The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Spring as a “season of growth or development.” Such a perfect way to describe the season. The fresh green leaves budding out on the trees. The bright colors of the blooming wildflowers. The landscape that begins to awaken from the long, cold Winter just ended.
But the coming of spring not only prods nature to wake up from its winter slumber, but it also reignites my motivation to get out and photograph. Spring truly is a season of growth, development. . .and inspiration.
A week and a half ago, temperatures were in the upper 30s, and snow was on the ground. But, the temperatures warmed up, and it finally began to feel like Spring. After a Thursday night of rain, I woke up the next morning to cloudy skies and decided it was a good morning to forego photography, run my errands, and just take it easy for the day, especially since I couldn’t really decide where I wanted to go.
As the minutes passed, I started to reconsider my plans for the day, and I finally decided I couldn’t let the opportunity go by without taking advantage of it. So, I loaded up my camera, finished my errands, and then decided to just drive around for a little while just to see what I might see. Driving down the road, I spotted this particular scene. The white flowers highlighted against the darker background caught my attention, and I immediately thought that it epitomized the first signs of spring.
Telling myself that I would stop on my way back home, I continued on my way. But, a few miles down the road, the clouds seemed to be breaking up, and the sun was intermittently shining through. I realized that the overcast conditions may not last much longer. If I wanted to photograph that tree, I needed to do it then or the opportunity would be gone. I made the only decision I could — I turned around and went back.
Arriving at the location, I pulled off the road. The tree appeared to be on private property (the broken down, rusted remains of a gate were a big clue), so I was limited in where I could position my camera. But, I found a position and set up my equipment.
Composing the scene, I knew I had to pay particular attention to the background. If I included too little, the image would lose the contrast of the white flowers against the dark background that had drawn my attention. But, too much background would overpower the main subject, which would be equally undesirable.
I first shot the image using a 1:1 aspect ratio, but, reviewing the picture on the back of my camera, I found the square crop eliminated too much of the background. I then set the aspect to 4:3. Again, I reviewed the image on the back of the camera, and it seemed to have a good balance between the subject tree and the background. Satisfied, I got back in my truck and continued on.
Returning home, I opened the file on my computer and began processing it. I wanted to ensure the blossoming tree took center stage, so I spent time darkening the foreground and background areas of the frame and reducing the orange tones of the foreground grasses. Everything seemed to be as I had envisioned it in my mind.
But, as I reviewed the picture one last time, I realized that the grasses, taking up the bottom one-third of the frame, were a dominant element that drew attention away from the subject. I re-cropped the image to a 16:9 aspect ratio, which solved the problem perfectly.