I was out this morning poking around trying to take advantage of the quickly fading fall colors. I have really had the urge to try some different things lately. I ended up shooting mostly standard stuff unfortunately. I was heading back to my car because the sun was getting quite bright and I was feeling a bit discouraged I didn’t really create many original things today.
In this area of a cedar grove, I was looking at the base of two of them that formed themselves in the U-shape of a neck pillow close to the ground. And I thought – hey – that looks quite comfortable! I dropped my pack, set down my tripod, and proceeded to try out this natural neck pillow. The ground was covered in a scattering of soft cedar leaves and bark shavings – I was ready to take a nap. What I saw next was similar to what you see here, and I started playing around with various things in zooming my camera to emphasize the height above me.
Just goes to show you never know when an idea may present itself – even lying down on the job. 🙂
Super shot…I love it.
This is a beautiful, fun, shot! Some of our best shots are created by accident! I figure that is how zooming and panning were discovered in the first place. And by “laying down on the job,” it forced you to look up to the sky and see your subject from a much different perspective. Then, you were able to accomplish you goal of creating “original” work.
I have also been using this technique a lot lately. It seems I have become somewhat obsessed with zooming for about a year now. I first started experimenting with it when photographing something in low-light and without a tripod. Like panning (which I have been doing for years),it is something you can fall back on when light is not ample and you don’t have any camera support. Now, I purposely look for subjects that would make good zooms!
Beautiful and dynamic. Awesome job and great experiment.
Funny… we indeed seem to be sharing similar creative brainwaves. This is a really nice shot. The cool shadows and the radial highlights work well together. My upward perspective lacked a zoom, but I did try that a well during my trip out to the eastern Sierras and got a couple decent shots. The zoom effect is often hit or miss, but when you get one that works it usually really stands out. As always a pleasure to look at your photography.
Hey Mark, I’ve tried these shot but haven’t been able to pull it off. You did a great job on this one.
At first glance I saw ‘abstract’ then the composition of the canopy. Such a lovely effect. Wish I had (a lot) more experience so I could follow the zoom thread, but at least I know I like what I see.
I admit I have tried this zooming thing as well on other occasions and it didn’t turn out as well. I have another shot in my gallery of the same view, but the zoom effect is much more pronounced – creating a total abstract. With this particular one, I think I left the shutter open ‘a bit’ longer at a stationary position vs. in the process of zooming. If you look at the other one in the gallery, you will see an entirely different image of the same scene.
Very creative shot Mark, I have tried the zooming effect with little luck, you nailed it here. Great work.
Mark, this is great! Both as an image and conceptually, it is powerful. It’s not so much that the technique is new, but the vision that you brought to it creates a Cathedral window-like feeling. There you are dealing with the end of fall, and me here in the east, waiting for a little.
Great effect Mark! At times a zoom effect like this can be too much and take away from the image instead of adding to it, but the amount you have applied here is just right.
Nice unique take on the end of the fall colors!
Very nice! I really like the special effects on this one. The colors are brilliant, too! My entire weekend was full of washed out clouded over skies…