Congratulations to Matt Anderson for winning Feature Thread of the Week with 7 votes - View Previous Winners
While in Scotland I visited this wonderful lush forest. On a frigid December morning cold temperatures, fog, and a high pressure front created perfect conditions for hoar frost to form. Before my very eyes, the forest transformed into a mystical sugar coated delight. I spent a several hours walking around and photographing hundreds of compositions throughout the area. All the images were taken with a D800E and my favorite light and long travel lens, the highly underrated 70-300mm. I was like a kid in the candy store, almost giddy as I peered through the viewfinder, zooming and panning compositions. The forest seemed to have it's own micro climates and species. As I got closer to the water's edge, the moss on the trees was much more prominent. Deeper in the forest I found darker and warmer tones, fiery leaves blanketing the forest floor. I have a dozen images polished up from this day, it was hard to only pick 5. I hope you enjoy.
I bet you felt like a kid in a candy store!. These pictures are direct and well seen. The tone scale with the light is superb. I especially like the background light and deep shadow detail. That you had the time to make these deliberate compositions is unbelievably RARE!!
The images translate an awesome light and beautiful forest. Sans is the feeling of over the top digital manipulation or need to make the photos work. Thank you for that! And thanks for the pictures.
Claude
P.S. You may enjoy the book Scotland with photos by Jean-Pierre Gilson
Beautiful! Your #7 is my favorite. I love trees but have a very hard time with composition. I will start trying a longer focal length.
Thanks for sharing.
Bob
