The Perfect Tree

Thunderchild Crabapple Blossoms

Finding The Perfect Tree

From afar, this tree may not look all that special, but for the last several days, I have been travelling to parks all around the city in search of the perfect tree.

Every spring I look forward to when the thunderchild crabapple trees are in bloom. The trees are covered in beautiful pink flowers. The season for them is short, only a week long, so it is easy to miss if you’re not paying attention.

Since it has been so cold and wet this year, everything seems to be delayed by about two weeks. These trees are normally finished flowering by the last week of May. This year they peaked in the first week of June.

I’ve been monitoring the trees in my neighborhood for weeks so I would know the right time to go out with my camera. The effort certainly paid off when I found my perfect tree.

So what do I mean when I say the perfect tree?

Now I should probably be saying perfect timing rather than perfect tree, but its kind of the same thing. Really, its the timing that makes the tree so good. I’ll start with what isn’t the perfect tree. Of course, I can always use Photoshop to repair some damage, but as a photographer, I’m looking for the best specimen to start with.

In the photo below, you can see how there is some blemish on the leaves of the plant. Many of the flowers have opened inconsistently, and some of the petals look twisted. You can see that there are bug bites on the petals and in some cases have eaten the edges of the flowers.

Walking along the street or through the park, these trees still have great visual appeal, but for the purpose of macro photography when you want to get up close and show the best they have to offer, it falls short.

Flawless Blossoms

Having spent so much time with these trees all over the city, I developed a much greater appreciation for the tree I found next. I’ll admit that while I was there, I didn’t recognize what it was about this tree that was appealing to me. I just knew that I liked it.

When I got home and started reviewing images from the day on my computer, I started to notice how little retouching work photos from this set required. These flowers were all flawless. They were all the same colour, open the right amount, damage-free. It was like every single flower was perfect.

That’s really where I think I got the timing just right on this tree. Give it another day and it will be past its prime. One of the things I enjoy about photography is being able to capture these fleeting moments.

At one point, I took a break from doing laps around this tree, but came back to find an Eastern Phoebe hanging out in the tree.

Eastern Phoebe

Lighting Matters

The other gift this tree gave me was some great examples on why lighting matters. Due to the fast moving clouds, I was subjected to constantly changing light conditions. Take the two photos below for example which were taken only 30 seconds apart. You can see the photo on the left looks flatter, or a bit more dull. The photo on the right has a little more contrast and looks more dynamic.

Similarly, the set below is a particular bunch of flowers that repeatedly drew my attention. I must have looked pretty strange walking circles around the tree. Each photo was taken as I walked around the tree again and again showing how light can change in a short time and impact your photos.

Finally, I wanted to drop in a little bonus image from the evening before.

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