In the field at dawn

Amy Earl

Well-Known Member
I found these plants at the edge of a field the other morning at dawn and had fun creating these as the sun rose. The plants were only 12-20 inches tall so I had the camera on the ground to get this perspective.

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


The foggy effect in some of these was done by fogging the lens with my breath right before the shot. It starts to evaporate within a couple seconds so I fired off a few shots in succession as that was happening. This lets me choose the amount of fog I want in the shot later. I'm pretty psyched by this simple technique I discovered recently.

There are some different moods here and I'm curious which one(s) are your favorites.
As you decide, you may want to have a soundtrack - I know I do when I'm processing photos :) So here are 3 contemporary classical songs to choose from depending on your taste or mood:

On The Nature of Daylight by Max Richter (quiet, contemplative, bit of melancholy)
The Chair by Angelo Badalamenti (enigma/discovery)
Arrival of the Birds & Transformation by Cinematic Orchestra (more positive/sweeping/uplifting)

C&C welcome!
 

AlanLichty

Moderator
Delightful results. I recall seeing this technique before but have never tried it myself. I like #3 as well as #5.
 

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Hey Amy,


These are awesome! Very very artistic! My favorite of the group is #5.

Fogging up the lens is a great technique. It’s very old school and doesn’t leave the mess behind like we used to have to deal with when using Vaseline on a UV filter on the lens. Back in the old days of dark rooms we had to get very creative in order to have these effects.

I still will breath on the lens at times, I have used that effectively in Yosemite, though it happens more times by accident these days then by purpose.
 

Amy Earl

Well-Known Member
Very creative. I should remember that technique of soft focus.
Good series, but the last one works best for me.
Delightful results. I recall seeing this technique before but have never tried it myself. I like #3 as well as #5.
Hey Amy,


These are awesome! Very very artistic! My favorite of the group is #5.

Fogging up the lens is a great technique. It’s very old school and doesn’t leave the mess behind like we used to have to deal with when using Vaseline on a UV filter on the lens. Back in the old days of dark rooms we had to get very creative in order to have these effects.

I still will breath on the lens at times, I have used that effectively in Yosemite, though it happens more times by accident these days then by purpose.
Thanks so much, everyone :) I appreciate the feedback. I didn't know this "fogging the lens" was a known technique. I might have seen photos that used it before but had no idea this was how they were made! Looking forward to experimenting more with this. I have done a couple sessions and got quite different results depending on the angle of the sun hitting the lens, etc.

I'm pretty excited about this series so I'm going a bit further with it.

Here's a new version of #3 where I added a blue exclusion layer in PS at very low opacity (the "cinematic" technique I mentioned in my daisies post recently) and I like how it adds a subtle dreamy effect. May be hard to see the difference at first but let me know if you think this is an improvement or not.


And a #6 to add to the series:


Thanks again!
 

Amy Earl

Well-Known Member
These are very nice, Amy. I iked your first music choice the best for these delicate images. Did you know you can use Vaseline on a cheap UV filter to get the same affect? Wedding photographers have been doing this for decades.

http://www.steves-digicams.com/know...w-to-use-vaseline-to-create-soft-focus.htmlse
Interesting, I didn't know this trick. They didn't include any examples, unfortunately, but I can imagine the Vaseline creating a similar effect. Thanks Doug! Glad you like the photos :) Looking forward to doing more with this technique - it works especially well with the sun on the horizon.
 
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