If Autumn is my favorite season, then Spring is a very close second. There is just something special about seeing the freshness of nature as it wakes up from its long winter slumber.
There had been a couple of days of warmer temperatures before it cooled off again. That type of weather is pretty typical in my part of the world, so I hadn’t really been paying a lot of attention to the approach of Spring.
But, as I was driving back from Dallas one day a few weeks ago, I began noticing little splotches of bright green and occasional lavender leaves that were starting to peek out from between the numerous still-dormant trees that lined the interstate. I’m convinced they were telling me that Spring was imminent, and I needed to get my camera gear ready.
When the following Saturday arrived, I grabbed my equipment and headed out the door to find and photograph some fresh Spring greenery. The sky was quite cloudy, the temperature was cool bordering on cold, and rain was threatening to fall at any time. It felt more like early winter rather than early spring.
I wasn’t sure where to go to give myself the best chance to find some spring foliage. I decided to try going to a small area not far from my house, Holland Bottoms Wildlife Management Area, but the gate to the parking area was locked with a sign saying it was closed until August. Now, I had no idea what I was going to do.
I drove around for a while trying to decide what to do next, and I eventually found myself at Lake Pickthorne. It, too, isn’t far from my house. I have visited the lake a couple of times over the years, but I always found my results to be quite lackluster, so I wasn’t expecting much from this trip, either.
I drove to the end of the road that encircles part of the lake. As I started turning around in the parking lot to head back, I caught sight of a tree full of white blossoms. I immediately stopped, assessed the situation, and decided there was a photograph to be made. I parked my truck, grabbed my gear, and headed to the end of the pier.
Setting up the equipment, I was able to get what I thought would be a couple of nice shots of the tree. I walked back to my truck and began putting my gear away when I looked up and noticed the tree again. But, from this different angle, the branches from surrounding trees began to overlap, and the scene took on an almost painting-like quality to it. I quickly set my tripod back up, attached the camera and 100-400mm lens, and framed this scene.
Because of the heavy overcast conditions, the Raw file was very flat. Using the Calibration tab in Lightroom, I increased the saturation of the red, green, and blue color channels. I enhanced the contrast by using the tone curve to brighten the highlights and darken the shadows. Reducing texture and clarity softened the image while adjusting the luminance and saturation sliders enhanced the yellow, green, and orange colors. I had originally framed the scene in a 3:2 aspect ratio, but I re-cropped it to a 5:4 ratio, which I found better suited for the image. Lastly, I added a slight vignette to get to this final photograph of Spring announcing its return.