On a guided excursion in August 2023, I visited the vast salt marsh area of Middelplaten nature reserve near Wolphaartsdijk in the municipality of Goes in South Beveland.
In a small stream, green sprites pierced the water table, under which many leaves of the widely branched three-leaf were visible. The surface of this lower world was punctured by the sprites so that a graphic image emerged when you zoomed in a bit. Still, I found it rather boring as an overall image. So I looked for a piece where one "clover" of the three-leaf just protruded above the water surface. This was given a pleasant place in my image, slightly off-centre, taking into account the further composition of all the green elements. I deliberately did not use a polarisation filter because I wanted to use the diffuse water surface as a dividing line between below and above. I provided some overexposure by increasing the ISO and a large depth of field with a small aperture. Because I was shooting from the hand, a reasonably fast exposure time was still needed.
In post-processing, I made the photo a bit more contrasty and cropped it a bit, so that the image looked neat in the corners and along the edges without too many cropped sprites.
And this created a picture-filling upper and lower world, separated by the water surface.
As an "experience photographer" I want to capture feelings in images, whether it's a landscape, an animal, a portrait or a concert. In my photographs I want to show my involvement, feeling for the subject and the atmosphere of the moment. Photography has been my.. Read more…