Muir Woods National Monument is located at the bottom of a canyon in Marin County, California just north of San Francisco, California. Only a certain amount of sunlight gets to the bottom of the canyon and often the canyon is filled with dappled light. For me, this area is most beautiful on a foggy day or just after a rainy day when everything looks green and fresh, especially in the springtime. Photographically, it is best to photograph the redwoods in early morning. The canyon is noted for its redwood trees with beautiful ferns interspersed between and around the redwood trees. This image was challenging to process with all the dark areas, mid-tones and lighting. I chose to lighten the middle foreground fern and bring up the darkest areas up a bit but not too much. The lighting on the young redwood tree (back/left) was from the sun and wasn’t manufactured thru post- processing. My goal was to make the scene natural as possible, applying lighting in a few areas.
This round’s discussion is now closed! 8 comments posted
Gordon Watson
Photography in woodland is harder than it appears - trying to identify and isolate a subject and dealing with contrast. I like the composition here with the group of 5 trees plus the ferns for foreground interest. I would suggest a crop off the left side as the main axis of interest is a little offset to the right. In woodlands, I always find the image on the back of the camera does not match how it looks to our eyes - always too much contrast. You have said you have brought up the darker areas, but I would go further to soften out the shadow areas even more. Posted: 09/15/2023 06:14:30
Henriette Brasseur
Gordon, I agree a crop on the left side is a good idea as it would align the lit back tree better with the foreground ferns. By softening the shadow areas do you mean to lighten the shadows a bit more? I try to avoid taking contrasty images in the forest but instead taking forest scenes in diffused or reflected lighting...foggy scenes are nice too with sun rays. Thank you for your comments...as always, much appreciated. Posted: 09/26/2023 13:23:30
Sanford Morse
Nice composition. The triangle of dappled light nicely frames the centered focus. Having said that I wonder what the center focus is. I see the base of the trees and the slightly lighted path through the middle. Posted: 09/21/2023 16:29:31
Henriette Brasseur
My intent was to lighten the foreground ferns as center of interest and the five trees as a background as a focus point complementing the ferns (center of interest). Thank you for your comments Sanford. Posted: 09/26/2023 13:26:45
Ian Cambourne
In the USA and the UK you refer to these as woodlands, down here we call it the aussie bush, but it's all the same thing. A great image of nature in one of its purest forms. Yes, dappled and contrasty light is always an issue that we must live with, accept and deal with. You have done so very well here Henriette. The composition is very strong producing as much depth as possible to this image. Very well done. Posted: 09/24/2023 02:08:47
Henriette Brasseur
Ian, thank you for your comments. I love the forest scene as it brings me joy, comfort and peace and I tried to capture that in this image. In the wintertime and springtime Muir Woods becomes alive with banana slugs, fungi and the beautiful colors of the redwood trees. Once, a Barred Owl, which lives high in the trees, came down to perch on a log directly across from me at eye level. I got the image but this taught me a lesson to always embrace the surprises that happen but at the same time be open to the opportunities that may happen. Posted: 09/26/2023 13:44:16
Jay Joseph
Dappled light is always a challenge to deal with. You have done a great job of keeping it looking natural with the greens of the ferns and the sun peaking through, but not distracting. Posted: 09/24/2023 07:36:06
Henriette Brasseur
Thank you for understanding the challenges of photographing in the forest. The early morning time is a good time to photograph in the forest though if there is mist or fog, that would be a good time to photograph too. Thank you for your comments, Jay. Posted: 09/26/2023 13:51:47
