Old dog, new tricks

Arcata Community Forest, 1/15 sec.

Lately I have been spending some time and effort trying out some ideas suggested by Freeman Patterson in his book “Photography and the Art of Seeing”.  In particular I have been very taken by an ecercise of his involving taking photos in a forest at a slow shutter speed, while jumping up and down.  While I caution readers that such activities may do little or nothing for your dignity (if you care about such things) it is a real eye-opener in terms of technique.

Depending on the shutter speed you go for, and the portion of the jump you trip the shutter during, you can get extremely varied effects, from no more than a subtle blur, to lines of abstract color almost impossible to connect to the actual subject matter.

I find that the technique works best with side lighting for the trees.  Also, because the camera is constantly moving during the exposure, the colors come out quite vibrant, even when taken near mid-day.