From a few years ago and taken with the 24-105 lens.
And for any of you living in the UK and wishing to grab your version of this shot right about now, then go to
Thorp Perrow Arberetum any time between the latter end of September through to the end of October.
I am describing this from memory, but I am fairly sure that having gone through the entrance (you have to pay to visit the garden), you then take the path to the right that heads over towards the Bird of Prey and Mammal Centre, you will pass a large area of water (Lilly pond) on your right and in front of a very grand house that is definitely worth a shot or two, but you can come back to that later, so continue up the hill and on towards the Bird of Prey and Mammal Centre, until you eventually arrive at this scene at the top of the small hill and just before the path starts to drop down again slightly as you near the Bird of Prey area. If you come to this point from a different path, as there are many ways to get here, then look for the tree with the wooden seat built all the way around it and then walk up the hill a little way behind it, as you are nearly there.
Get there early(ish) and get in as soon as they open the gates and also take a medium zoom lens with you as well (70/200), if you want to get some good close up bird of prey shots, as they display and fly quite a few of the birds at various times during the day and you can all but touch them, so some really good detail shots can be had. They had eagle owls, snowy owls and a Golden eagle as well as many more birds when we last visited.
The shot below was taken on the 30th of Oct 2010, it was overcast but still fairly bright and also drizzling slightly, hence the lack of people. I used a tripod setup to be about waist height, so I could emphasise the height of the trees and then stood a little way back from the first tree on the left, but zoomed back in to around 100mm to foreshorten the feeling of depth within the image and to make the ancient oak at the other end the line of trees, become the main focal point of the image –
if your going to photograph a path through trees an old photographer once told me,
then have something at the other end that’s worth looking at, don’t just lead viewers all the way down the path to an empty hole…So good luck if you do find yourself going to the Thorp Perrow Arboretum over the next few weeks and I do hope you get yourself a keeper.
Dave