I found a great location in a mixed Stringybark and Spotted Gum forest in Murrah Flora Reserve near Bermagui on the south coast of New South Wales, which was ideal for concentrating on texture.
Eucalypt forests provide extraordinary opportunities for finding texture - the bark of each species is different, they continuously shed leaves, bark, twigs and branches that cover the forest floor and the dappled light through the chaos of the trees trunks, branches and foliage provides its own texture.
Spotted Gum
29mm, ISO 100, 1/25-0.6 seconds @ f/11, 5-shot merged HDR
For this shot, I decided on black and white to emphasise the texture in the image - the colour version just didn't work for me.
I then went looking for some close-ups of bark and found these two contrasting textures:
White Stringybark
70mm, ISO 1600, 1/60 second @ f/11
Spotted Gum bark
53mm, ISO 1600, 1/100 second @ f/11
I was also interested in trying to capture some of the patterns in the trunks of the trees. I normally shoot verticals when concentrating on tree trunks in a forest
Spotted Gum
70mm, ISO 1600, 1/400 second @ f/11
but, this time, I also liked the horizontal format but I had to crop a vertical because I forgot to shoot a horizontal while in the field :-(
Again, black and white worked better to emphasise the texture.
Spotted Gum forest
35mm (cropped from vertical), ISO 100, 1/40-0.4 seconds, 5-shot merged HDR
It's also a good idea to look down when in a forest as there are often interesting things to shoot on the forest floor. I particularly liked the contrast in textures between the trunk of the spotted gum and the leaves, bark and twigs on the ground and I sepia toned this image to emphasise the browns.
Spotted Gum and leaf litter
60mm, ISO 100, 1/40 second @ f/11
and...one last shot of colour
A splash of green in a sea of brown
70mm, ISO 100, 0.3 seconds @ f/11
Check out my YouTube video of this shoot
Please feel free to comment below. Constructive criticism and informed discussion are always welcome.
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