Soft Footbridge

Soft Footbridge
Originally uploaded by srtists13

DIGITAL

From atop a bridge one can see in the distance a small path leading through the woods opening up to a small stone footbridge surrounded by algae. As I exited the path it opened right up to reveal the footbridge, so I started to take pictures because I found the placement of the footbridge to be quite aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. I was experimenting with a new technique I thought of in order to get an image to appear both in focus and out of focus at the same time. The outcome is an easily recognizable image with areas of sharpness and areas of softness without loosing any substantial detail. My reason for using this technique is because the lighting of the area combined with the algae and the stone textures created an image with a high amount of contrast. As I looked at the bridge from afar it gave me this very warm feeling involving clichéd images of meetings between young men and women. In addition to my imagination, the surrounding trees were yellowish green at the time and created an overall warm glow when viewed from a distance. When taking pictures I realized that this soft quality was lost in the up close image. My solution was to take the picture with an extended shutter speed of around three – four seconds and while the shutter was open rotate the focusing ring on my lens. The image was in focus when the shutter was first opened, then at around two seconds I began to rotate the focusing ring so that it would focus slightly closer and then slightly farther than the initial image. Using this technique I found I was able to return the soft, warm, glowing effect I was looking for.