Trying to capture spring

tobers · April 18, 2007

I'm finding it really tricky to capture the glowing bright green colours of spring. Here's one from this evening from Windsor in the UK.

I'm going to try again in the v.early morning, but I haven't really got the hang of this "soft light" stuff - I'm not really sure what quality of light I am meant to be looking for. Everyone talks about the golden hour but I cant quite see it yet. What should I be looking for? Do I want direct sunlight, or pre-dawn? Help!!

Grizzle6 · April 18, 2007

tobers wrote:

I'm finding it really tricky to capture the glowing bright green colours of spring. Here's one from this evening from Windsor in the UK.

I'm going to try again in the v.early morning, but I haven't really got the hang of this "soft light" stuff - I'm not really sure what quality of light I am meant to be looking for. Everyone talks about the golden hour but I cant quite see it yet. What should I be looking for? Do I want direct sunlight, or pre-dawn? Help!!

Tobers--
I feel your pain with scenes like this. I've found that the best light to shoot a potentially very contrasty scene such as this is diffused light. Whether it be lightly overcast, somewhat foggy or otherwise--I think you need to have some sort of natural diffuser. That will allow for true capture of what you're seeing, and will naturally make the colors pop. You will have less (if any) shadows and there won't be hot spots like those from direct sunlight. Try going back to this scene on a light overcast day and see what you can capture. If the scene is void of warmth, try using a warming filter--or apply it later in photoshop. Just my .02--hopefully others will weigh in with theirs as well.

All this being said, I feel like you've done a very nice job with this shot.

kriyababaji · April 18, 2007

Hi Tobers

There are technical ways of describing soft light. Use the cameras light meter to understand what I am about to describe. Meter off of the brightest area of the scene (say a cloud) and then again off the darkest object in direct light (say a tree) and if you are dealing with "soft light" there shouldn't be more than about 3-4 stops of light difference. This is not a hard rule, and when this is not the case, filters are required.

If that doesn't make sense. then use the oooh-aah method. The next time you are in nature and something takes your breath away and makes you say wow, that is beautiful light....thats "soft light"

Regarding your image. It doesn't seem like the foliage has fully popped yet, check this same scene in 2-3 weeks and I think you would see the tree canopy would be much thicker. Right now the green foliage seems to get lost in the bright sky behind the trees. Pay close attention to your backgrounds, find one that will make the green pop against it.

Otherwise the compostion has potential!

Keep playing, looking.

Shane

Marc Muench · April 19, 2007

I believe the phrase "soft light" came to life during the film days when the contrast ratio of the scene had to match the dynamic range of the film. What that means is, certain light made the image pop! and all other light was, well lets just say different! However, now with digital there really are not the limitations of dynamic range that film had. You could shoot this scene and bracket 3 exposures, one for the shadows, highlights and maybe midtones. Merge the best data from all three exposures in photoshop and Voi-la "soft light". If you don't want to go to all this trouble than you really need to return when the light is softer. How do you know it is softer? Yes, it is true that if it is within 4 stops it is considered soft. :However, if you really want to be able to "see" such light in nature on the spot this may help.
If you were to take this very scene and study it over the course of a month you would become very familiar with what dynamic range and contrast ratio have to do with photography, or basically great light. You don't need to be there 24/7 but rather just two to three visits a week. Shoot a photo exposed the best you know how each time and keep track of the exposure info. At the end of the month print all the files with out making any alterations to the image file in post. Maybe use the jpeg file gennerated from the camera for this. 5x7 prints are all you need. Lay all the prints out on a table and choose the best one or two and the worst ones. Finally compare the file info of the best and worst to understand what worked and what failed.

Just a thought!

caroline · April 19, 2007

tobers wrote:

I'm finding it really tricky to capture the glowing bright green colours of spring. Here's one from this evening from Windsor in the UK.

I'm going to try again in the v.early morning, but I haven't really got the hang of this "soft light" stuff - I'm not really sure what quality of light I am meant to be looking for. Everyone talks about the golden hour but I cant quite see it yet. What should I be looking for? Do I want direct sunlight, or pre-dawn? Help!!

Hi
I'm also in the UK, my favorite tree is the beech in spring, truly the 'herald of spring' with those beautiful delicate new leaves.

Regarding the light and this pic, I think you will know instinctively when its right, it will be a real WOW moment and it will hit you right between the eyes. For this shot it won't be pre dawn though. Techie stuff is not a strong point with me so I'll leave that to others, but I agree that you haven't quite got it with this shot. For me the light has to be 'in' those leaves, someone once described them to me as being like sequins shimmering, but they don't have that look here. I would suggest maybe the light had gone too low and that you would have achieved a more pleasing pic before the sun had reached this point.

This is the first time I have posted here, hope you don't mind folks

Caroline

Trying to capture spring

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