How we captured this photo of cherry blossoms in Jackson Park
This week’s top photo comes from Visual Journalist Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere. Follow him on X, Bluesky, and Instagram.
What makes this photo great?
This spring marks the first time in two years that the cherry blossom trees outside the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry have bloomed in Chicago, and I knew I wanted to test my newly acquired drone piloting skills to capture the blossoms.
The dynamic lighting of this shot from the setting sun really pushes the colors around the Columbia Basin. The elements of the setting sun, dynamic sky, cherry blossom trees, and museum create a lot of layers in this image and make a treat for the eye.
How did you get the shot?
Tuesday was a quieter news day, with relatively calm weather, so I wanted to photograph the cherry blossom trees at “golden hour” — the hour or so before sunset. The sky had seen scattered clouds all day, and I knew from experience that sunset usually makes for some really dynamic light and colors.
While flying around getting photos of different angles of the cherry blossoms, I found this angle that had all the elements I was looking for: the sky, the cherry blossoms, a pathway the light could fall across the trees, and the museum.
Carefully getting my drone to where I was happy with the composition was a waiting game. I was banking on the clouds creating some dynamic lighting, but they didn’t initially cooperate, blanketing the area with too much light diffusion.
I held my altitude at about 55 feet from the ground, about 4-5 feet from a tree, and waited. Slowly, I watched my drone’s battery life indicator tick down, while making tiny adjustments to prevent it from colliding with the tree.
Eventually, with mere minutes left before I’d have to change out the batteries, the sun poked out from the clouds and blanketed the area with golden rays.
Technical details:
Equipment: DJI Mavic 3 Pro
Focal length: 12.3 mm
Aperture: f/3.2
Exposure: 1/200
ISO: 400
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