Explore Your Options

Detail of Corlieu Falls, Sierra National Forest, California 2009

1/4 sec at f/8, focal length: 184mm, ISO 100, Aperture Priority
- March 12, 2009, 5:35pm PDT. Photographed with Canon EOS 20D, EF 70-200mm f/4L, tripod mounted

The importance of exploring the scene at which you're photographing is often discussed. I don't know if any one would actually argue against this idea, but I do know that we can often get caught up in a single composition or even at the same camera settings and forget to "have a look around".

The image shown here is a detail of the same waterfall from my previous post. If you look in the upper right corner of the image you'll see where this composition was derived from. I always try to push my self into a completely immersed state when I'm out photographing, being aware of all my surroundings to find alternate compositions and find the subtle nuances of light. I always ask my self if this is the best that I can do? How can I make this better? Am I doing anything new? Does this speak to me? What does it say? What am I trying to say? What's next?

It's ok to leave questions unanswered, but as long as you're asking them you'll heighten your awareness and involvement in the process of it all. You'll begin to make images instead of take them.