There are two contrasting and often mutually exclusive ideas in photographic composition: include only what you want and make the subject the subject—always a good starting point; and, give your subject some room to provide context. My eye tends toward the latter, something that nearly always “gets in the way” when I enter a photo contest and the judge says “I would have cropped that closer”. The left image is straight from the camera and my framing of the image on the spot. It certainly does give context. Upon study, there are distracting elements in the composition that deter from the subject and don’t provide any worthwhile context: the out-of-focus bright leaves along the base of the image definitely detract as they eye is drawn to them, especially with the arrow-like form of the goat’s beard bottom right. There is more tree than necessary on the left to frame the subject. So I’ve cropped the image just a bit on the right to get ride of the annoying bottom clutter and which gives a bit more emphasis to the reddish stick bottom right. Were it facing left, instead of right, it would serve to point the eye in the right directions, toward the devil’s club. This image is stronger.
Framing here is straight from the camera, but the image has been worked on significantly. My exposure on the very reflective leaf surface blew away all detail at the expense of the subject for its mossy bed. The leaf is my subject so I backed way off on the exposure of the entire scene and still required “burning in” some more detail on the leaf with the adjustment brush. I’m one who does very little, if any, “gardening” (removing items that might be distracting to the image) as my eye as a naturalist is stronger than my eye as a photographer. My intent is to capture the image my eye saw, not some much the image that I created.
A good beginning point is to approach your subject from its level. While I’ve gotten low to the ground for both, the image on the left is still looking down on the tiny mushroom where on the right I’m at its level. Which is preferred? Takes you pick. I had to do some cropping of the right as above the cap was a very bright background element that seriously detracted my eye. With a human subject one can, and is expected, to control all the background to make sure it complements the subject. With nature, this is difficult at best and, to my naturalist’s eye, a bit deceiving.
A very wet day in a long stream of wet days has a strong flow over the sometimes just weepy rock face. This 1/15th second exposure is surely at the bottom end of my hand-holding ability (I don’t usually carry a tripod on tours). I chose it to get a look of water flowing as the various leaping off points create a collection of bright spots that please my eye as they lead to streams that do look like they’re flowing. This is a shorter exposure than I usually take here, but at 1/125th or 1/250th second the sharply defined water drops give no sense of flow. Longer than 1/15th results in the cotton candy look I despise. This is a scene with lots of elements when viewing the entire falls that requires care.
It’s not raining at the moment, but the sky is thick and leaden with moisture all the way to the ground below the thick deck of clouds. This is not exactly the image that the cruise lines include in their promotional material! They want a “chamber of commerce” clear and sunny day. With 278 overcast days and 230 with precipitation, that weather is not common here. Today’s is pretty common, a pleasing image. (The ice bergs make it).
Walking back to the van, the fireweed along the sidewalk catch my eye with their vibrant colors. Fall has been showing itself with far richer colors than I’ve experienced here in the past and the yellows, oranges, reds and purples of this kaleidoscopic view of one of our most common plants I find compelling.
I didn’t take a single photo out on the water today! Not that many whales (we’re loosing whales every day this time of year to their southward migration) and the dull sky simply made for a yucky photo day.