Ask any outdoor/landscape photographer for their favourite season and a large percentage would say Autumn. The rich colours and changing scenes offered in woodland are particularly popular. Although the ‘photography police’ might point the cliche finger at some of their peers I do think it’s interesting to consider WHY photographers and indeed the general public seem to find it such a visually engaging time of the year.

Why Do We Love Autumn?

Autumn itself is known to be a temporal landmark, this is a psychological concept that refers to well established markers and events in our lives. In general terms our brains interpret these markers as a meaningful signal to engage with. The strength of these signals are magnified when they appear regularly, such as the annual changing of the seasons. As such our minds and bodies attribute even more meaning to it.

Colour Psychology

There has been increasing amounts of research into the psychology of colours and how we interpret them. It’s widely accepted that certain colours do promote a variety of reactions from individuals.

The colours we associate with Autumn here in the UK combine to make quite the tantalising feast for our eyes. Orange is believed to enhance feelings of joy and fun, essentially it’s a very 'positive’ colour. Yellow is the most visible colour in the spectrum and research has shown it even generates optimism in people. Finally in Autumn comes Red which during this period and in nature offers feelings of cosiness and motivation. I suspect most photographers are also happy to see the end of endless weeks and months of green in the landscape!

Photography in Autumn

I personally try to get out as much as possible in Autumn, not only for woodland images but also to my local beaches and countryside. The low light at this time of year is very attractive on a variety of subjects. It’s often an interruption to my more long-form project based photography exploits but I do try to engage in the seasonal change to keep my ‘eye’ in so to speak! Autumnal Woodland images are popular with photographers (and viewers) and so it’s a busy time for workshops, making images, and indeed just enjoying being outside during this period.

One thing some photographers can struggle with is finding order in the chaos of woodland locations. It’s a topic I get into with people on workshops and during 1-2-1 sessions. There’s no single piece of advice here that will suddenly clarify your vision but I’d say the following quick tips might be useful:

Try working with longer focal lengths such as 70-200mm lenses
Direct your gaze above ground level, i.e seek out the mid-level foliage
Look for graphical shapes (such as diagonal lines and curves) in branches and trunks
Consider the colour contrasts between yellows, greens and oranges and how much percentage of the frame you dedicate to each
Think carefully about which colours you put next to each other - seek separation and contrast
Keep your eye on the weather and embrace cloudy days which offer a consistent source of flat light

The general challenge with creating effective woodland imagery is to unpack what you’re experiencing as the photographer into an appealing and graphically strong collection of elements in the final frame. Effective use of colours and the relationships between them will help the viewer engage more readily with the image.

EMBRACE THE CHAOS?

Woodland locations can be quite visually chaotic, but there’s always some basic structure thanks to the verticality of tree trunks. When we position and space these carefully within the frame, it gives the foundation upon which you can let the colours unfold. During the early-mid part of Autumn you will commonly still find quite a lot of green in the foliage (depending on the tree variety of course!) and this can actually be very useful to ‘buffer’ or ‘support’ the yellows, oranges or reds. It’s the contrasting nature of the colours that is sometimes most appealing.

There are times when simplicity is more effective perhaps. Broad swathes of subtle colour variation (such as the below image) can be attractive and really assert what time of year we’re looking at.

Don’t Forget Black & White!

Despite all of the above talk about colour and how we react to it, I would also say that sometimes (especially when moisture lingers) that black & white can be an excellent option in the Autumnal period. The luminosity of shimmering leaves with some stunning light can be a recipe for compelling monochrome work.

Often when I’m out with people in Woodland I will get them to engage the B&W live view mode on their camera, even when composing a colour image. Changing to B&W temporarily allows you to better see the tonal variation and density throughout the frame. I promise you’ll learn something about the tonal values and the relationship between elements when you cross-check any composition in B&W.

The idea of this blog post was to discuss the importance of the images the public don’t see, but which make up part of the process for the photographer. Inspired by a recent visit to a Willy Ronis exhibition in Venice and with a little example of my own, I also consider how shooting digitally may affect the process…

Who was Willy Ronis?

Willy Ronis was a French photographer well known for his street & social documentary photography. His work was chosen by Edward Steichen to be displayed in the 1953 ‘Work of Five French Photographers’ exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MOMA). Not long after, in 1957, he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Venice Biennale, this is one of the reasons his work is currently on display at the Casa dei Tre Oci in Guidecca. Amongst the 120 images on display there are also some of his contact print sheets & negatives which inspired this blog.

The Working Process

It’s always fascinating (I think!) to see the images that didn’t ‘make the cut’ so to speak. Looking at a set of negatives can start to reveal some of the working processes of the photographer and indeed the route to construction of certain images. Take this famous example below, in the text at the exhibition Ronis explains that he was alerted to the Gondolieri as their voices became audible to his left, he knew he would have one chance to make the image as they walked across the scene and ‘click’ there it was.

What’s clear in the contact sheet prints is that he’d been waiting here for at least a number of minutes watching various potential scenes unfold. This is one of six images made at that location, each one no doubt building to the ‘decisive moment’ which he chose as the ‘winning’ image from this scene. You see in the contact prints a change in exposure and also how the image needs some action on the right hand side to balance and impart energy, it changed the dynamic totally from just the ladies chatting with the child. He knew this of course and it was a matter of waiting for the characters to enter the scene accordingly.

There are however also examples of images where the moment was so fleeting that just one or two images were made, these are times where it’s now or never. In the image below (also in Venice) there were just two versions on the contact prints, the first with the girl heading out (as shown below) and the second with her returning.

In the second image, the girl is returning towards the street and her body is directly in line with the wooden support on the gangway. This is just one of the reasons why the first image (as shown) is stronger, because of the separation and balance of elements, but also perhaps because here she is heading somewhere, but we’re not sure where. It’s an extra element of intrigue, the beginning of a journey into a relative unknown, however brief.

Modern Relevance?

So, what does all of this have to do with anything we may be thinking about in our photography today? Well, firstly many of us now shoot digitally which has an affect on our ‘in-field’ processes. The ability to immediately assess an image on the live view or viewfinder review screen helps inform our aesthetic choices. For the film photographer it’s an expensive habit to shoot and re-shoot scenes without being able to quickly see the results. It does also depend what style of photography we might be shooting though.

For example, the street photographer is often waiting for a scene to unfold, for characters out of his/her control to enter the scene and to react accordingly. It’s a situation that may also apply to landscape photographers, we may be waiting for a change in weather or the flow of an incoming tide for example. All genres excel in the ‘optimal light’ for the scene and of course the craft is to make compositional sense and order out of whatever the elements in front of us may be.

My Approach

I wanted to try and show an example of how I approached a certain simple scene, with a bold graphical element, and how the images that I wouldn’t normally show contributed and brought clarity to the final image choice from that scene.

I know some photographers find they start wider and work in to find the detail, others (Bruce Percy being one I believe) start closer and gradually work wider if required. The idea of this second approach is that perhaps you have already identified the core essence of what attracted you to the scene and then you build upon it, as opposed to having to distil down to what you originally were attracted by. The ability to make the visual connection from eye to composition in camera will affect your approach here and I find that sometimes I go both ways.

The final image: A balance of extraction, colour and shape

The above image was made in Napier, NZ. There is an interesting modern sculpture that extends from the beach into the sea. I knew there were shapes, colours and flow to play with when I saw the structure and I’ve tried to retrospectively review my approach below, in the order the images were made.

The Process - In Order

As mentioned above, I often work closer in, further out, or indeed just throw around visual ideas as I’m exploring a scene. Some may argue this shows a lack of clarity in my approach or assessment of a scene, perhaps that I’m unclear on my purpose. However, I would argue that there are multiple ways to successfully interpret a scene or element and this working process is no different to a chef experimenting with flavours, seasoning or indeed presentation.

The images are displayed below in the order they were shot. One quick note: Yes, they are processed differently. At the time I was bouncing between colour or black and white and the camera I now use allowed me to explore that ‘live’ (which is something I’ve enjoyed adding to my process) but more on that later.

Image by Image - Developing Ideas

IMAGE 1: This is the first image I shot of the structure. There were certain things going though my mind immediately that led me this way:

Part of the attraction was the shapes of the structure. I wanted to emphasise these by extracting and abstracting them from the overall construction.
There were various people stood under the structure, one way to cope with that is to simply remove them from the scenario.
The structure had a clean white colour and the high-key black and white treatment helped add something to the graphic design.
By extracting this segment there is some ambiguity about what we’re actually looking at and that forces us to look more at the shape and flow rather than tying it to an objective structure.

IMAGE 2:

Stepping back I wanted to show the structure a little more clearly, essentially making it more obvious.
I chose to do this partly because of the cloud above which I thought added balance. Arguably it could work without but because the ‘legs’ of the structure are cut-off, I felt it needed a similarity in the sky (i.e. something else light) to potentially distract from the fact those legs don’t finish.
It doesn't really work. The clouds on the right hand side are a bit distracting and there’s not getting around the cut-off legs issue. What you can’t see is that there are still people there so I was compromising by framing higher into the structure.

IMAGE 3:

Moving back in helps create a stronger image.
It’s let down by the small clouds near a couple of the lower legs, and perhaps the whole composition is too bottom right heavy.
Direct sunlight and blue skies vs white structures can work very well in B&W and it was good to preview this live using the viewfinder on the Nikon Z6.
Undoubtedly this closer approach leads to the next image (my preferred choice). The cogs are turning…

IMAGE 4:

You can see this is perhaps a result of the previous images where I’ve been trying to find the right balance between extraction and compositional flow.
In my opinion this is the best balanced compositionally because the visual ‘weight’ of the structure is evenly dispersed across the frame, with room to breathe in that bottom left corner.
In terms of colour vs B&W, although it was potentially B&W inspired you just can’t beat a clean blue and white combination. The contrast allows the structure to ‘pop’ out of the background.
The lack of any pesky clouds helps and I stood for a moment waiting for them to clear accordingly.

IMAGE 5:

The postcard shot! This is more of a record shot for me. Finally everyone cleared away and so I took the chance to shoot the structure in its entirity.
The strong foreground shadow adds some depth and interest but fundamentally I find the extraction shots more visually interesting. This is because of the focus on flow, curves, lines and the semi-abstraction which adds some ambiguity.

The Process - Retrospectively Deconstructed

You may ask: Are you really thinking these things as you shoot? The answer is yes to some degree, and perhaps some is happening in my sub-conscious. It may seem indulgent to retrospectively project a thought process onto the images afterwards but I find that de-constructing your own images and shooting patterns is a helpful way to self assess and improve.

I mentioned earlier that shooting digitally informs my process. I’m happy shooting film sometimes but I do find that one major advantage of digital is the chance to immediately review and tweak compositions. Part of me is heavily influenced by the Precisionist style of work that I love to see, and that side fights with the looser, exploratory style I often employ when trying to unlock the compositional essence of a subject or scene.

The chance to not only see the composition in the required aspect ratio through the viewfinder, but also to see it in potential edited form (i.e. choose from multiple processed versions) on the new Nikon Z6 that I use has been a really helpful creative tool. It allows me to get as close as possible to the finished article at the moment of capture. This post is not about gear (although there will be a Z6 review coming soon), but gear here is relevant, it affects how I approach a subject and thus the final outcome.

In Summary

If you’ve made it this far then hopefully you’ve found some of this interesting. I would certainly recommend looking back at your shooting patterns. Perhaps start with your chosen ‘winner’ from one scene or another and then look at how you shot before and after that at the same scene/location. There could be some points to learn from and you may start to see common threads to how you approach things. Were you waiting for a different light? Did you change the composition? If so, why? Did you get stuck in one place? Could you have moved around more, explored a different angle? Were you thinking about the finished image? This de-construction may help you think about a new way, or indeed it may simply help you become more efficient in your shooting approach.

Recent Blogs...