EXPERT INSIGHT FOREGROUND
Carmen says… Struggling with a composition? Try to find a creative solution. When the diminishing light hit the folly in the distance, there was no time to move to a more suitable location. Matt was struggling to frame the structure without any foreground interest, so he moved down river slightly to frame this beautiful swan. perfect, glassy reflection on the surface of the nearby lake. “You often have two options when it comes to reflections,” said Carmen. “You can frame the image as if it were a normal landscape or you can capture a perfectly symmetrical image. Typically, I would avoid the latter for anything other than reflections.”
A MIRROR IMAGE
Matt framed the folly and the lake in landscape orientation and showed Carmen the results. He had framed the lake with a patch of foliage in the foreground, but the pro offered up a different approach: “I can see what you’re trying to do, but by introducing this big, dark patch of trees you’re pulling attention away from the beautiful lake scene.”
The apprentice moved further into the middle of the lake and this time framed the subject in portrait orientation. “Don’t be afraid to get low. The lower you get, the more elongated the reflection will appear.” Matt got down on his knees and set the tripod at roughly head height. “If it were me, I would zoom in at 70mm so you can clearly see the folly and then focus on the shoreline,” said Carmen.
“I often like to focus via Focus Peaking, but if you’re using AF, make sure you focus between something dark and something light, for the high contrast.” Matt locked focus, and following a prompt from Carmen, used Spot metering to take a reading from the reeds’ neutral tones along the water’s edge.
“The most prominent band of light is through the middle of the frame,” said the pro as she handed Matt a reverse ND filter. “So we’ll use this to help balance the scene.” The final touch was setting Matt’s white balance to the Shade preset, which enhanced the warm autumnal hues.
“That’s a beautiful Super Shot #4, Matt. And I think we’ve captured peak conditions too, as it’s beginning to cloud over and I think I felt a spot of rain...”
MATT’S COMMENT Carmen’s made me a Manual mode convert. Breaking it down to just aperture and ISO, and then allowing my choice of metering to dictate the shutter speed makes it so much easier to grasp.
CARMEN’S VERDICT The weather held up! I am so pleased Matt now has full control of his camera and is framing compositions he might have otherwise passed by. His results speak for themselves.