EXPLORING WITH THE CAMERA--

Every few years I am moved to do a photographic exploration of the flowering dogwood trees between my house and pond.

They are especially dramatic as the sun peeks over the East woods and backlights the blossoms.

This photo was done with a Canon Rebel Xti, 10 megapixel, digital single lens reflex camera and Canon’s EF 70-200mm, f/2.8 L Image Stabilized lens. Exposure was 1/500th of a second at f/5.6 with an ISO of 250.

The lens was set manually at full telephoto and minimum focusing distance, then, the hand-held camera was moved gently toward and away from the blossom until sharp focus was achieved.

This combination of shutter speed and aperture struck a nice balance in depth of field; delivering a range of sharp focus sufficient to mostly cover the blossom but leave the shimmering background of the pond’s surface out of focus.

The relatively fast shutter speed helped to minimize both subject and camera motion during the exposure.

It was difficult to find a blossom—of the hundreds and hundreds available—which was pointed away from the sunlight and offered an uncluttered background.

The composition was further complicated by gusty wind which required patience until the blossom was occasionally still.

The temperature was in the upper 30s so numerous treks outside were done until the right combination of wind and light were achieved on this particular blossom. Humans tend to regard the sun as being fairly still in the sky, but, it “moves” at 15 degrees per hour so fairly dramatic changes in lighting can occur over brief periods of time.

The mass of blossoms on flowering trees this time of year is attractive to the human eye but being careful to isolate a single blossom against an uncluttered background can produce very pleasing results.

I hope you enjoy this year’s effort.