Backlit Tree

Backlit Tree

A while ago I came across this tree in my front yard that had wonderful afternoon-sun backlight. Each leaf had a remarkable luminance to it not found in any of the adjacent trees. After several unsuccessful shots of the whole tree (and the rays of light coming through it on the ground), I decided it was better to eliminate the distracting background and go in closer. I ended up with this composition, from under the tree looking up. I knew I wanted it to be in black and white, to try and emphasize the light values that attracted me to the scene, as opposed to the colors.

At first I was very disappointed with this image. Due to looking directly into the sky, most of the background/sky parts are completely blown out, beyond the range of the camera. The worst of that has been cropped out here. Also, I didn't feel like I captured that original luminance I saw. My girlfriend called the image "uninteresting" and preferred the raw file in color, and perhaps she's right. But the more I look at it, the more it grows on me--at least a bit. I do rather like the tones in the leaves, and the wash of bright light in the background, though possibly distracting, is accurate in the sense that it was much brighter than the leaves I was focusing on (it was backlit, after all). I like how, compositionally, the pathway of the eye is controlled: My eye enters from the left, travels across the line of ivy toward the center of the frame, jumps up to the triangular shape of oak leaves on the right, then back down the tree trunk. Another viewer's pattern may differ, but I still think the composition is graphically strong, despite the large array of lines in the background.

In short, this is an image which I'm not entirely dissatisfied with, though I'm not entirely satisfied with, either. I know the scene had potential that could have been brought out by a better photographer. I chalk this on up to one more step on my path to total photographic control.