Something I've learned is to work a scene until you're pleased with the results. Sometimes I am better than others with maintaining the patience necessary to do this. Quite often I'm guilty of not spending quite enough time to get the shot I want, but I'm working on correcting that.

Another item is to feel free to clear up distracting elements in your shot. Most of the time with outdoor photography, this is random twigs or dead leaves. They usually take away from a shot, and a few moments makes for a much cleaner shot.

At the same time, however, one needs to weigh how much of a change you want to make to an environment - certainly I don't condone doing anything that would affect any wildlife or even the micro-environment in which you're working. As a outdoor photographer, you almost automatically have to be a conservationist.

Anyway - back to the item at hand. Working the scene.

Technical Data: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT, Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC HSM AF at 10mm, 1/60 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400, No Flash. No post production. Cedar Creek Park, Westmoreland County, PA.

It is a little tough to see from each of the small photos (but you can click on them to see larger versions), but through the series of taking these photos, I went through the following changes to finally get the shot I liked most:

• Changed focal length from 20mm to 10mm
• Removed random distracting debris (dead leaves)
• Tried multiple small angle adjustments (especially leveling the horizon)
• Turned off the flash
• Took several more shots to get a favorable capture of the stream motion

The first shot is very dull and probably would have been deleted if I didn't specifically keep it as a reference to remind myself to do these kinds of things to get a more favorable shot. In the end, I have a shot that I like very much and has a much more powerful effect.

Had I not removed the dead leaves, the scene would easily be identified as a small rock in a stream - without that distracting debris, the scene looks like it could be a very large boulder instead. The removal of the flash certainly adds to that illusion of a larger subject.

I took these shots while leaning over another rock into this stream. I was not able to look into the viewfinder for any of these shots (another technique I like to use from time to time which I'll discuss some other day).

As I think back on it, it felt like I spent much longer at this spot than I really did - the timestamps of the files only differ by about two minutes. I guess this is another argument for the benefit of reviewing your photos while still out in the field. I was able to go from a poor image to a half-way decent image with a lot more character.

Whether you spent two minutes or twenty minutes or two hours, remember to try and work the scene and walk away with an image you are happy with rather than regretting not spending the extra time and having nothing else to show for it.

- Bill