Photographing Black and White Trees in Como
Show Notes
Meandering through the alleys of Como, I was looking for more chiaroscuro lighting in the architecture but the route that I chose did not feature anything that caught my eye, but luckily as I made it to the shores of Lake Como the City Park was illuminating the trees beautifully.
As in last week’s vlog, the lighting lent itself naturally to black and white images. I find that the city is often too complex a location for colour photography and by utilising black and white photography more compositions open themselves.
I took several images from around the park, various compositions of different trees and the light interacting with their shapes and forms. Landscape photography in the city is a little different to Street Photography as, in my opinion, street photography often uses people as part of their compositions and that’s what I’m trying to avoid.
The trees of the park were the perfect subject for landscape photography in the city and I hope there is some inspiration to you.
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Onto the Images
Such beautiful light makes a photographer stop and stare. Just entering the park I knew I had found my muse and would enjoy taking some unique images of the various trees in the park. I became so enthralled by my inspiration that in the end I didn’t make it to the point where I had intended to go. But I had a fun and creative morning of landscape photography in the Park.
If you have watched the film then you will know that I edited this picture a little more than I normally would. There were a lot of small lights in the background that were really distracting from the main subject, so I cloned them out to give a black wall background to really show off the subject of the tree and the light that it was catching.
Because of the road in the background I was timing my images very carefully so as not to have car lights in the background, but on a whim and as an experiment I decided to create an exposure when a single car drove through the background. The 10 seconds of the exposure captured this excellent light streak as the car zoomed along the road.
When I came to edit the images, this one really stood out and I really like it. The contrasting colours of red and green, and the concentrated composition on the tree and the streak just created a really nice image, in my honest opinion.
I explained this composition quite thoroughly in the video, but essentially I want the eye to examine the twists and turns of the tree and the light in the background adds an anchor for the eye to either begin or end on. Trees are one of my favourite subjects if you haven’t realised through all of my vlogs, but especially when they have a twisting, undulating appearance such as this one.
Again I had to clone out some distracting lights in the background. What’s the point in having a light as a focal point if it’s then competing with lots of little dots of light. I also cropped in slightly to remove some of the distractions that were in the top of the frame.
This one was a bit of a risk. What drew my eye was the tangle of various branches, on what I presume is a willow tree, they were just catching a bit of sidelight and I liked the effect of some branches with light and others in darkness. In the field, I acknowledged that I wasn’t sure about this and it wouldn’t be until after the edit that I knew whether I liked it or not.
And to be honest, I’m still in the fence! The chaotic nature of it is what drew me to take the image but also what makes me unsure about it. The pattern of light and dark is interesting, but is it enough for an image? I concluded in the video that this was a marmite image, some will love it others will hate it and I think that’s a fair assessment.
I quite like this composition and I’m definitely planning on reshooting this image at some point! Basically the sunrise was beginning and the whole scene was starting to brighten up. Just a few moments after I captured this, all of the street lights went out, and they were really what was making me take pictures. So with their extinguishing I decided to head home.
I think that this composition would look even better in darkness, without the distracting background and with a stronger contrast of light and dark. In other words, in this chiaroscuro style that I’m exploring in the city of Como.
I hope you are looking forward to the next instalment! Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
About the Film
Just a little information about the film and how I made it, as well as some links to equipment.
I edited the film using the Free Version of DaVinci Resolve. It’s an incredibly powerful piece of software that I am still trying to understand and will possibly write an article about in the future.
The tracks featured in today’s film were licensed via a subscription with Epidemic Sound. (By following that link, if you purchase a subscription then I will be gifted with a month free for referring you to their services)
Dismantle by Peter Sandberg
Monsoons by Johannes Bornlof
The Longest Rest by Alan Ellis
Our Secret Universe by Alan Ellis
A short Kit List
These are affiliate links, which means if you follow them and make a purchase I will earn a small commission for referring you to Amazon UK. You can find out more about affiliate links here.
Main Vlog Camera is a simple Panasonic G80 with the kit lens, its a great little mirrorless camera that I got for the sole purpose of creating YouTube videos. It’s capable of filming in 4k and seems to do everything that I want it to.
Rode Mic, I got this little microphone to boost the audio quality from the inbuilt microphone.
Action Camera, I use this to film myself when walking. It’s a simple DJI Pocket Osmo camera that has a motorised 3 axis gimbal head, which means that I stay in focus and static while the landscape around me moves. It’s also capable of filming in 4k and the audio quality is quite good.
Voice Recorder, to boost the audio quality when it’s windy or I’m using the action camera I use this handy little voice recorder with a lapellier microphone to record audio.
For a complete Landscape Photography Kit List you can read through what equipment I take with me when I go out here.
Related Episodes
Written by Daniel Long
Daniel Long created DRL Photography as a place to showcase his work as a photographer. Daniel has learnt a lot about photography and wishes to impart this knowledge with you, although the world is an ever changing place and he always says “you can never learn everything.” So as he makes his way, he continues to learn knew techniques, skills and information about photography. He focuses on Landscape and Wildlife photography and Daniel has a special focus on Scotland, his home away from home. As well as writing about photography and taking pictures out in the field, Daniel offers guided photography days so he can share his knowledge and locations in an effort to give his clients the best opportunities possible. Have a browse around this website to see his images, guided experiences and articles about photography. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in contact.
