“RADIANT AUTUMN”
Grand Teton National Park, WY
September 28, 2008
About a week ago, I posted a portfolio of “Tetons in the Fall” photographs on my website. Out of the few dozen photos in the portfolio, this image has generated the most buzz … with more than a few inquiries on how the “radiant light” effect was created.
It’s actually quite simple. Using my 70-200mm zoom lens, I simply zoomed the lens during exposure. A polarizing filter and an aperture setting of f/32 was used to slow down the exposure – 2.5 seconds. This gave me enough time to record a fairly sharp image of the leaves within a split second, followed by a rendering of the radiant light effect. By zooming out from 200mm, streaks of “light” were created by blurring the bright highlights in the composition. The result is obvious … a dynamic image where light seems to be radiating from behind the leaves. Far more interesting than if I had simply photographed an detailed, intimate view of of aspen leaves.
It seems that I am growing somewhat bored with conventional landscape photographs at times. I’ve started experimenting with alternative methods and creative techniques … and am starting to infuse some of those techniques into my regular shooting patterns. I’m even beginning to shoot with the most basic of photographic tools – a pinhole camera! So, expect to see some more creative imagery here in the near future. As always, feedback and comments are welcome.
So simple and so effective. This is a great eye catching image, Jesse. Nice work.
Thanks Laurent!