Whenever I see lots of clouds in the sky above the reservoir near my home, I grab my camera loaded with black and white film and my orange and red filters, and go looking for compositions. This past week, the type of clouds were not the usual post-storm cumulus, but cirrus, high and wispy. Here are some compositions I found.
The trail into the hills near my house forks soon after you reach it. Heading to left up the hill, you come across this tree, backlit in the late afternoon.
Heading up the hill to the right, you come across this bench overlooking the hills and the reservoir, front-lit in the afternoon. That day, there was a child’s toy that had been left near the bench. I incorporated it into my photos, since it adds another element of interest, and because it stands out against the dark ground. I used the same elements—sky, bench and toy—and tried three different compositions. In the first two, I made the sky 2/3 of the photo to highlight the unusual clouds.
I moved the toy from where it was left; I wanted to try centering it under the bench and shooting in a portrait orientation.
For this shot, I moved in closer, reducing the amount of sky, and making the toy and bench more important.
As with all photos I post online from my film camera, these are scans of negatives I’ve edited in Lightroom. I won’t have nearly as much control in the darkroom, but I think I can still make good prints with plenty of contrast and separation of tones.
