One of the wonders of photography, that I have noted before, is the fact that I can walk past a scene dozens of times and nothing ‘grabs’ me. In this case, there is a nice stand of poplars along one of my favourite hiking trails. I’ve photographed it many times and the results were “average”. I knew it had potential for a great photo, but conditions and lighting were never quite right to capture the photo I envisioned.

That was not the case last Sunday. On this particular hike, all the elements came together; the light, the colour of the leaves, the reflection of the bark, as well as the angle I was photographing from.

I carefully framed the shot to match my vision of the image, checked and double checked my camera setting, and made one single photograph ( a big risk there). I deliberately underexposed it, since I knew the tree bark could blow out some sections (I learned this through previous attempts).

When I got home and downloaded the images from my camera, I knew I had what I’ve been seeking. With only minor adjustments to compensate for the under exposure and a bit of sharpening, the image above emerged. It was all I had dreamt of. I also printed it as a 12×18 print and it now hangs proudly in my home gallery, where I can enjoy it as I work. I hope you enjoy it too!

Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 70mm
1/80 sec@ f/4.5 -0.33, ISO 250

For more images like this, please visit my Facebook page:
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