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thank you to squarespace for sponsoring this week's video [Music] [Music] so [Music] so well hello hello everybody i hope you're all well come back to the the avatar grove which is an old growth forest on the west coast of vancouver island not far from port renfrew and uh i'm a little disappointed i've photographed this scene probably about two or three years ago now and it's somewhat seasonal and what i mean by that is that the stream here only really runs when it rains and if it rains a lot then you know obviously you'll get a lot more water i was here a few weeks ago and there was too much water so i've come back and there's hardly any water so it's it's a little disappointing now having said that i you know i'm going to try and eat my words here and and tell you that uh you know i really shouldn't try to have expectations even though i've driven out to the west coast here in the hopes of photographing this scene here or repeating it with my gfx100 it's just not going to happen today but rather than just give up and go and look for something else i've decided to try and stick it out a little bit and see if i can find a different composition because you never know might find something that's even better or equally as nice as what i originally found the original image is is very beautiful i think because we have the big old log above the creek here and it has a big tree growing out of it so it's a really nice nurse log and it really represents um the the old goats forests of british columbia really well and of course having the creek below with mossy rocks and ferns just adds an extra touch to it but i think what i'm going to do is try to think to myself okay so what is it about the scene that that really draws me to it and the reality is even though the the creek is a nice addition it's actually the big old tree above the creek with that big tree coming out of it that really attracts me to this scene and also the other log behind it and of course it's surrounded by uh conifers that are nice and green and then you've got the ferns in here as well the biggest problem that i found with this area here is that as you may see from from this video very dark in here the iso of of the camera right now is at iso 3000 and that's that f4 now i'm shooting out of 60th of a second but it's extremely dark in here and it presents some challenges one of the biggest challenges being that if there's any wind in here then you're going to get blurry foliage and so that's one concern now i could boost the iso that's not a problem but of course as soon as i start adding a bit of depth to that then you kind of mitigate that that faster iso because you need the depth so you end up still shooting slower shutter speeds i'm going to give this a go i'm going to see what i can find i think i have something in mind maybe a pano of just the logs above this tree here i'm not keen on it kind of gets in the way a bit so i'm going to have to kind of maneuver around to try and find an angle that works for me the other problem that i have with and this kind of happens with a lot of forest photography is that i'm kind of shooting upwards so i'm getting big patches of white sky in the background so if i can elevate myself a little bit uh that will help because i'll be able to shoot across rather than up and that might be possible here because just behind the camera there there's a steep slope i just noticed this a little bit of fog moving in as well so that might help a little bit as well so let me set up and we can see if we can salvage something out of this shoot today all right i think i think this is going to work um so what i've done is i've just moved down a bit further so i'm not so close to the uh to the scene that i want to photograph and by doing that i've uh i'm shooting more straight across at the scene rather than up and i've talked about that a few times what that means is that i end up using a slightly longer focal length and that way you're able to eliminate the sky as much as possible the it is very dark in here but the wind there's a little bit of wind let's see what i what i can do i really don't like that that one alder um that's kind of in the way there's not really much i can do about that all right so i've set up here and i really love the angle but as you can see this holder here is a little bit kind of in the way and uh even though i like the angle and i've eliminated the the sky one of the biggest problems with this composition is that this foliage on the left side it's kind of blocking the part that i really love about this scene and that's the tree of a large tree growing out of the nurse log here so somehow i'm going to have to change my angle so that i'm including more of that tree and that's the thing with composition you have to really define what it is you're trying to portray and then simplify it and if you see a problem or you kind of have a feeling that something's not quite right then usually your intuition is probably the best way to go about composition if it doesn't feel right then it probably isn't right this tree to me is really bothersome so i'm going to try and find another angle so that i'm not including it my initial kind of approach to this was to have a wide angle view of the scene but as you can see it presents some other problems the biggest one being this log on the right side it's really quite distracting mainly because it's so bright it doesn't have any bark on it and it doesn't really lead your eye anywhere other than out of the frame so i've eliminated that by zooming in but then that creates some other problems so i'll take this shot the best i can and then i'll try and find another composition that i think better represents what it is i love about this scene and that's the big tree growing out of this fallen giant as predicted this photograph didn't quite work out for many of the reasons that i pointed out in my video for most of my compositions i really do like to use my instincts as a guide as to whether a scene will work out as a photograph or not now that's not to say that i go against those instincts now and then and think outside of the box or try something different because if we we're always doing the same thing then how are you going to improve as an artist so it's not a bad thing to you know if something doesn't quite feel right but just go with it anyway just to just to see how it turns out and learn from those mistakes or or learn from the things that might work out that you otherwise might not have thought of in this case though i don't think the image works because of the the things that i pointed out at the beginning there uh the older in the foreground is very distracting to me and also there isn't really uh a focal point to this photograph the tree growing out of the nurse log for me is the most interesting part of this scene and of course it's hiding behind a tree limb there even though we know it's there or i know it's there because i was standing there you need to represent that and and show it clearly so that your viewers can see uh those subjects that you're really drawn to now this particular photograph this is the raw file i haven't done anything to this so there are a number of issues with it that i would address namely just bright areas and dark areas that need darkening or lightning you could probably see on the left side here there's a little bit of snow and that tree branch is very bright so i darken that down i would darken down the right side of the frame and probably lighten the the middle there a little bit and just equalize out the the highlights and the shadows a bit more all right so i've moved forward and i'm using a wider lens and the angle is much better now because i can include the part that's really interesting to me the big tree coming out of the log the problem is is that now i'm shooting up so we have to make a few compromises kind of either crop it a little bit tighter or perhaps in post-processing do something with those bright areas either clone them out or what i did in the last photograph when i was here was i added a little bit of gaussian blur just to kind of look like it was some kind of light blade which some people like and some people don't like i i thought it looked not too bad but i'll let you guys decide so it's not the easiest scene to photograph and of course now it's getting even darker it's only uh two or two o'clock in the afternoon but uh i'm shooting at iso 1600 f10 and i have a shutter speed of 1.5 seconds which is problematic because some of the ferns are moving [Music] okay now i think most of you would agree that this image is a much cleaner and more defined version of the scene than the first photograph we've now defined what it is we really want to show in the scene and zeroed in on it and just keep simplifying and simplifying until we get to the point where we've eliminated as much of the distraction as as possible and we just have those bare elements you'll notice that the alder is still in the frame but it's kind of to one side so it's it's still a little bit distracting but not as distracting as the first photograph you can now see that we have that beautiful tree growing out of the stump and we also have the fallen log in the background that mimics the one in the foreground so it's much more defined now this again is a raw file i didn't uh process this image because as you'll see in the rest of the video i went back and i think i had better conditions incidentally this was shot at iso 1600 and i can't believe how noiseless this scene is there's very little difference between a photograph taken at iso 100 and 1600 which just which just blows my mind anyway i just thought i'd mention that right uh i've decided to uh to camp out and uh some of you may recognize this spot this is not far from where i was avatar grove it's quite quiet down this area eden grove is down there and then this grove of trees that i've photographed a couple of times now i don't think it has a name but i really enjoy just camping out here it's getting pretty pretty cold though uh incidentally i have a new pair of gloves that i should mention these are by uh valerie photography gloves these are the markov pro twos and uh i've been using uh the valerie gloves for a couple of years now and um what i like about them is they are quite versatile for photographers or they're made for photographers these the gloves obviously i have mitts as well for colder weather and when it's colder out what i usually do is i have the mitts and then i'll have the inner gloves they have a merino wool or you you can get uh some kind of uh like a synthetic pile in a glove as well if it gets really cold these are kind of a mid-range mid-winter glove this year on the island it hasn't been very cold at all um and i haven't had a need for gloves as you can probably see there's a little bit of snow around and the temperature has dropped so i've decided to bring these along with me the the nice thing about the valerie gloves is that they have the magnet on the uh on the thumb and the forefinger here so that you're able to uh you know touch the dials on your camera just have a little bit more uh control with your fingers so you have to keep taking the gloves off all the time which is what i used to do it was uh you know be a pain in the butt especially when it's really cold out uh these are a thinsulate glove they also have a little pocket at the back here i guess you could store stuff in there if you want or i think you might be able to fit in a hand warmer in the back there so that's kind of handy has a nice grippy uh palm it's kind of like a it's not leather it's some kind of rubberized texture so when you're holding your tripod or anything like that it's really quite firm in your hands a nice elastic cuff the insulation is uh thinsulate so it's warm when it's wet uh yeah they seem like they're they're pretty good gloves they're they're very well made so uh if you're interested in checking these out i'll leave a link down below for you to uh go check them out and if you're left-handed as well they have the same thing on the on the left hand so the lefties don't get left out right i'm going to uh finish making my cup of tea it's going to be a long night tonight um i don't know why it's so dark probably just just dark clouds today hopefully tomorrow we'll we'll get a little bit of light all right thanks again to squarespace for sponsoring this week's video if you're in the market for a professional looking website then look no further squarespace has some of the classiest website designs that i've come across as squarespace website is easy to set up and intuitive to use squarespace's all in one platform is an exceptional choice for photographers wanting to showcase their masterpieces to the world and also sell their services and products want a free trial head over to squarespace.com and give it a go and if you like it use the code adam gibbs for 10 off your first purchase [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] so well good morning everybody looks like we had a bit of snow last night oh i thought it was a bit nippy [Laughter] so i i spent the night uh not too far from here down on the logging road here and uh the light is still pretty dark out so i'm gonna go back to avatar grove and uh and give that a go i really wish that the uh the snow had come down a little bit lower so that i could take some photographs of the snow on the trees down low but i do have a solution to that and that is the drone i think what i'm going to do is get the drone out and see if i can get some shots of the of the trees up high i'd like to get a shot actually just looking down on the trees i know it's been done to death but i really like that perspective just looking right down on the trees all covered in snow it's more or less just a pattern shot you know [Music] this is a lovely scene now i have photographed this before in the past when we were running workshops i used to bring people up here and often we would stop at this scene here i think what's really great about it is that it it feels a bit more open than the rest of the forest because we're on the edge here and the road is not too far from from the edge here and also gets a little bit of fog as you can see so let's just see if we can capture that fog because um the forest behind me this section behind me doesn't really get much fog at all so the fog comes rolling in through the valley and will often kiss the side of this hillside here so you get this ethereal looking forest there is a little bit of fog in there now but i i really wish we'd get this same atmospheric haze or fog in the back section here because there's some really beautiful trees in here uh but when there's nothing to separate them it just looks way way too busy but this is really nice and what i like about this is there's a a a broken off tree that's really quite red so it adds a bit of color we've got the reds and the greens and then the fog rolling in now for this composition i've decided to go really really wide pano because i just love the the bases of these trees with the uh the green salal yeah it's a really really lovely scene there's another big tree down here that i've tried to photograph a number of times and i just can't seem to to get a great angle on it one day i'll come down here and i'll i'll find a good angle on it but uh i know for whatever reason i just can't seem to to find anything that really uh that i'm really happy with right i'm just gonna keep taking a few more shots of this and then i'm going to head back up to the place where we were yesterday [Music] [Music] well i was just on my way up to uh the spot where i was yesterday and uh i thought i'd give this a go i've i've looked at this scene quite a few times basically what's happening here is uh this is just erosion from from people actually walking up to these big trees and over time the top soil just kind of washes away but i really love these uh these roots in the foreground so i thought i'd give it a go now there is a bit of a convergence there with the trees because i'm using a relatively wide lens in this case it's 32 millimeters on on medium format so i'll probably just straighten that up a little bit in in photoshop there is a lot of white in the top but i think that might be oops i think that might be okay um i might just brighten it right up to to kind of give the illusion that it's fog or if that doesn't work then i'll crop it to a pano just so that i'm including all of these roots here and then there's this massive great uh western red cedar in the background i think it might work out okay i i mean it would be great if there was a little bit of that atmospheric fog in there but i just don't think it's gonna happen anyway it's uh even if it doesn't work out it's uh it's a great reference for for next time i'm here if the composition works and it's just you know about coming here when the light is a little bit different then that that works fine too [Music] [Music] so [Music] all right it's um well the light isn't really any better but it is it is extremely calm out so at least that's good news that way i can bring my iso down and uh yeah the ferns aren't moving at all so i can extend the the the shutter speed all the way down to 10 seconds or so which is great because this tree is in the foreground definitely going to need more depth if that tree wasn't there then i wouldn't have to stop down as much because it looks a bit odd if that's out of focus and i don't want that really to be just in focus and everything else behind it out of focus there's also uh just on my my right an evergreen limb coming down that's quite far forward as well so i do need quite a bit of depth here it's too bad the water wasn't running a bit better because actually the conditions right now are just perfect so i'm going to set up right where i am because as i said yesterday i really want to be able to get that tree growing out of the log going over the creek here and also the the log in the background is very important as well if i try to move the camera over to my left over to the left here to try and avoid these trees then the whole scene just looks off balance to me so again what i'm going to try and do is do a bit of a pano because the creek at this at this point it's it's kind of it's not really there's nothing really there to photograph just a little trickle but the logs themselves are really quite something right i'll set up and the compositions are going to be more or less the same as yesterday so i'll show you those right now [Music] so [Music] all right i think i'm more or less done here i've taken a number of variations i even put on my 23 millimeter lens which is the widest lens that i have and did a pano of just the nurse log with that tree growing out of it i think it might turn out okay i'm really glad that i did come back because with that wind uh yesterday it was a bit of a challenge and especially being so dark a little bit lighter today no wind so i'm happy with that i hope you enjoyed this video please be sure to give me a thumbs up if you did enjoy it and as always if you have any comments or suggestions be sure to leave them down below you may have also noticed that in the last little while i've been putting up prints at the end of my videos i'm going to be trying to do that more frequently i absolutely love printing it's just the last two or three years i haven't done an awful lot because i've been concentrating more on the youtube side of things but now that i have my office more or less set up and the printer all ready to go and of course i've been printing the uh the 50 000 subs sale or the recent sale that i had so uh if you are interested in purchasing a print be sure to head on over to my website i'll leave a link up here uh it's an ongoing thing so if there is an image that you've seen in the past that you wish was on the list or on my website be sure to let me know all right everybody thanks ever so much for watching again and until next week bye [Music] [Music] you