FIELD OF POSSIBILITIES

SOLVING FOCUS PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour . . .

– WILLIAM BLAKE

One of the main dilemmas for nature photographers is how to frame an image. The choice of camera position and lens angle greatly affects the image design. Nature often provides us with chaotic lines, shapes, and colors from which we must distill and extract the essence of our subject. What we include in the frame, as well as what we exclude, is a key factor in the success of our compositions.

I was in Yosemite National Park back in 2013, photographing one of my favorite subjects: corn lilies. Returning to a favorite patch, I was happy to see that they were still fresh green, in spite of recent hot weather. The leaves were covered with pollen and a light rainfall added some water drops. The wind was blowing, which meant the leaves rarely held still for my camera. On top of that, the best camera position was on the shoulder of the road with tons of traffic moving the plants as the cars zoomed past a few feet away.

I was a little late for most of the corn lilies since they had grown tall, making it difficult to aim downward where the leaf patterns are most strongly visible. Also, other plants amongst them made it difficult to simplify the composition. I usually prefer to zoom in tightly for a very graphic portrayal.

I also shot a wider composition at the same location in 2008, shown on the opposite page. For this early photograph, I chose to embrace the chaos by using my 24mm tilt-shift lens to include many plants. The plants were very dense and had not grown to their full height, making for a clean design despite the wide view. The tilt-shift function helped me retain focus from front to back of the subject area, just like I often did with my 4x5 camera, while still using a fast enough shutter speed. I shuffled my location around, trying to find a pleasing and well-balanced pattern in the lush vegetation.

When I shot the vertical image in 2013, I tried dozens of framings, like I had with the horizontal version, using the 24mm tilt-shift, my 90mm tilt-shift, and my 50mm macro. A wider view was too cluttered, so I moved in close to one corn lily plant with my 50mm macro. I realized that the depth of these leaves was too great to capture in one frame, so I used focus bracketing. I exposed five frames, focusing first on the nearest edge of the leaf, and then incrementally turning my macro focus slightly for each subsequent exposure until I’d focused on the deepest area of the corn lily. Then I added those five files to a simple but effective application called Zerene Stacker, which blended the final image together with good sharpness throughout the frame. While processing the final image, I adjusted the contrast and density to make the spots of pollen and leaf lines stand out.

While I photographed, time vanished. Wind, rain showers, and sunbeams came and went. I waited for still moments in the wind, and for breaks in the traffic. I hid from the mosquitoes inside my parka hood and slapped away the ones that broke through my defenses. In spite of the challenges, I was “in the zone,” blissfully focused on the beauty I saw and felt, and on finding ways to convey it all photographically. Before I knew it, I had spent two and a half hours photographing within a ten-foot section along the road, making over 200 images. As I drove home, I was greeted by the most amazing sunset, with golden light shining through pouring rain, accented by red clouds. I pulled into a turnout just to take it all in. As the rain drenched me, I howled loudly simply for the joy of it all.

Corn Lily Leaves | Summit Meadow, Yosemite National Park, California | 2008

Autumn Elm and Sunbeams | Cook’s Meadow, Yosemite National Park, California | 2014