An Arch towards the Sun

An Arch towards the Sun, by Mike Jackobo.

A curving tree creates an arch towards the sun. Making infrared photography can become a trap. The effect of infrared can help create a strong photo without much effort. The trap lies in the fact that a strong photograph is not necessarily a good photograph. A tree in infrared can be impressive. Below the initial impression though, there is not much substance in such an image. Things can become even worse if someone just takes photos of trees in infrared. The end result was be a big collection of almost identical photos, that can quickly become uninteresting.

There must be something really special in the shape of a tree, to make want to capture it alone. This particular tree stood out amongst the rest of the trees on the slope. I wanted to make it the subject of a photo so, I began experimenting with various compositions.

A problem I have with my infrared camera, is the ghosting (or flare if you like) created by the sun in the frame. Ghosting can sometimes be used in an artistic manner but usually it is something undesirable. In this particular it would cover part of the subject, thus becoming a subject by itself. I also didn’t want the sun behind me, which was the other option. So, I used the top branch of the tree to block the sun.

The backlight, the shape of the tree and the composition create something more than just a photo of a tree in infrared. The ultimate feeling of this photo is that of an arch towards the sun.