Wild Calling

On occasion you find yourself on a scene with a tremendous view, but the light isn’t quite right, tones subdued, or blinding sunlight pouring through the scene. I found myself in such a situation on this venture out on the first day of fall, on the one hand, corpuscular rays, lovely light and shadows. On the other, sunlight streaking across the lens. What to do? I did my best with the scene in the moment, wind whipping around me, occasionally pausing long enough for a few snaps, but in the end, I decided to go for the moodier evening light, and that’s what we have here. Rain fast approaching you can see in the distance, clouds not quite thick enough to block the sun completely, and a small window giving me diffused illumination into this valley.

That’s really all there is to it sometimes. Just sitting, waiting, and taking the occasional shots to ensure you have the right one once you get home to edit. Understanding your crops, and knowing how to position your lens to overcome. My camera allows me to pre crop in a nondestructive format, but not all do. I’ve never much cared for pre cropping an image, so I fill the frame with what I want to see, and work from there. I walked this scene with my cellphone, swapping between the lenses it has built in, that’s when the camera comes out and we get to work.

The work while you’re on scene can be frantic, but you have to learn to relax. The most important parts are done, you found a composition, you have your frame filled, now you’re waiting for the right light to develop over the scene. I’ve over the years arrived late, or left to early, now I’m steadfast in my belief you need to arrive early, and stay late. I saw many photographers just give up as this cloud swept in, don’t let that be you. Wait longer, because you never know what may yet develop.

Until Next Time!

Aperture: f8
ISO: 1250
SS: 1/125th
Focal: 37mm

Fujinon 16-55mm