The landscape is full of many items and finding the right subject to photograph is at times overwhelming. I try to go into an area without any specific preconceived notions about what I’m going to photograph leaving my mind as open as possible. My overall focus is on nature’s intimate subjects and my favorites are leaves, flowers and all of their color and textural interest. I scan through the landscape looking for isolated items that stand out from the crowd. Something as simple as a colorful leaf against a fallen log or a lone flower in a grass filled prairie always seem to draw my eye. Once I find a potential subject I’ll start composing the image in my head. I look at various perspectives from the immediate surroundings to determine how they will relate to my subject. The background is always of utmost importance and one that I see most overlooked by amateur photographers. In this photo I wanted a relatively clean background that provided rich colors and subtle textures to compliment my main subject. I took about 3-5 different exposures varying the composition just slightly to ensure I had the background just right. I also selected an aperture setting of F 5.6 to provide enough depth of field on my subject but to allow me to blur the background to minimize distracting elements competing with the main subject.
Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park, Ohio -
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