Seeing...Finding...Making - Photographing Woodlands

A seasonal fall coolness filled the woods as I backpacked down the side trail leading into my favorite location deep inside the backcountry of Mammoth Cave NP.  Known as 'The Bluffs' because of the long escarpment of rugged rocky outcroppings that line the top edge of a ravine, the surrounding woodlands in the peak of the fall season are filled with awe inspiring colors. As the trail wound its way down into the ravine, the magnitude of the colors appeared to grow with each step. The trail worked its way beneath a wide overhang outcropping where a spring percolated out of the rocks near the top and danced a trail of silvery water droplets into a pool at the base. A bit further on down, the trail dropped even deeper eventually disolving into the camping area. I stopped for a moment choosing to sit on the trunk of a weathered fallen tree and rest my stiff back and bothersome hip. I was at once engulfed within a rustic and ancient woodlands filled with the spectrum of peak fall colors as they sang their song of greetings, and I began to see photographic moments presenting themselves.

 Of all the varieties of photographic opportunities, one of the most difficult types to capture effectively are woodland photographs. They are also one of the most satisfying of photographs a landscape photographer can produce. They do present several problems and overcoming their inherent difficulties is a challenge, but that is what makes them so much fun and exciting to pursue.

I do a great deal of black and white photography, however, the majority of woodland photographs I produce are color images. The dilemma of deciding which format to use when photographing a woodlands area can at times become a daunting task. Both color and black and white have their place and offer unique elements of appeal. Color, especially in the Fall season, is my prefered choice, but...sometimes...black and white brings out details often hidden by the distraction of color. Regardless, the techniques of seeing, finding, and making a woodland photograph is the same for both. The final format is simply a personal choice made by the photographer.

What makes an effective woodlands image? First of all, woodlands by nature are cluttered conglomerations of lights, darks, colors, contrasts, trees, leaves, weeds, and rocks, often dominated by a single color scheme. An effective woodlands image is one where all the chaos of those things are arranged in such a way as to present an element of order to the scene. Doing so is not always easy nor does it always present itself. I've made woodland shots in both bright sunlight and hazy overcast skies. I prefer overcast skies as the light that filters through the canopy is diffused and softened. Even so, bright sunny days can provide some level of effective lighting, you just have to look for it. The photo above was made in bright sunny morning light. The angle of the light is what made it work as it penetrated through the woods at an angle and illuminated the canopy is such a way as to provide a bright contrasting background for the subjects to stand against. This is more the exception than the rule though.  Soft light tends to be more conducive to effective woodlands photographs. 

The photo on the left was made on a bright overcast day during the peak of the fall season. A bright sunny day would have created far to harsh contrasts and would have overwhelmed the image. The softer light magnified the colors and brought out the subtle differences between the yellows, browns, and reds. 

Seeing a woodlands image sometimes can fool a photographer's eye. What looks good within the dynamic range of our vision, will often not translate as well in a photograph. Our eyes are able to discern between the darkest and brightest intensities of light quite well, while the camera's dynamic range falls well short of being able to do so. Soft light helps to bring what we see visually into a similar range of the camera's capability. 

Woodlands are also quite dark overall and will require longer exposures. This in turn requires the use of a tripod. Long exposures work well with flowing water as it will soften the mood of the water. Moving water sometimes distracts our eye and it is easy to overlook the rest of the composition. Moving water in and of itself does not always translate well into an effective woodlands image. Only when it is combined with an effective background and/or surrounding woodland features does it possess a euretheal look to it. 

The photo on the right was taken late one morning on an overcast day. The low intensity, soft light filtered through the canopy of trees and bathed the ravine with a glow that illuminated the scene. A long 1.6 second exposure coupled with a small aperture of f/14 and an ISO of 400 was required, which created an effective blend of movement and detail. What makes this image work is the lack of clutter. Everything there works for the image. Nothing is there that does not need to be there.

Removing clutter is perhaps the most difficult requirement for a woodlands photograph. Doing so requires a keen eye for detail, a discerning eye to focus in on what is important, and an artistic eye to arrange the scene visually in such a way, all the elements within the scene work together in a pleasing manner. Sometimes you just have to move on or comeback another day with different lighting conditions. A woodlands location can appear completely different from one day to the next depending on the light angles and intensity or even the season. A rainy day might transform an otherwise ordinary scene into something that stands apart from the rest of the woods. Removing clutter or, said another way, simplifying the composition, does not mean the scene lacks for complex details. It can be quite complex like the image below.  It is just all the parts must work together not unlike the pieces of a puzzle. Composition is just as important for a woodlands image, maybe even more so, as for any landscape photograph.

Photographing woodlands is a challenging yet rewarding form of photography and will serve to develop your photographic eye toward a more advanced state of seeing. Keep it simple, wait for the light, remove the visual clutter through creative composition, and enjoy just being there.