birch tree

[Kathy O]

My mom loves her birch tree . . . I have tried to take pictures of it a thousand times but it just ends up looking like another ordinary tree, so I decided to take a different approach, since what is unique about a birch tree is its trunk I decided to make it my main focus. What do you think? Thanks for the input!

[Geoff F]

The idea is good, Kathy, but I just wonder about rotating the camera to show more of that interesting bark, and less of the grass.

Maybe end up with a 4 x 5 ratio?

[Ryogenetic]

I assume you are trying to get a picture of your mothers favorite Birch? Do you like the tree? If not what does she like about the tree? Is it the sunlight the way it hits the tree and glows through the day? The shades of green in the summer? or the changing in the fall? Does she like the wispy branches, almost willow like at times? Is it the bark and how it peals off during the year? Birds that make their home in its branches? Then frame that and capture what she sees in the tree. It may very well look like a tree to you but to her it will capture all that she sees in it...
IMHO

Ryo

[Kathy O]

Great Idea Geoff, I will try that. Thanks for the suggestion!

[ScoutR]

Hi Kathy I think Geoff and Ryo have given you some very good things to consider.

I have a birch tree in my front yard and I did some similar shots last year in the snow. The white bark and the white snow made an interesting shot in the right light. Early morning worked out best for me, depends where the tree is though. In the afternoon the sun is over the house so the trunk is in shadow, but in the fall the evening light caught the coloured leaves and that made a nice display as well, so please do consider the lighting conditions when you try your next shot. When you talk to your Mom you might find that she likes different things about the tree at different times of day and different seasons.

I checked the EXIF on this shot and noticed that it is shot at 1/80s: f 5.8: ISO 80. I think for sure you should increase the ISO so that you can get a faster shutter speed and get a sharper picture. This will also give you the ability to use a smaller aperture if you decide you want better Depth of field. My feeling on this though is that you might want to open up the aperture and get even shallower DOF - especially if you get some snow. I don't know what I'm blabbering on about, because it really depends what you want to do with the shot and what kind of light and backgrounds you have to work with.

I hope you get a really super shot of the tree for your Mom, but do check with her and then try and highlight and exaggerate if need be the things that she likes about it.

Wendy

[vladimir]

what does she like about the tree?
Is it the sunlight
the way it hits the tree
and glows through the day?
The shades of green in the summer?
or the changing in the fall?
Does she like the wispy branches,
almost willow like at times?
Is it the bark and how it peals off
during the year?
Birds that make their home in its branches?..

This is poetry!