Category: trees

8

Majestic Pines

Ahh, wide angle trees. This is the True North, what I remember about driving to Grandma & Grandpa's house as a kid — miles and miles of pine trees. It the sun is low enough, the flickering light of the shadows can really make you dizzy. Composition notes: I was playing with the intersecting edges of the the sky/clouds and trees/sky. I set the top edge of the trees at an angle across the frame and the clouds cross it. These angles create interest and move the eye around. When you are working with large compositions, look at the corners and where edges point. By having intersecting lines and strong lines that move across the frame, you can create a more interesting image. Question for y'all: I'm thinking of offering desktop backgrounds of some of my photos, any interest? If so, which are your favorite pictures? No get out there and take some great pictures!

8

The Cold North Lake

I took this picture Saturday in Northern Wisconsin. It was three degrees above zero and I was on my snowshoes. I wandered the lake and took a few pictures. I was waiting for a dramatic sunset, but all it did was get dark. The best part: I was on a chain of lakes. The water moves under the ice as it flows through the lake systems and makes strange thumping sounds under the ice. Not as fun as hearing it crack when it's really cold (zero is warm up here). The super-cold cracking is absolutely terrifying. Mom: I know, I know, but there were snowmobile tracks on the lake, so it was OK right?

5

Blue Oak

My experimenting with the Tamron 11-18mm ultra-wide continues. I found this giant burr oak along the Minnesota River Valley while chasing woodpeckers. It's a lot of fun switching from 300mm to 11mm lenses. A shift in perspective is an understatement. The shape of this tree and the stark texture of the bark inspired me to change the colors. The power of the blue sky was being diminished by the bland brown of the tree, so I made the tree monochrome. This kept the texture but lost the bland brown (which played such a critical roll in yesterday's image). Yes, I pumped up the blue, but not much. It's fun to play with an image in post, but you should have a reason or logic behind your decisions. Before you start messing with it, ask yourself: what are the strengths and weaknesses of the original image? How can I play them up or down? Are you using Lightroom? If so, let me know, I'm really enjoying it and still discovering the power of the fantastic program.

5

Tamron 11-18mm Ultra-Wide

First day with the new lens. I chose the Tamron 11-18mm Ultra-Wide because it has the least barrel distortion of all the less-expensive ultras. The weather wasn't cooperating with me, all I had was a gray Minnesota morning to work with. This is the Northwestern bay of Lake of the Isles, that thing in the lower left is a rock sitting on the ice. Yes, ice. The lake is beginning to freeze over. So far I like the lens and will be putting more images from it on the site. My first reaction to the images from it was that there didn't seem to be a wow factor, but I'm expecting something unusual from the images — they just look normal, which was what I was wanted when I bought the lens. No fisheye effect, just a nice undistorted image that I didn't have to back up to take. Comically, I had to hang out over the railing to keep the pathway out of the image. It's just going to take some time to figure out the optimum subjects and uses for this beast. Check back tomorrow, the sky is blue and I'll see what I can find.

4

Darkness Descends over the Lake

If you breath deep, listen to the silence and and try to become one with the universe, you can hand-hold a camera still enough to take a shot like this.

1

Grand Red Oak Tree

Hug 'em, cut 'em, climb 'em either way, you gotta love 'em. Trees, glorious trees. They do so much for us: shelter, tools, heat, beauty and tasty clean oxygen. They patiently accept us and the squirrels, giving of themselves without complaint, but then, they are bigger than us. The most frustrating thing about the fall is how short the time is between when the trees turn color and when then winds from Canada blow them all off. I managed to get a few shots in before the oaks were stripped bare. Back in art school, one of the first lessons of landscapes is that trees are very hard to draw and make look real. There are so many patterns in how a tree grows that are very subtle. You look, you draw, when done, it looks like an arboreal burn victim. Working with Joe Paquet, a true master of trees, I learned about growth patterns, weight distribution, etc. Your ancient mind knows how a tree is put together, you don't. So drawing a tree can be like drawing a horse — not easy. That's what I like about photography. I don't have to convince you that it's a tree. I just have to find a way to find new views or simply celebrate it's splendid form. Here I found a couple classically-crooked oak limbs that eeked out an odd composition. The main limb runs right through the diagonal. If I drew this, you'd not believe it, but since it's a photo, you just ponder it. The trunk and the other branches create a nice vertical on the third and there you go. Yes, I was doing a composition dance below the tree to get this angle, but it was fun. Color. What's up? Yes, I changed the colors. I darkened and added vibrance to the sky. By bringing down the value of the sky, I closed the dynamic range of the image to support the darkness of the tree. If I had left the sky light, your eyes would not see the subtle texture in the bark and the leaves would have lost saturation. This is also why my site is black, I tend toward saturated color in my images and that looks better on a dark background. Think about a neon sign at night versus the day. Make time today to hug a tree. If the tree has lost it's leaves, it needs your love more than ever.

0

Sunday Afternoon in the Park with Debi

A leisurely Sunday walk is a nice way to mark the weekend. My friend Debi and I went to Theodore Wirth Park to enjoy the fall colors and take some pictures. The mighty oaks in this hill-top part of the park provide an autumnal setting for this picture. As I finished trying some classic straight-up-the-trunk shots of the trees, I looked over and Debi was standing in a pool of light, framed by this oak. Sure enough, the best shots just offer themselves up unannounced. There are actually two frames around her, the trees behind her and the big oak reaching its long limb over the whole image and its shadow. Speaking of shadows, it wasn't until I started studying oil painting with Joe Paquet that I started actually seeing shadows. It's amazing how much information about form comes to us from shadows. We automatically know the shape the shadow should be, and then interpret the curvature of the ground from the shape of the shadow. Always a snappy dresser, Debi was wearing a big wool sweater, the kind that seems to say "Yah sure, its cold, but at least I get to wear this fuzzy sweater, ya know." FYI: Though from Iowa, Debi can affect a truly impressive Minnesota accent. We ended our walk strolling through the Eloise Butler Wildflower Sanctuary. It's a nice little spot hidden in the park area. I drove past the sign for years, but only visited for the first time earlier this year. They have a cute little cabin for a visitor center and some nice little trails. But yesterday was the last day of the season, so you'll have to wait until April (yeah, that's six months away). So let the season of fuzzy sweaters, cross country skiing, building snowmen and warming up by the fire while drinking hot cocoa with the little marshmallows in it begin!

1

Minnesota Autumn Colors

AAAAGH! It's all coming to an end! Just like the fireworks grand finale, the best colors mean the end is near. Stiff wind and crisp air send a biblical shiver down the spine of any good Minnesotan. Remember 35 below? Yep, not far off. It's time for us proud citizens of the most Northern Metropolis to start thinking about snow tires, new car batteries and the high-tech members of the crowd to ponder the lithium batteries in our cameras. Will Mitchster.com survive the winter? If the batteries hold out and I can find my snowshoes. Until then, enjoy the colors, because soon there will be only one.

0

Golden Tree

A beautiful crisp fall morning awaited me today as I headed out to Lake of The Isles again for my walk. This elm on the North Branch of the lake was reaching out it's perfectly yellow boughs under the clear blue sky, begging for it's cameo. Something I have discovered is that the colors of leaves are very dependent on their background. Bright red leaves against a gray sky are very bland and unsaturated. Shooting up against the early-morning-dark blue sky (and a little post-processing) brings out the colors. Another way to do this is to find colorful trees against the darkness of a grove or forest. The black area between the leaves. The theory behind this is that colors of the same luminosity lose their impact when placed next to each other. Adding a dark line forces contrast into the colors and making them pop.

0

Fall Colors around Lake of the Isles, Minneapolis

A brief break in the rain and the desire to get a picture sent me out today to circle the lake. I walk around Lake of The Isles pretty much every day. Sometimes I bring the camera, but usually I don't. There's some kind of jinx thing going on that prevents cool things from happening when I have the camera. Now that the blog is officially up and running, I guess I'm going to have to bring the beast along with me. A Nikon D200 and lenses is a bit to carry, but it's probably easier to manage than a kid, a stroller and two dogs.