Maple Mayhem
My second attempt at shooting the famous Jaoanese Maple tree at the Portland Japanese Garden. Last year I was here a few days too early and the tree was just starting to turn colors, with a lot of green and yellow. I posted a shot from that visit, which I confess was significantly color-shifted and never looked quite right to my eyes, so I've been wanting another go at it. This time I managed to get to the garden a few days later, almost exactly at peak color time, so no color shift required (but definitely some vibrancy and light/shadow enhancement).
I really love the shape of the tree of course but also the range of colors you end up with in the image from the deep greens of the moss to the bright greens of the bushes in background to the bright yellow, orange, and deep reds of the maple leaves. It makes for an eye-popping image and deeply satisfies the inner need for grabbing those fall colors. I sacrificed some time in the NC mountains for a trip out west where I managed to grab some color in a few different locations. I did notice that last year's image had a lot of moss covering all over the tree which adds some lovely texture and catches the light, and the tree is nearly 'bald' this year, having somehow lost its moss covering off the branches (if anyone knows what happened to the moss - please drop a note in the comments! I'm curious).
I was delighted to meet several other photographers there in line to shoot the maple, including the talented Bruce Omori, whom I met in Hawaii a couple of years ago and who I can say with fair certainty is the world's pre-eminent lava photographer and an all-around terrific guy. Bruce runs the Extreme Exposures Gallery in Hilo HI, if you are ever in the vicinity I strongly urge you to drop in and say Hi (www.extremeexposure.com/About).
Maple Mayhem
My second attempt at shooting the famous Jaoanese Maple tree at the Portland Japanese Garden. Last year I was here a few days too early and the tree was just starting to turn colors, with a lot of green and yellow. I posted a shot from that visit, which I confess was significantly color-shifted and never looked quite right to my eyes, so I've been wanting another go at it. This time I managed to get to the garden a few days later, almost exactly at peak color time, so no color shift required (but definitely some vibrancy and light/shadow enhancement).
I really love the shape of the tree of course but also the range of colors you end up with in the image from the deep greens of the moss to the bright greens of the bushes in background to the bright yellow, orange, and deep reds of the maple leaves. It makes for an eye-popping image and deeply satisfies the inner need for grabbing those fall colors. I sacrificed some time in the NC mountains for a trip out west where I managed to grab some color in a few different locations. I did notice that last year's image had a lot of moss covering all over the tree which adds some lovely texture and catches the light, and the tree is nearly 'bald' this year, having somehow lost its moss covering off the branches (if anyone knows what happened to the moss - please drop a note in the comments! I'm curious).
I was delighted to meet several other photographers there in line to shoot the maple, including the talented Bruce Omori, whom I met in Hawaii a couple of years ago and who I can say with fair certainty is the world's pre-eminent lava photographer and an all-around terrific guy. Bruce runs the Extreme Exposures Gallery in Hilo HI, if you are ever in the vicinity I strongly urge you to drop in and say Hi (www.extremeexposure.com/About).