Saturday, October 8, 2011

Fill The Frame

It has been a while since I submitted an entry to Gardening Gone Wild's Picture This photo contest. You get busy and wander off. Then a good deal of time can pass before you wander back. I wandered back at the right time for the photo contest and am in the mood to procrastinate from other more pressing things.

The theme for this month, Fill the Frame, is a study in composition. It made for a good mind exercise while I was digging out unwanted forsythia and philadelphus in the ridge top garden and gave me a photo task in my comings and goings during the day.

I took all kinds of pictures with Fill the Frame in mind. Then I had to pick just one for the contest from the already narrowed down contenders. Not easy. These were all the possibilities.

This picture while nice was too easy.

The Sheffie Mum



Was the purpose of the task to fill the frame completely with a single theme or is the composition of different objects in a unifying theme more important?

Stacked Stones



Pictures of the Lush never seem to win. This one makes me want to climb over the fence and see what else is out there.

Out Riding Fences - Desperado




Waiting and Turning




Going To the Chapel




Still Life In The Zinnias




This was a very strong contender.

Anemone Creek




Captured By Fall



Our judge this month Saxon Holt says "Lesson #1 in all my workshops is to analyze what you are seeing and make the camera say what you want it to say. Fill the frame with your message. Don’t waste space in the photo with information that does not tell your story."

The light was just perfect yesterday and this Birch tree glowed inside the darker forest. I couldn't walk by without it calling out to me. I wanted to capture that glow.



So I zoomed in, eliminating all distractions and filled the frame with glowing birch.

This is my entry for October's Picture This photo contest exactly how it came out of the camera, no cropping and no enhancing.

Glowing Birch



Now I must attend to more pressing matters. I have rhododendrons and daffodils to plant and more things to paint.

9 comments:

Mel said...

Great photos! I know exactly what you mean, sometimes the scenery or the light or the trees call out to me too - remember this! catch this! The photos are never quite as good as what I see, but they help me to remember the moment. I'm saving up this sunny fall's golden moments for winter - the weatherman says it's going to be a doozy.
Thanks for sharing all your great captures and the photo advice. I find when I'm editing my raw photos, the ones that cry out to be deleted come with the thought that they somehow lack a clear narrative. Yours all tell nice stories.

Alison said...

Love it! That birch is beautiful! Good luck on the contest.

Siria said...

Gorgeous picture if the birch! I really liked "captured by fall" photo too.

Lola said...

All the pics are superb. You do know how to focus on the right one. "Captured by Fall" was my first choice till I saw the "Birch Glow". It does show the brilliance of the color to beckon to one's attention.
Best of luck on the contest.

thistleandthorn said...

Marvelous. A winner.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Yep, I like this. Good luck. I think it is interesting how the birches hold their leaves when all others lose theirs and look like ghosts in the morning light. I have tried to capture that look before. It didn't work for me. Hmmm I will look at them again this winter.

Town Mouse said...

Yes, that tells the story! I like that you showed us both pictures, the one that doesn't fill the frame and the one that does. Good luck!

One said...

I love the way you filled the frames. Came over from GGW gallery.

Saxon Holt said...

Great submission to the GGW contest. I love these sort of texture shots that can be abstract and real at the same time while telling a story.
I would consider cropping some off the right, there seems to be too much dark especially at the bottom and the three trees don't need to be perfectly balanced. I know the sunlight can be important to the yellow leaf color but I would burn in the hottest areas of the tree - it grabs too much attention. (Personally, I would love to see that scene in soft light where I could make all the leaves a more consistent texture - but that is me...)