Dappled lighting from late afternoon sun

Late last Tuesday afternoon, I was out surveying my yard in the wake of Winter Storm Diego's recent visit to the Carolinas when I was struck by the dramatic light and/or shadow patterns cast on my lawn and driveway from the low-in-the-sky sunlight being filtered by tree trunks and branches sprinkled throughout the landscape.

I think the appropriate term for the light I was drawn to is "dappled."

I reached for my iPhone and started taking pictures of all the dappled lighting that I found interesting. When I pulled up the images on my desktop computer Wednesday morning, I worked to crop several of them to focus on just the areas that had grabbed my attention to see if doing so would make a difference in an image's impact.

An example is the photo leading off the post, which is how it came out of the camera (phone?). I later cropped it to what appears immediately below. Do you think the crop did much to change the image's impact?

Personally, I think it did a little. I don't think it's the best example of what I was looking for, though. I think the next two "before and after" photos are a little better. In this case, the original gives me an idea where the thin-lined shadows are coming from, and having those provides an interesting contrast to the bright snow the shadows are cast upon. But the cropped version makes the shadows the whole pictures, and I like the mystery of not knowing the source.

An even better example, I thought, were the next two "before and after" photos below. The crop was so dramatic, in fact, that I was able to take the composition from a vertical orientation to that of a horizontal. And in this case, I think the cropped version delivers significantly more impact because I think there is great intrigue from the unusual shadow formations ... and a viewer will spend time trying to figure out what would cause those patterns ... and the odd, curved and bent item in the upper right.

Here is one more "before and after" crop example where, I think, a crop did change the impact. This time, I narrowed the width of a vertical orientation composition, mostly to remove possible distracting elements on the left side to leave little doubt that my intent was to make the splash of filtered light the focus of the composition:

My pursuit of dappled lighting wasn't all about trying to crop images in post-processing. What follows below are examples of compositions I left either in their entirety or with very minor trims. (By the way, in North Carolina we still have autumn leaves falling to the ground, and we'll continue to see them through January). I took loose liberties with skewing my angles on these shots, so don't fret if you see a background horizontal line that doesn't line up straight as an arrow. Regarding the fifth photo down ... I was taken by the textured feel of the leaves and leaf stems, a couple splotches of snow and two shades of pavement underneath those -- the small dry patches in the center and the still-damp portions surrounding it.

As always, if you'd like to see a larger, sharper version of an image, simply click on the image. This is particularly helpful if you access the blog using a mobile device.