Cooma Snowgums: Photo Story Plus Landscape Photography TipsDigital images of Snowgums captured on a couple of cattle grazing properties near Cooma on the Monaro region of New South Wales plus tips from the photographer
Digital Images of Snowgums near CoomaOne of my sons, along with his wife and little family, lives a few kilometers out of Cooma on the Monaro. The five acre block is land subdivided off from a cattle grazing property.A sheep and cattle grazing area in southern New South Wales, Australia, the Monaro undulates between about 800 meters and 1400 meters above sea level. Snowfalls blanket the Monaro for short periods each winter, but Cooma, in a broad gully and at around 800 meters in elevation, is better known for it's severe frosts. Snowgum Landscape PhotographyWhen I recently stayed overnight, my granddaughter jumped on the ATV with me (that's a four wheel motorbike) and we went photographing snowgums on the adjoining grazing property, capturing nearly 300 digital images in our evening and morning photography sessions.
The Monaro LandscapeThe Monaro landscape is dominated by undulating plains, volcanic outcrops and the grand and gnarled old snowgums.It's many years since the early graziers cleared the Monaro plains of snowgums to provide grazing land. Pockets of young snowgums remain on the properties and there is still some more or less untouched bush in the rougher and poorer country. Form in the SnowgumsMy landscape photography is mostly about form. In the grand old snowgums I repeatedly see the the form of a dancer, posing for the camera on the Monaro plains, and I see the menacing presence of the mythical bunyip of Australian folklore or the gooldjagong of Aboriginal legends.Lighting for Digital Images
These digital images were shot from mid afternoon till dark on one day, followed up by another photography session from dawn till mid morning on the day after.
Mostly, the lighting was three quarters to half lit. It was early spring so the sun was low in the sky for much of the day and the sunlight retained some of the soft winter glow for several hours. Fiddling around with the camera settings, looking for the optimum combination of exposure and white balance as the sun came and went a bit, I made the best digital images under full sun, underexposing one third of a stop. Light metering was evaluative and of course white balance was on daylight.
Three Tips for Digital PhotographersDigital photography is so quick and so automatic that the most critical preparatory steps can easily be omitted.Form Stand still and look at the form. As you allow the creative side of your brain the opportunity to work, you may see in your imagination a fantasy form that will make for a strong composition if wisely manipulated against the remaining landscape. Or you may see strong lines that will divide up your digital image or point to a critical part in such a way as to greatly enhance your presentation of the landscape before you. Light Stand still and look at the light. Photography is painting with light. Allow the right side of your brain to take in what the light is doing to the form, texture, colour and mood of the landscape before you. Adjust your composition to get the most out of what the light is offering. Walk Once you've got the creative side of your brain functioning to its optimum, you'll be able to imagine what the landscape will look like from a different aspect, or at least know that you need to move and be able to assess the change in the image as you move in and out, up and down, left and right and around one way and the other.
I always think of the old Nancy Sinatra song "These boots are made for walkin'." Well, you need to lay on your belly, climb on a rock, get in close and look up, get around the other side so the sun is on the left of the main object instead of the right and so on. I could write much about looking, seeing and moving but the truth is you have to work it out for yourself. Clutter in the Digital ImageIt can be a real bother having the ATV around when landscape photographing. It saves miles of walking but doesn't belong in the picture with a pristine snowgum, so I generally park it directly on the sunny side of my intended main subject, far enough away so the shadow doesn't fall within my digital image.About the Author Laurie McArthur is a wilderness landscape photographer, outback traveler and author, based on the Far South Coast of New South Wales, Australia. Laurie's images may be viewed at http://www.southimage.net/ © Laurie McArthur 2005 |
Cooma Snowgums - Photo Story Plus Landscape Photography Tips
But the features that grab me are the grand old snowgums, tortured and gnarled by the weight of snow, the ferocity of the wind and the severity of the cold in winter and the heat in summer. Some ancient snowgums stand tall and proud while others have been clinging precariously to life for a hundred years or more and still others have lost the fight and yet stand glorious in death.
