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Seeing Trees: Idyllic Trees
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I have always been in love with the trees; as a child I thought everybody was. My father used to work for the Forestry and Natural Resources Ministry, and for most of his life he was out there, in his "green office", watching over and protecting the wildlife. I enjoyed the times when he could take me with him and teach me about various plants, from their Latin names to their many uses, or just funny stories and fables about them. Trees had personalities, had their own histories. All seemed harmonious in the forest, so rich and perfect, and I remained forever of the belief that nothing compares with the perfection of a healthy forest. Later on, no matter where I lived (usually in a city), at the first spare moment I was running back to the trees with the same thrill and great expectations. But even in the city, while walking through the neighborhoods I was paying more attention to the trees or bushes than to buildings or fashions. Plants "talked" to me, attracted me and shared some of their secrets... I thought. Of all things, it's only the forest that never disappointed me.
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I went on and studied biology, including the medicinal properties of plants. Some might expect that shooting the subject of your passion would be an easy feat, and sometimes it is. On the other hand, it makes me ever more demanding with my own results. Can I truly make justice to the trees with my art, which is after all bi-dimensional, small scale, does not dance in the wind, nor does it home birds of any sort? With all these faults in mind, I apologize to my trees and dare present here some of their images, as viewed by me.
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Trees change their many faces with the light of the day, with altitude, with season; the same species can look so different if on a mountain or in a meadow, by the water or on a hill. I have walked mountains and meadows, climbed hills and crossed rivers just to see more trees and flowers. I photographed them with various cameras and all the lenses I had, with special filters or just by using the sky canopy, in any background, in any angle, or just sat by them in gratitude and awe. I could not stop myself from caressing those branches with my eyes or arms. Their twisted bodies were like my blood vessels network, or so I felt the similarity. Their design is our inner design, completed with the chance to overflow in a delta of blue sky. Therefore my tree images often include the sky, as if a tree is a creature of clouds and heavens.
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To shoot the canopy of branches on a sky background I lay on my back, head on the ground, and look above in silence, camera resting on my forehead, shallow breathing, almost immobile for minutes in a row. I listen to the trees and smell the earth. The whole landscape connects with me, I belong to the place. Suddenly, my mind is cleared; it is cleared of any mundane thought. I compose, calculate possibilities, bracket a few times, change a few filters, then close my eyes again, resting. I become more still-life than the trees themselves. When I open my eyes I watch again with the hope I will see the trees differently now. I usually do, then I start to photograph again. But wait, just a grass blade away there is another view, so I move again in hope. The never enough trees are calling me from everywhere.
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I pay attention to the sun and hide it behind the branches, so the color and texture of the bark can be properly rendered. I meter for the dark, brown bark, so its deep marks are more visible. My widest angle lens is to be used here for a broader capture. For a sharp bark’s texture and a good depth of field I use the smallest possible aperture, sometimes a fill-flash as well. The sun behind the subject, trees in this case, can offer stunning images if you learn how to use it and compose carefully. If you chose to include the sun in the picture, maybe between the trees, be careful with your eyes (I always wear sunglasses in this situation, chose sunsets or early mornings when the sun is low and work rather fast). Use a very small aperture (f22 or 32) if you wish to create that "star" effect, and make sure the lens (and filter) is very clean in order to reduce flare (lens flare can be a problem when including sun in the image).
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With certain trees of particular expressiveness, I compose for the silhouettes, then meter for the bright sky behind (without including the sun when metering), or just underexpose significantly (-2, -3, a few different exposures might offer various, valid images). In this way, the sky colors remain real while the branches run like dark, contorted tentacles of an imaginary creature or maybe like roots into the sky. Photographing for silhouettes when the sun is low - 30 min before the sunset or sunrise - enhances the effect. Sometimes, a particular color filter produces a creative vision of an otherwise ordinary composition. For instance, a yellow or amber filter can create a monochromatic fall scene of dramatic proportions, especially when printed in large sizes. Any extra color would distract from the main subject – naked, sorrow branches. I often experiment with various filters and exposures, and visit the place of an interesting tree at different times of the day, year or ...of my mood.
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If the scene inspires a dream-like vision, I try moving my camera during shooting, or shoot multiple over-exposed images (each brighter than the reality) creating, when superimposed, fascinating or painterly images of the living forest. After all, the branches constantly move in the wind, so does the forest and the wildflowers – then why should an image of a forest look still? Sometimes the poetry of the place transcends the simple visual documentary. Besides using some creative techniques, being childlike in the forest actually helps.
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There also comes a time when sky has little meaning in my tree photographs, usually in the Fall. One of these images, taken in Acadia National Park, Maine, is called "The Never Enough Trees", and in truth, trees have never been enough to me. More is better, as suggested by an image of multiple, similar subjects. A polarizer filter helps reduce leaves glare and enriches the vibrant colors, while a slight underexposure also adds to the intensity of the color when needed. One should be careful with polarizer filters when using films which allow supra-saturation of the colors, in some situations the sky might come out navy blue instead of its natural color.
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Since fall is one of the most spectacular times to see trees in their full splendor, a few tips on photographing them might be useful. For those still shooting films, I could recommend Kodak E100GX (extremely fine grain, warm balance) or Kodak E100VS (highly saturated colors, excellent sharpness, especially needed to separate leaves and allowing them to stand out).
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After a good rain, the colors seem even stronger, fresher, so don’t shy the wet weather. A blue-yellow or a warming filter (81- series) can also enhance the colors of fall, but be careful when using them with extra-color films. I often use the blue-yellow filter to enhance the blue surface of a lake rather than the sky, if the trees I shoot are by the water. I pay attention to the quality of the colors, though, some of the filters can render an unnatural shift in certain conditions of light. A more subtle "color intensifier" is the Singh-Ray filter with the same name.
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The fall colors and charm can be overwhelming, almost mesmerizing... I often "suffered" from a frenzy of shooting in October, while living on the East Coast. The photographing opportunities might be endless in places like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont or Ontario and Eastern provinces of Canada, to mention just a few. There are clear advantages from planning your photo trip in advance and following the schedule of peak colors from North (where they peak first) to South (where the peak colors arrive later in October or even December in places like Florida). There are web sites dedicated to the fall colors and they include foliage maps, links, weather reports, etc. If you can choose among a few possible sites, think mountains! Elevation, besides latitude, offers a great variety of colors and foliage stages, sometimes within a small geographical area. One can easily climb from “all green” to “yellow-and green” and higher to “all–colors” forest on the same mountain. Speaking about the mountains, the East does not have the monopoly on fall colors, the West can be spectacular as well when cottonwoods or larches turn golden.
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When composing in the fall mix warm hues with cooler complementary ones for balance and strength. I particularly enjoy the contrast of reds and blues, or greens, and look for bringing dark trunks or burnt trees (as gray or blue silhouettes) together with colorful grasses in the same image.
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Sometimes, less is more, even with the trees... The elegance of a peaceful pond surrounded by young trunks, lit by the mild afternoon sun needs just a simple image. The trees become bluish with a slight underexposure (try –0.7 or -1), while the water looks like a dark, secretive mirror. The forest in the background is only suggested, impenetrable and silent. An interesting game of trees and grasses, a curious asymmetry add to the nature’s statement. Water reflections induce meditation… then I think that sometimes the parts and not the whole are more poetic. I use a tele-zoom or a macro 100 lens to isolate a pleasant pattern of branches or a lineup of trunks, crop the image and shoot from a sturdy tripod.
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Seeing a tree is seeing life, it can be an adventurous travel into your own creativity, into yourself. It is about self-exploration as much as wilderness crossing. But you don’t have to travel to distant corners of the country to find exquisite arrangements of leaves, pine cones, twisted branches shooting for the sky. Examine your neighborhood parks and ponds, hills and green yards. Photographing trees is a sheer wonderment over their beauty and existence, it is truly uplifting.
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PSA Journal, pg 29, April 2008
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j u n e 2 0 0 9
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