Sampling Fall at Schoepfle Garden
October 30, 2022
Trees were trying out their new fall colors a week ago Sunday, and I drove over to Schoepfle Garden to see what I could see there. In the comments section of the last post I confessed that I have a hard time making what I consider real landscape photographs. By “real” I mean ones with breadth and depth—panoramas. I’m more comfortable taking tighter shots. As usual, I was disappointed in last week’s download of photos taken with the wide-angle end of my zoom lens. To be surrounded by beauty and feel inadequate to convey it is distressing. But after watching an Alexander Kunz video, I went back—filled with hope—to several of my discards to see if I could improve them. I found I could. They’re still not the quality of landscape photographs I would like to make, but I hope that they display some of the beauty at Schoepfle. Other wider-angle photos were not salvageable except as cropped images. Taken together I hope these photographs convey the reason for the pleasure of a late-afternoon walk through northern Ohio woods.
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Romancing Reality 
The backlighting works well in #2. The ripply water and the stones in #5 add a lot. In #6, #10 and #11 you have a nice mix of colors. In #10, did you consider toning down the yellow hot spot and perhaps cloning out the green leaves that reach in at the right edge?
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October 30, 2022 at 10:40 PM
You are not alone in struggling to “see” when surrounded by so much Linda. Autumn seems to have that effect of surrounding us with so much it can be hard to pick a single frame out that conveys the experience. At least that is what I tend to feel a lot, especially in reviewing photos later on. Alex did a nice job showing some simple adjustments that can help that experience afterwards.
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October 31, 2022 at 12:24 AM
Glad not to be alone, Mark. Yes, it’s in the reviewing that I am disappointed. In the field, surrounded by all that gorgeousness, anything seems possible. Alex has a lot of good videos, as you may have noticed.
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October 31, 2022 at 2:21 PM
Yep, the review can be a bit brutal. All I’ve ever found that helped me is to just sit somewhere for awhile, practice some forest bathing techniques and hope something speaks to me. Doesn’t always happen, but I am happy when it does.
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October 31, 2022 at 6:32 PM
I’m slowly finding out that some of the photographs I bypassed during the initial review can benefit from a reworking after leaving them alone for a while.
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October 31, 2022 at 7:40 PM
As you wish, Steve! I had toned down the yellow hot spot, but I see that toning it down more was the right thing to do. Lightroom’s new healing tool was terrific for removing the green leaves. Thanks for the suggestions and your other comments.
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October 31, 2022 at 2:13 PM
I see the difference. And I forgot to mention that #4 is pretty too, what with those reflections.
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October 31, 2022 at 2:20 PM
Oh, good. Thanks. I’m glad you could see that they are reflections. I had to help out the delineation a bit by darkening the shoreline.
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October 31, 2022 at 2:33 PM
Love the late fall shots: golds and browns against sky. fantastic series
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October 31, 2022 at 9:18 AM
Thanks, Tom. You’ll see more late-fall photographs if the ones I took around the neighborhood Sunday turned out. I had such a great time that I’m a little afraid to download. It’s unusual for me not to download almost immediately after getting home.
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October 31, 2022 at 2:36 PM
I really like these, Linda, especially the “lightness” of the first five. The silhouetted trees against the leafy background in #2 and #3 catch my eye and the reflections in #4 and #5, especially with the ripples and the rocks in #5, are striking.
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October 31, 2022 at 9:35 AM
Thank you, Mic. I really struggled with this post, so I’m extra happy to read your nice words.
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October 31, 2022 at 2:48 PM
I think that you did a nice job ferreting out some pleasing compositions. Lots of nice yellows brightening up the landscape. Through all the chaos you managed to make sense of it and several are quite pleasing, especially the last two.
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November 1, 2022 at 8:00 PM
Thank you, Steve. Your words are encouraging. I so admire your consistent ability to capture a landscape beautifully.
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November 1, 2022 at 8:21 PM
Thank you so much Linda for the shout out — I’m very happy to hear that my video inspired you to go back to your photos and take a look. You’re way, way too modest when you call it salvaging. I think the photos work very well together as a set and give viewers a good impression of what you saw and the beauty on display in the location, at this time of the year.
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November 1, 2022 at 9:31 PM
Thank you, Alex. You are so clear when you explain how to do things in your videos. I appreciate them very much. I was happy to mention you in this post.
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November 1, 2022 at 9:49 PM
The first photo especially conveys that pleasure. It’s interesting to hear about one another’s struggles, particularly when a little success is involved. 😉 Alex explains things well, as you mention above; I’ve learned things from his videos, too. But back to the images! I like the bold symmetry of the second photo and the light, with that bright background and dark tree trunks – really nice! The third photo spotlights that one tree nicely. The fourth is a little less successful to my mind – it seems like the yellows got too bright. That happens so easily with yellow. They calm down in the rest of the photos. 🙂 I find myself going for the vertical again (#9), although I like the idea of seeing both horizontals and verticals. What a gorgeous day you had – I haven’t experienced that kind of fall color in many years so thank you!
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November 10, 2022 at 9:52 PM
You are the one who put me on to Alex, many years ago now. I’m still grateful. I did have trouble with the yellows. I think I got used to them being bright and wasn’t sensitive anymore to their being too bright. If you read the comments between Steve Schwartz and me, you’ll know that the yellows in #10 were also a problem—probably more than in #4. I’m glad you weren’t afraid to tell me that one of my photos is “less successful.” I need that kind of feedback even though I am pleased by all the positive comments. It was a good day, and it was fun being at Schoepfle in the afternoon instead of the morning, when I usually go. . . .Thanks as always, Lynn.
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November 10, 2022 at 10:34 PM