Hey Rick! What's your f-stop?" That's the question I get asked most on my photo workshops. I reply, with a smile, "My friend. What is your creative vision, what is your goal?" Those are the important question for photographers to ask themselves.

In this blog series I will share with you my goal and camera settings for some of my favorite recent photographs, which will be featured in my next (#37) book, Evolution of an Image (September 2016 publication).

Here goes.

Location: Telluride, Colorado

Goal: Capture the beauty of what are known as the “Dancing Aspens.”

Thought process: I had never seen or heard of “Dancing Aspens” – trees on a hillside of Telluride that looks as though they are in motion. I knew I had to go wide, but I was not sure whether a horizontal or vertical shot was the way to go, so I tried both formats, from many different angles. I also knew the high contrast range required HDR photography, so I set my Canon 5D Mark III to the HDR mode.

Tech Info
Camera: Canon 5D Mark III
Lens: Canon 17-40mm lens @ 17mm
Camera settings:
• One-shot autofocus – for a sharp shot;
• Built-in HDR – to capture the dynamic range of the scene;
• ISO 640 – due to the relatively low light in early morning, f/8 – the aperture of three-bracketed sequence, 1/125th second – middle shutter speed of bracketed sequence.

For more tips, tricks and techniques, see my current best-selling book, Creative Visualization for Photographers. Also check out my KelbyOne on-line classes.

Explore the light,
Rick