Take the Shot

© 2010 Simon Hucko

One of my favorite parts about getting into photography is that it really opened my eyes to the world around me. I look at things entirely differently now, and spend a lot of time checking out what's around/blow/above me. Every so often I look at something and think "that's a photo." When I can, I'll grab my camera and take the shot. If not, I'll make plans to come back and get the photo when I have the time (or when the weather/lighting is better). I find, however, that I wind up with a very long "to photograph" list, and I often regret not stopping to take the shot in the moment.

Last week on one of my morning commutes I saw a gorgeous foggy scene unfolding. That little voice inside me said "take a photo!" I almost ignored it and drove on to work, but I pulled over, grabbed my camera (always in the back seat ready to go), and fired off a few shots. Less than 3 minutes later I was back to my commute, but I knew that I had a great shot in the can. If I had kept on driving, I would have regretted not stopping all day long (and all the next day, when I realized I didn't have any photos to upload).

Moral of the story? If your gut is telling you to stop and take a photo, do it. Don't put it off for another day unless you have a good reason to and will actually follow through on your plans. Some of my favorite photos have been taken this way.

[Photo info - I closed down my aperture to f/22 and underexposed by about 2 stops so that there would be some definition to the sun. The flare was intentional - you can see usually see it in your viewfinder so you can place it where you want. I chose a vertical shot because I wanted to get everything from the field to the sun in the frame, and the vertical gave me a much better line in the hills than the landscape shot. White balance was set to "cloudy", giving it a nice warm feeling. I cooled down the shadows a touch in post, giving the trees a more neutral feel and letting the golden sun and fog shine through. I had to touch up a lot of dust in the image, so I think it's time for a cleaning. Maybe I'll post about it.]

~S

[title of blog] on flickr