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These tall semi-desert grasses on the edge of Potamos beach at Malia on the north coast of Crete caught my photographic eye as my wife Liz and I were walking back to our car after a cooling paddle in the Mediterranean sea during our two week stay.
Not your usual summer holiday photo, but I was struck by the colour contrast between the yellow grass and the deep blue sky.
Yellow and blue are opposites on the colour wheel, so setting these colours against each other usually creates a dynamic colour composition, with tension and energy.
So, wanting to create an image that was based around this colour mix, I then looked for an interesting composition to enhance the effect.
This solitary stalk of grass, taller than its fellows and sticking up into the blue of the sky gave me what I wanted - a single defining feature that would focus the viewer's eye and grab attention.
All these thoughts and decisions went through my mind in the couple of seconds it took me to unlimber my camera, and then it was just a matter of pressing the shutter, the artistic intent having been already settled.
I find that creativity is a muscle that improves with use, until one can assess situations like this without conscious thought.
Filename - crete grass 01.jpg
Camera - Canon 6D
Lens - 24-105mm zoom @ 47mm
Exposure - 1/60 sec @ f8, ISO100
Filters - Polarising filter used to enhance colours and darken the sky.
Location - Malia, Crete
This image - 800x533px JPEG
Conversion - Adobe Lightroom
Comments - Handheld exposure with image stabilisation.
All content copyright © Howard Litherland 2009-2024 unless otherwise stated.