One of my favorite times to take photos is during, or perhaps slightly after, a warm rain. Another one of the best times to go out and capture the world with a camera is in the morning. And still yet one more fantastic time for photos is in the fall when the leaves are changing colors. So when these conditions come together, the results can be almost magical. Not actually magical, but pretty cool nonetheless. I was walking around Theta Pond at OSU on a recent rainy afternoon when I saw a tree that was lit up like an Independence Day firework–just an explosion of red amidst all the greens and yellows surrounding it, and the first thing I thought of was what it would look like in a picture. But not just any picture, mind you: a blob of red leaves doesn’t make for a very interesting image. What I had in mind was something else as the subject, with a mass of blurry leaves in the background behind it. As I looked at the tree while I was walking, I thought about coming back to the same location the following morning when the sun would be low on the horizon to get a shot that just isn’t possible later in the day.
So as I left for work extra early the next day I had my trusty D750 with 105mm macro lens in tow, and instead of going to the office I first made a stop at the tree by the pond. I had to walk around a bit and look at things from a few different angles, but eventually I settled on a single yellow leaf just to the west of the red tree as my primary subject, with the glowing amber leaves behind it as the sun shone through them.
I’m not sure how much distance was between the subject and the background, but I would guess around 15 feet–whatever the number, it was enough to create a really good sense of separation between the yellow leaves and its crimson counterparts. I took a few dozen photos at various apertures, all roughly similar to what you see here in terms of overall composition. This one ended up as my favorite for a couple of reasons. First, I liked the sharpness of the subject, and even though a few parts are out of focus most of it is on the same plane and if you click through to the high-resolution original on Flickr you’ll see an incredible degree of subtle detail that really shows just how delicate and finely-crafted it really is.
I also like the blurriness of the background–you might not even know it’s red leaves, but the bright balls of light shining through hopefully give some kind of clue. I also really enjoy the crisscrossing lines, which are really just small tree branches, as they lend a sense of dynamic energy to the shot that some other versions were missing.
This is one of those photos that reminds me of how much fun photography can be, especially if you put a bit of work into it. This image didn’t take more than a few minutes (I got to work on time) but it did require just a bit of forethought and planning that’s really fun when it turns out to work how you hope.
Leave a Reply