An editor I know called me when he saw the photograph I’d taken at the Magnolia Gardens outside Charleston, South Carolina. When he asked, “How’d you get that?” I knew he wanted to know more than the f/stop and shutter speed. He knew that you don’t just set the tripod down and shoot a few frames, not if you want to make a photograph that’s more than just another image of a celebrated location.

Getting the photo started with experience and a little luck. I knew that the best time to shoot in this area was from late March to mid-April, but I also knew that the density of the flowers in this lane of oak trees can vary dramatically year to year. The full row of azaleas was a rare event—and a great treat for the workshop participants who were with me in the early morning, making images in very low light and waiting for the sun.

I don’t often shoot during a workshop session, but this time I set up my tripod. Lens choice was vital. If I had to start switching glass it was likely I’d miss the first soft touch of warm light, which I knew would last only a few minutes before getting too bright. I put my 35-70mm lens on the camera for its moderate wide-to-tele range and started to try out different framings of the hundred-yard tree line, aiming for the best distribution of trees and flowers.

I checked the back of the camera after I shot a few frames and realized that there was too much tree on the right side of the frame, not enough flowers on the left. I’d shot the images at 58mm, so I zoomed the lens all the way to 70mm and took another shot. That was it—I’d filled the frame more efficiently and minimized the foreground empty path. The loss of some of the flowers at the bottom right of the frame was an acceptable trade-off.

But the image still wasn’t right. The magical feeling of being there wasn’t being conveyed—wasn’t even suggested—in the image. As more warm light began to touch the trees, it occurred to me to add a soft focus filter to my lens to soften and add a slight glow to the scene, enhancing the fantasy feel and adding a touch of imagination to the scene I was seeing. Then I quickly passed the filter throughout the workshop group so the participants could get a shot at the same result.

In the interest of full disclosure, the filter was the Singh-Ray Tony Sweet Soft-Ray Diffusion Filter; they named it for me because I contributed input to its creation and development. I know there are many ways to achieve a soft-focus look, but I like the consistency of using a real piece of hardware rather than a software program.

Some time later the image was chosen for the cover of my book, Fine Art Digital Nature Photography. And some time after that, I got a phone call from an enthusiastic editor.

— Tony Sweet

Visit Tony’s website, www.tonysweet.com, to view a collection of his images, learn about upcoming workshops and keep up with his Visual Artistry blog for “insights into the daily life of an itinerant freelance nature photographer.”