One of the most wonderful and telling signs of spring in the Great Smoky Mountains is a beautiful area on the face of the Bullhead seen from the lower Campbell Overlook. Most of the trees in this section of the forest are hardwood of one variety or another. As spring “greens up” the mountain, the early buds of these species come alive in a palette of pastel which is as beautiful as it is short-lived. With a little creative post-processing this living palette becomes one of the surest expressions of spring I can imagine.

In contrast to this colorful array I chose to insert a small triangle of green from the nearer forest already in vernal foliage.

A focal length of 300mm, squarely in medium telephotoland, gave me the narrowed angle-of-view I wanted with compression and magnification. An aperture of f/22 provided depth-of-field from the camera-to-subject distance; and a shutter speed of 1/4th second at ISO 100 gave me a medium exposure.  The primary post- technique in use here was negative clarity, which is an excellent expressive process.

Before I take off on my journey of discovery on the 25th, I will post one more Image for the Asking on March 20 and that will be the conclusion of the series.