Let's Talk About Trees // Ever Wonder Why

Trees are beautiful. I love looking at a tall, green tree, or driving through "forests". I just really love trees. Most people do and most people think they are great backdrops for their photos. While they can be beautiful scenery, they have to be utilized in a specific way in order to have the lovely light and skin tones that we want for your photos!!

My style of photography is entirely light based. Lighting decisions are first and foremost and that applies to the backgrounds of your photos. When it comes to trees, there are two main concerns - the color cast on your skin and the heaviness of the background. Don't worry, we'll get into the details of what that all means :)

Looking at my photos, you should notice that there are no shadows under my clients' eyes, their skin tone is very even and light, and the backgrounds are not shadowy and dark. This is all done by knowing and controlling the light. Let's look at "heaviness" first.

When a photographer says a photo is "heavy", they mean there is lots of shadow and dark colors to it. For some photographers (friends of mine included!), this is their style. They want that look and their clients want that look. But for others, like me, we want a more light and airy look and so we avoid things that weigh our photos down and make them "heavy". Bringing this back to our tree discussion, this means that we will avoid a thick, dense group of trees in favor of looser groupings or stand alone trees. We want light to be able to get around the branches and trunk and add glow to your photo.

Dark eye sockets and color cast are not what we are looking for either! "Color cast" is what happens when the light is reflecting off of a colored surface and onto your face, arms, and whatever skin is exposed. Outside, that is most commonly green from the grass and trees. This is why I won't put my clients directly underneath trees. To get that light, even skin tone, we need "access to the sky". This means that you are facing a wide open area of sky and that reflects good light back into your face, eliminating color cast and giving us that nice, even lighting on your face and brightening your eye sockets. Whenever my clients want to use trees, I position them in front of the trees, not underneath, so that we can avoid the problems of shadows and color cast. This is also why I don't do photos in the woods.

Trees are beautiful and wonderful backgrounds if they are chosen with care. We don't want them too close together because we want light to filter in around their branches and trunk and we don't want to stand directly underneath them. But in the background, with nice light filtering through, they can add wonderful dimension to your photos.