Twisted Beauty

Twisted Beauty, Japanese Gardens Portland – Steve Rutherford Landscape Photography Gallery

Twisted Beauty, Japanese Gardens Portland – Steve Rutherford Landscape Photography Gallery

This is an unframed, limited edition collection landscape photography print of only 25 units. It is printed on Hahnemuhle Fine Art Pearl papers, structured to refract the highest values in colour and detail. It’s high-quality ink absorbing layer enables exceptional image quality with enormously detailed sharpness, and a very broad colour range, providing archival permanency of your artwork for over 100 years.

On tripod, Canon 5DMk2, 20mm, F16, 1/5 sec, ISO 400, no filter, processed in Lightroom.

Searching for a way to capture this incredibly short artistic bonsai tree was trying to say the least. At a little over a foot and a half high (I know, looks a lot bigger, right?), I had to awkwardly kneel in soft mud after rain shower just 10 minutes beforehand. Containing the twist of the trunk and upper branch in the frame, meant some twisting of me, but I was happy to be giggled at by passing tourists. The colours and the little pond bridge in the background, make this image totally enchanting to look at for me. I spent a long number of hours photographing these gardens, amazed at each tree I saw.

Twisted Beauty, Japanese Gardens Portland – Steve Rutherford Landscape Photography Gallery

Scenes like this have to be photographed, nut they do present a number of challenges. First, make sure your setting son your camera are pretty much set. I’d suggest TV (Shutter Priority) for something like this, as you could well find yourself in a really cramped position and unable to see the front of your camera or the viewfinder. You may need to rely on dialled guesswork. Look specifically in the shadowed areas before you get in position, to see just how much darkness will be in the frame. Compose for the brightest part of the image, leaving the twisted branches as near silhouettes to frame your image.