(This is the post I started to write when I noticed I had written 99 posts on this blog)

The main part of Goldstream Park (that is, the banks of Goldstream Creek) is not that big, but it always seems to provide good photographic material.

This image really leads my eye into the thick undergrowth in the background:

There is a strong vertical compositional movement with a few visual pit stops on the way. I used a wide angle lens (20mm) to emphasize the depth, and then I spend some time in photoshop  emphasizing details to provide more depth{{1}}. I used two basic techniques here, I make the top third and background cooler (more blue) to help it recede, and I used tone to paint depth. Bright tones tend to look closer, while darker tones fall back. This is where my pen and tablet are useful. I use my “glazing” technique to paint tonality.

In this image, the same wide angle lens was used  to create a sense of space:

I used the same glazing technique here, but I also gave some form to the trees. I lightened the edges using a very soft graduated brush. This enhances the roundness of the trees. I increased the contrast of the water drops against the dark background, and darkened select trees in the foggy background.

If you are paying attention, you may notice that I used the same technique for opposite effects in these images. In the top image, I lightened to bring forward and darkened to push back. For the second, I lightened the edges of the main trees to emphasize their roundness. In other words to push the edges of the trees back. I darkened background trees to bring them forward.

So what is the lesson here? Tone can be used to shape, as well as to separate elements in space.

How do you learn this? Study art, especially masters. The Rembrandt and Ansel Adam each understood this, and used various techniques within their medium to achieve this. With digital imaging, various programs such as Photoshop give us the tools to copy the techniques from other art forms.

But by far the most important skill to learn is how to look at your images objectively and critically. And of course this is probably the hardest skill of all to learn…

Oh, and why do I like Goldstream Park? It continues to teach me subtleties…

[[1]]An introduction to painting for depth is here.[[1]]