silvertop ash growing in a woodland copse in Morton National Park, NSW Australia
The light was quite flat, and had been since day break, with a thick gloomy mass of low cloud. I'd waited for the sun to poke through for an hour, but alas it didnt, so I went back to camp, and had breakfast. Afterwards I sat on a ledge overlooking a valley, did some bible study and prayed. It was a relaxing and enjoyable hour, nice to put photography aside and just enjoy being alone in a wild place. About 10am I decided to go into the valley, just for a walk. I found the track that led down the conclomerate rockforms, and although steep was easily navigated. The forest was another dimension from the heathy cliff tops above. Hakea, Grevillea and Banksia dominated the understorey with the odd fern to fill the gaps. As I walk further down my photographic eye spots a scene with potential. On the rim of the forest before it opens into the sedge land of the valley floor, lie a copse of slim, darkly trunked Silver top Ash (E. sieberi). The trunks, covered in orange lichen, are almost silhouetted from the open area behind them. I setup the tripod and camera, attach the ground glass, and organise the elements under a dark cloth, assessing focus areas at f11. Then its a process of waiting for the breeze to subside before taking a procession of focus stacked images to blend into one, post process. Its time consuming but the only way I can get close and achieve near to far sharpness while using the best aperture for the lens. Half hour later all is complete, I rejoin the track and resume my exploration. Alpa 12SWA, Schneider 47mm, Leaf 75s, focus stacked post process.
Size: 4548px × 6300px
Photo credit: © Matt Smith / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ash, australia, australian, budawang, bush, eucalyptus, ferns, flora, forest, landscape, morton, national, native, open, park, place, plant, plants, range, scrub, sieberi, silvertop, tall, timbers, tree, understorey, wild, wilderness, woodland
