The Silence of the Pines
© 2016 Thousand Word Images by Dustin Abbott
When I go out shooting (particularly to familiar destinations), I’m always looking for something that will translate into a good photo. Not every scene (even pretty ones) make for good photos. In this case it was the great lines of the very straight, upright pine trunks that gained a slightly abstract look from the reflection in the pond in front of them. This whole pond/swamp system is caused by beavers. I was using a prime lens so I was limited by the focal length at hand, so the original shot includes some of the sky, which was blown out by exposing correctly for the trees. I went to a 16:9 crop, which helped emphasize the lines that were the main focus and also had the nice side effect of eliminating the sky from the equation. A nice B&W conversion (Alien Skin Exposure preset Afga APX 25) and then a little split toning gave me an image I like. The silent woods, the towering pines.
Gear Used:
Canon EOS 6D DSLR Camera (Body Only)
Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD In Canada (Use code AMPLIS52016DA to get 5% off)
Tamron SP 85mm f/1.8 Di VC USD United States and World
Adobe Lightroom CC Software for Mac and Windows (Boxed Version)
Adobe Photoshop Creative Cloud 1-Year Subscription
Alien Skin Exposure X (Use Code “dustinabbott” to get 10% anything and everything)
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Dustin,
Looking at your comments of on exposure ? Do you use an external light meter to calibrate your camera or simply use on the TTL of the 6D ? I ask this because of the limitations of the TTL in complex dynamic range situations.I do not have an external light meter but have been frustrated by the problems of blown out clouds among other dynamic range problems with my 6D and 7D Mark II
Peter
Peter, I use a hybrid of the TTL and my own instincts based on experience. I’ve shot many tens of thousands of shots with the 6D’s and have a pretty good sense of what works and what doesn’t. I often ignore what the camera meters and plug in my own value based on experience.