http://www.digitalcameraworld.com OCTOBER 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^37hese sensual succulents
are in The Park Güell in
Barcelona. Stumbling
upon them, I was
seduced by their flaying,
tentacle-like ‘limbs’,
which were accentuated by the low
raking light streaming through them.
Naturally, as I was in Antoni Gaudí’s
world-famous park, I was searching
for ways to capture the magic of the
pioneering architect’s vision. However,
I just couldn’t seem to do his work
justice with a camera, and there were
tons of pesky tourists in the way
anyway. Given that Gaudí’s life’s work
was inspired by the organic shapes
of nature, it’s weirdly more fitting that
it was actually images of nature that
I left the garden most happy with.
I love shooting directly into the
sunlight. It is often referred to as
shooting ‘contre-jour’. However,
shooting this way has its challenges:
primarily, your camera’s light meter will
be fooled. Exposure compensation can
get you out of this pickle, but it’s much
easier to simply switch to Manual
mode and select the appropriate
aperture and shutter speed. It really
doesn’t matter if you start to lose detail
in the highlights, especially if the sun
is in the scene and it’s been properly
controlled. It adds to the atmosphere.
For me, it’s precisely the low light
flowing into this image that makes
it a success. It adds layers of depth,
drama and a sense of awe. I feel like
you could almost ‘drink’ the light.
The final stage in the creative
process was converting it to black and
white. This helped me emphasise the
organic Triffid-like shapes, textures
and pattern of the plant.
Later I submitted this photo to
a well-known stock library. I wasn’t
surprised it was rejected: it’s not really
the kind of image it needs. However,
the justification of “exposure error”
tickled my sense of humour.ƺȇƺƳǣƬɎ ȸƏǣȇǕȒƺɀٻƬȒȇɎȸƺٮǴȒɖȸژټɯǣɎǝ
succulents in a famous Barcelona park...
The art
of seeing
T
The art of seeing
Benedict Brain
http://www.benedictbrain.comCamera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikkor 20-35mm f/2.8 at 32mm
Exposure: 1/60 sec at f/7.1, ISO 100