Photographing a Summer Misty Forest
Show Notes
I woke up one morning to find mist descending through the forest, and quickly ran out hoping that it would develop in to a full, thick fog. I immediately knew where to go because last year I had a fantastic morning photographing a local birch forest in the fog, and I hoped to have similar conditions but with the colours of summer.
As I arrived in the forest I knew that the mist was a bit too thin, so I attempted to climb a bit higher for some denser fog, but it remained thin throughout the morning.
In the higher area the forest was very overgrown with the strong summer growth, it was almost overwhelming and made it very difficult to find subjects to photograph. Eventually I found a few compositions that just captured the whisper of mist in the background.
As I continued exploring I soon found an area with amazing summer colours, dark greens, vibrant purples and the odd sun scorched orange, and I had to get some compositions accentuating these vibrant colours in the full forest.
Overall the morning was a lot of fun. I might not have captured what I had hoped, but I was pleased with what I had. The only issue of the morning was all the midges! It made very hard to concentrate, especially when I realised I had left my midge net in my other jacket!
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Onto the Images
This composition shows off exactly what was going on in the forest. Large fields of very dark green bracken blanketing the forest floor with birch trees emerging from the tangled mass. A very light mist just softens the trees in the background.
I was looking at this scene on my computer and it was so dark and mysterious, I felt that a black and white conversion would just help it accentuate this feeling.
As I said in the video, I knew I was going to crop this to be a square. I like the strong dark tree contrasting with the ethereal mist beyond it and the colour contrast of the lighter green bracken and shadowed tree sticking up from it.
A simple composition, nothing entirely unique or especially strong about this image. But I like it and it is certainly an image of the moment.
This is the first instance where I saw these strong vibrant colours that would become the feature of this image set. The fog really hadn’t developed the way I had hoped by this point but I soon started to find compositions where colour became the feature.
A winding path through a forest always makes a nice subject, just begging to be photographed. And this one with pinky heather, and green and orange bracken flanking either side, was a beautiful summer subject. It was also the path that I was using to navigate the forest!
So much texture from all of the plants in this image! This one really shows off all of that summer growth. The little accent pinks and oranges poking through a blanket of green growth just screams summer!
This image would have been a lot stronger if the mist in the background was a little bit thicker, creating a simpler composition for the tree and colours to contrast against. But I enjoy the image for the forest floor.
I employed a simple trick that I use when photographing forests, and that is to pick one single trunk and get close to it, trusting that the rest of the forest would form an interesting backdrop.
Again for this image, colour was the most important factor in deciding on this composition. The heather around the base of the trunk just made it a little different to the other images I have captured using this trick.
The mist was really beginning to clear low down but I wanted to show the forest as a bigger idea than before and how the heather was nestled in and around the trees.
So, instead of focusing in on one particular tree, I decided to capture a line of trees together. Just so you can feel the forest as it was.
I think if I was with this tree again, I would try a different composition either just a little bit over to the right to get the path in the composition more or a little to the left cutting out the right hand tree and focusing on the gnarled and bent tree on the left.
When I saw these trees I knew I wanted to photograph them but the midges were really making it difficult to concentrate on the composition. The second you stopped moving they were swarming all over my face and hands, and even the camera!
Once I got this image on the computer, I wasn’t pleased with the composition but I knew that black and white would really accentuate those contrasting textures, light and shadows that had drawn me to take an image with this subject.
Again, like the composition above, by this point I was so riddled with midge bites I couldn’t think clearly! I don’t know what is missing, but I feel like something is missing from this image. I was really surprised by the amount of rereds and sedges emerging from the pond. I knew that there would be some but not this much!
I like the composition of this image but I did make a mistake. I should have put on my polariser to just drop the glare reflection from the clouds a little and to make the stones on the pond bed stand out a bit more, creating a stronger foreground interest.
Summer in Scotland is a really difficult time to photograph mainly because of the midges! They are insistent and constantly biting, which makes it really difficult to concentrate and explore. Any moment you stop for 2 seconds, you will have thousands crawling all over your face. I’m going to try out jungle strength insect repellent to see if that can keep them at bay!
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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 music in this video is a track that I licensed from Premium Beats by ShutterStock called:
The Explorer by Origami Pigeon.
A short Kit List
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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.
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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.
