A few weeks ago, I wrote that I don’t have to travel far to find photographic locations and opportunities. I just didn’t realize just how close to home I could stay.
One recent evening, my wife called me outside to look at something in the back yard. I don’t remember what I was supposed to be looking at because I became distracted by these two trees.
The contrasts of the scene were what really caught my attention: the contrast between the tree trunks and the fresh spring foliage and the contrast between the brighter, sunlit foreground and the darker, shaded background.
I ran inside, grabbed my camera and tripod, and ran back out. What I was looking for was a scene that provided separation: separation between the two foreground trees and separation between foreground and background. It took me just a few minutes to find this composition. I set up my tripod, pressed the shutter button, and captured the shot.
When I opened the file in Lightroom, I was happy with the separation between the two trees. But, I was as pleased about the foreground/background separation. To correct this, I spent time making adjustments to the photo’s overall exposure and contrast, but I wasn’t getting exactly what I wanted. So, I turned to Lightroom’s adjustment brush to achieve the look I wanted.
First, I used the adjustment brush to slightly lighten the two trees. This would make them seem closer to the camera position providing the separation I wanted. Next, I used another adjustment brush to reduce the overall exposure of the background foliage. This made the foliage appear to be in deep shade and further behind the trees.
Finally, I cropped the image to to eliminate some distracting branches along the top and left edges of the frame to get this final image.