While in search of Mountain Goats the other day (I found some but was not able to get on them), in the timber no less, I was able to capture some interesting tree shots. Tree shots are always more involved than one thinks. For me, the tree shots are some of the most exiting to photograph because it's so much more than pointing a camera at a large landscape and snapping a picture (I know some might think thats what my shots look like, but it's much more chalanging to get something good than you think, nonetheless, shooting them makes me feel more balanced between framing wildlife and letting my mind wonder, to shoot landscape abstracts, no matter how they turn out). If you have a place where you can see large tree scapes and you begin to look them over, it becomes clearer that trees really do make up a forest. Patterns become apparent and the subtle changes show up the longer you look. This looking into the forest through the trees, or visa-versa has to be done quickly especially if the light and temperature are changing rapidly. What once could have been a very good shot may just fade behind a cloud or the frost on the tree goes away, etc. Once also can get caught up in the procrastination or the pressure to shoot something well and it becomes difficult to pick out one or two shots from a million acres of trees. I just try to relax and feel the calmness of the place then shoot away.
There are few things I have learned over the years of photographing tree-scapes. First, it seems that shooting at between 100 and 200mm on a 1.5 factor dslr gives me the best results. It also seems that tighter in camera crops work better too. Once the trees start to become indistinguishable the shots, for me start to fall apart – but I’ll bet for some, that’s when they just start to come together!
That said, I think abstract nature is very difficult to photographer well. I have a long way to go because every time I get home and look over my shots, I see things I never saw in the frame, most of the time they are things that I would have eliminated. This tells me I'm not paying enough attention. After seeing them exposed back home on my monitor, I always think of how I should have shot the scene. So, more than anything, I keep after it because it’s fun and challenging. I also use it to fill in when my wildlife subjects wont cooperate, sometimes that turns out better than I had expected, and sometimes I guess we just have to just slow down to see the forest through the trees. . .
