"Fiddle head Heart" © Hank Erdmann

Mink River Nature Conservancy, Door County, Wisconsin

Blog #8, April 3, 2014

"Spring Photography"

Food for Thought:

"I have a simple philosophy. Fill what's empty. Scratch when it itches."

- Alice Roosevelt Longworth (American hostess 1884 - 1980)

"Whenever you are sincerely pleased, you are nourished"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (American Essayist and Poet 1803 - 1882)

"To be content with little is hard, to be content with much impossible."

- Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach ( Austrian writer and poet 1830 - 1916)

"Poppy Hill" © Hank Erdmann

Chicago Botanic Garden, Cook County, Illinois

Spring Photography...

Yes I did say spring, it is coming. Surprise lilies, tulips and daffodil greens are coming up in my

yard and I thought this might be a great time to discuss spring photography. What does "spring

photography" entail? To be obvious it means a lot of photography of wildflowers here in the

Midwest. That's a pretty wide topic so let me break it down into a few parts. First, I like to shoot

spring with the same mentality of shooting autumn and that means thinking about color.

I go out in the field with a mental blur over my eyes (yes I occasionally bump into things!). What

I mean specifically is that I try to look at the scene as if I were looking through a piece of

translucent velum so that while I see shape and color, detail is not prevalent, but shape, line and

color is. Call it seeing graphically. That is precisely what I liked so much about shooting the 4x5

view camera. The image was upside down and backwards on the ground glass and unlike some

large format shooters, my brain never flipped it so that I saw it correctly. Likely this was because

I didn't want that to happen, the scene and the subject became a graphic representation versus

a subject and I felt then and still do that my compositions were better or at least easier to

compose on the ground glass.

"Path O' Pink" © Hank Erdmann Cantigny Gardens Du Page County, Illinois

Line, shape and color. Eliot Porter called this (form and color) the "building blocks" of a

composition. I whole-heatedly agree! When your subject is reduced to graphic representation,

it's so much easier to forget the subject and any biases that subject may bring along to your

mind. You then can compose for the form and color. The next time you are out in the field try

this when you think you have an image in sight. Stare at the scene, let your mind relax and let

your eyes de-focus a bit and then remember the impression the form and color makes in your

mind and build your composition from there. Trust me it sounds a bit weird but it works and

works quite well.

The next thing to consider, and more often it takes more consideration than the subject itself is

the background. This is more important as you get closer and closer to the scene. If you missed

my two-part blog on background treatment, email me and I'll send you the PDF of it (it's free for

the asking). Simply put the background makes or breaks your image. If the background

complements the subject or center of interest, the image has a good to excellent chance of

success. If the background competes with the center of interest, if it fights and confuses the

subject, it has no chance of success and usually is a miserable failure.

"Pinks" © Hank Erdmann

Morton Arboretum, Du Page County, Illinois

As we widen our view background become less important from the standpoint separating the

subject from the background to make it standout. As we widen our view we are more than likely

shooting a landscape or maybe an intimate landscape. In the grand landscape the background is

not unimportant, but as it is in the landscape it is part of the subject, though maybe not the

center of interest. As we zoom in figuratively (meaning using a longer lens, be it a zoom or fixed

focal length), making our background complement and not compete becomes more and more

important. Separating subject from background also becomes more important.

Let us look at four ways of photographing spring with regards to style or the genre of the image

type. Landscape: I like to look for concentrations of color for foregrounds or backgrounds. The

middle ground should connect the foreground and the background. It is usually not where I

want impactful color, unless it separates different colors and different physicalities fore and

back. I like to get close to my foreground to create the feeling of depth and dimensionality in the

image. Do be aware of the every shot being an "in-your-face foreground" mentality. If you do

nothing but shoot this way, it gets old real quick, however on occasion this technique can be just

spectacular. Save such a intense treatment for those scenes you see that are truly spectacular.

More often than not I've backed off my foregrounds a bit so my whole spring portfolio doesn't

feel like the same image with different subject matter. Variety IS the spice of life!

"Begonia & Caladium" © Hank Erdmann Morton Arboretum, Du Page County, Illinois

Intimate Landscape: My favorite genre of nature photography. With the intimate landscape you

have much more of a chance of making an image of a scene an image of your own, even in those

iconic places, versus a copy of something that's sadly become a cliche. Remember the most

distinguishing aspect of the intimate landscape is the lack of a horizon. Again I look for color that

I can use to separate the subject and background. In the intimate landscape the background

cannot be busy, it is almost always as sharp as the subject or center of interest and may be one

in the same. Almost in this case is not a rule, but is about as I come to one! Ditto for landscapes

as well.

Close-ups and Macro: What is the difference?; not much as practiced, but in terms of

magnification, a close up is technically an image that is smaller than life size (life size being when

the subject is the same size on film or sensor as the subject is in reality) and macro/micro

(different terms for much the same thing) is life size or larger on film or sensor. So what is a

close-up? Well you could approach this question thusly; if we think of an entire forest, a shot of

a single tree might be a close-up, but normally what we were talking about is when we go

beyond magnification a normal, non-macro/micro lens provides without any additional gear. At

the end of film days (what a sad statement that is in some ways) and the beginning of the digital

age, say 10 years ago or so, most lenses by themselves would focus down to 1/8th, 1/10th or

1/12thlife size, meaning you'd need diopters, extension tubes or tele-converters, or a

combination of those devices, to focus closer to gain more magnification. Today, lens designers

are creating lenses that by themselves offer more magnification. Here possibly lies the topic of

the next blog!

"Lillies of the Valley Shadows" © Hank Erdmann Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin

I must confess, I do not own a current macro lens but I make lots of close-up and macro images.

My old micro lens (Nikon's nomenclature for a macro lens), an AIS Nikon 200mm that I used in

the days of my Nikon F3 film camera, has sat in the same file drawer (with the F3 for that

matter) for about the last 20 years!

The main point to be made here is that with close-up work, backgrounds rule. The prettiest

blossom is rendered unattractive with a confusing background. Also consider that close-up and

macro work is very time consuming, very exacting and very physically demanding work. You are

often down on the wet ground in the mud and muck, kneeling or half standing and bent over

the tripod. As we get a few years older, this requires more frequent "stand ups" to re-set the

back. Yes I'm in that group! I still love this kind of work, it just doesn't love me (knees and back)

as much! Also remember as you magnify the image, you magnify any shake or movement of

either subject or gear. A sturdy tripod is essential. If you tripod isn't as sturdy as you'd like, bring

along one of those small little "saddlebags" that your fill with sand or beans and drape over your

gear as soon as you're set up, it really does help steady your gear. Don't have a tripod...go back

to landscape shooting!

"Poppies Two Ways" © Hank Erdmann Cantigny Gardens, Du Page County, Illinois

Abstract photography: Don't forget about this genre of imaging. Get your Freeman Patterson,

David Ward and Tony Sweet books out and be inspired. Let the subject move, shake the camera,

use multiple exposures to create color glows or edgy images, use select and soft focus and think

about image montages. It all works well with spring subject matter and when the traditional

image won't work, think abstract and think creatively about making an image in a different

manner.

So spring is coming, get set for it. I drag out all my gear and remove those things left over from

winter. I leave one set a glove liners in my bag, we still get occasional days where the fingers get

cold. I put the heater pads away, and anything else that is "winter gear". I lighten my load of at

least one or two lenses sticking to two or three zooms that will cover the needed range and add

in an extra plamp (a Wimberley plant clamp product that won't damage a plant's stem when

clamping it to help stop movement. I have all my diopters (I have 6!), my extension tubes, and

both the 1.4x and 2x tele-converters. In the car I add my "car tripod" a BIG old metal Gitzo that

is heavy (and very stable), a tilt-pan head set up complete with a focusing rail (at high

magnification it's often easier to move the whole camera in and out to focus), and a whole set of

diffusion and bounce light discs, umbrellas, a huge piece of translucent parachute cloth with an

old tent shock-corded pole to hang it on (for diffusing light on a good sized piece of background

- you have to treat the background too!), wind shields, and ground stakes, clamps and other

paraphernalia for making close up images when I'm not too far from the car. It's all about

preparation and if it's in the car, and if I need it, I have it. I don't carry all that stuff all the time!

So get out there, shoot early, shoot at prime time and as we transition to summer, go forth and

make spring time art.

Next Blog: Macro and Close-Up Photography

Allbest, Here's to spring....get your spring eyes on! Hank

"Spring Shore" © Hank Erdmann

Green Bay, Lake Michigan Shore, Peninsula State Park, Door County, Wisconsin

"There is no other door to knowledge than the door Nature opens; and there is no

truth except the truths we discover in Nature."

- Luther Burbank (American Horticulturist 1849- - 1926)

"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well"

- Robert Louis Stevenson (Scottish writer and poet - 1850-1894)

"Circumstances and situations do color life but you have been given the mind to

choose what the color shall be." - John Homer Miller (American writer and educator -

b. 1904)

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