A Morning at Morrison Springs

 


So, I get a call from a fellow photographer, saying, he's thinking about taking a trip out to Morrison Springs (Walton County, FL) in the morning (about an 1 1/2 hour drive). Well of course I jump at the chance to shoot at a new location. We were looking to capture morning light on the cypress trees and were also hoping for a little mist on the water, but we would have to leave early, how early, 4:00am early! That equated to getting up at 3:00am to get ready and get over to his place. But if you want the good light and shots, sacrifices have to be made....lol
We roll into the springs (County Park) an hour before sunrise to scout the area for where and what we wanted to shoot. Much to our surprise, the area was not that big, with the only good shooting location along 50' stretch of boardwalk. We both scoped out several compositions we liked, and it was just a matter of waiting for the light.
The above photo was the first one I spotted. I really liked the shape of the tree and how it stood alone in the springs about 50' away. The only problem was, the background was to close to get good separation, plus it blended in to the woods behind. I took a few shots and moved on.
Once I got home and got it on the computer, I was able to do a little creative processing to help with my vision for the shot. In a nut shell, first the basic processing was done for the colors, contrast, etc. Then in Photoshop, working with layers I was able to desaturate and blur the background while bringing out the color and sharpness of the tree, thus getting the separation I was after and allowing the tree to stand out from the background.
 

Next, I noticed this one white barked tree standing amongst several darker barked trees along the shoreline. Drawing inspiration from another photographer faced with a similar but different scene, I took this shot. Now, the whole scene was much brighter in person, but I knew how I wanted the final image to look, B&W, darkened down with the white barked tree standing out and the final image turned out just as imagined.   

The reflection here was the star of the show. As I walked back and forth along the boardwalk, I happened to notice this scene. The trees were dark against the bright background, but the interesting shape of the trees made by the reflection in the water is what caught my eye to begin with. I instantly knew it would make for a cool B&W image and it did! 




These last two images, if you notice the same tree in both, were taken right next to each other. Once the sun had appeared on the other side of the spring, it began lighting up this side with that beautiful soft morning light. The top image was the one I saw first, the stand of trees sticking out from the shore, allowing separation from the darker background farther away. The morning light was really illuminating the yellow and orange leaves, along with the white bark on the tree coming through, it just all came together for this one.

The second image, caught my eye, just after capturing the first one. I thought a little manmade structure would be interesting and also to help tell the story of the park. I only included a portion of the swimming platform, as the whole thing would have been to much. The blue ladder against the yellows and oranges really stood out on this one, making the shot something special.

So, not to bad. I came away with 5 images that I liked, for the 2 hours we were there shooting. After that, we headed back home. 

Morrison Springs is your typical small county park, made for swimming in the clear cool spring water with plenty of space to picnic and just enjoy. The park, I'm sure can get quite busy, but show up early and you have the place to yourself. We did go out specifically for photography, but in between shots we also took plenty of time to just enjoy the quite and peaceful surroundings and just be in the moment.

Hope you enjoyed this little trip with me. Of course beautiful prints are available, just drop me a line if you would like one. Until next time......................... 

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