Thanks, again, to both of you for your helpful comments and observations.