Posted March 31st, 2010

Dead Wood Puzzle

This remnant of a toppled tree is partially uprooted, split and twisted to the extent that it is not entirely clear what is top or underside and root or trunk. The prominent textures and complex patterns in the weathered wood further provide a fascinating study of the tree’s history.
The original image was somewhat washed out by a thin veil of flare. The Pentax 200 mm lens is more resistant to flare than most of my film era optics but it still wasn’t good enough in the brilliant ambience of a pure white snow covered landscape under the March sun. The subject itself was not that brightly lit, as evidenced by the slow shutter speed, yet it seems that stray light scattered into the lens from the surrounding snowscape was enough to overwhelm the darker content. A couple of simple adjustments in Adobe Lightroom salvaged this photo but other subjects would suffer unacceptable loss of shadow detail that could not be recovered. It has become clear to me that only a lens that is designed or revised for digital use will do in typical outdoor conditions at this time of year.
Pentax K10D, SMC Pentax A 200mm f/4, 1/8 sec @ f/16