Shelly in the woods
November 22nd, 2006
Here’s Shelly again in the North Carolina woods. She did a great job looking beautiful and comfortable when it was fairly cold while we were shooting. It was a sunny day which creates some limitations and some opportunities for photography.
Many photographers talk about the “golden hour,” that time a lovely light near the end of the day. Many say that you can’t really take photos in the middle of the day. While it certainly is easier to shoot when the sun is at an angle, I disagree about shooting at other times. To me, there is no “good” or “bad” light. Light may be easy or challenging. But there are always ways to use the light that is available. I’ve found the somewhat limited dynamic range of digital cameras to be an advantage in difficult light. All you need is a bit of a vision for what you are trying to achieve in the image…previsualization, if you will…and an understanding of how your camera renders tones…a bit of knowledge about the zone system…and the ability to read the histogram that digital cameras provide. I enjoy exposing to hold detail in the highlights while allowing the shadows to go dark. There is detail in those shadows if you want to pull it up, but I find the altered representation of the sunny scene…transformed into a dark and mysterious world…is much more interesting than an accurate representation of what the eye sees.
The trip was a good one. I traveled 5,335 miles in 17 days, driving a total of 86 and ½ hours. Thanks to Deb, Morgan, Alden and Linda, and Mike and Mel for giving me places to stay. And thanks to Cathleen, Amy Jo, Rose, Echoed Light, and Shelly for modeling and helping me make some fine images. I’ll be on the road again before long. Think I’m going to have to find a way to get to a warmer place for a while this winter.
I’m having all sorts of internet issues since arriving home. Something has happened to my web site and all the pages of photos seem to be gone. Don’t know if it was hacked and attacked, or if there is just some problem with the web host. Haven’t gotten any response from my webmaster yet. And, as noted before, AT&T/YAHOO screwed up my internet access and took way too long to fix it yesterday. But at least that’s working again.
Leave a Reply