Photo of the Week: April 26, 2010

HOW I GOT THE SHOT: It is a deeply satisfying moment when one of your children reveals that he's actually been paying attention to some of what you've been saying to him over the years. And so I was thrilled when my 13-year-old son, Avishai, called to me from up ahead on the trail, "Abba, come check out the light on the trees!" We had been hiking several hours in broad daylight along the 8-kilometer, Mt. Eitan loop trail that encircles a small park near Jersusalem called Sataf. I was in parent/hiker mode and wouldn't have spotted this scene without my son's calling it to my attention.

When analyzing a textural image such as this, my primary concern, after exposure, is the composition. I normally shoot a little wide and make a final, perfected crop back in my studio using a combination of intuition and design rules. My process begins along the outer edges of the photo, where I look for any elements that will prevent the viewer's eye from wandering off the page. These elements may include some part of the photo's content or even a darkened area, which will function as a visual brake to a roving eye. If I don't have the visual elements I need, I rely on how it feels.

An excellent exercise for testing your results is to stand in front of your photo, close your eyes, then reopen them and study their movement. Where do they travel and where do they come to rest? If you wind up at the heart of the image, your intended subject, you've probably done something right!

Technical Data: Nikon D-300, 18-200mm zoom at 58mm, f16 @1/250 sec.