On a trip to the Ouachita National Forest, I came across a tree that had fallen across the trail I was walking on. As I stepped over it, I noticed patterns around a knot in the wood where a limb had previously been. A few seconds later, I noticed another knot on the side of the log that immediately reminded me of a whale’s eye.
I set up the camera no more than a foot from the tree. At this distance, I knew depth of field would be very limited, only a few inches, so I positioned the camera so it would be as parallel as possible to the plane of the tree. I also selected a small aperture, f/18, to improve my odds of getting edge-to-edge sharpness. With everything set, I pressed the shutter button.
Processing the file turned out to be very limited. I made a slight tweak to increase overall exposure to lighten the image. I added the slightest amount of texture and clarity. Because I photographed this under a heavy overcast sky, the image had a very blueish tint that was remedied by reducing the blue tones. Finally, I opened the file in Photoshop, applied some sharpening, and saved the final image.
I don’t title my photographs. Not that I haven’t thought about it; it’s just that I often can’t come up with something that’s catchy. Of course, that’s probably just me overthinking it. And, maybe that’s a good goal for this year: title all the photographs I make. Starting with this one, I think “Whale’s Eye” is a fitting name.
If I’m feeling really ambitious, maybe I’ll go through my previous images and start titling those as well. But, hey, baby steps, right?