Landscape Photography

Its harder than you think!

Ansel Adams

Quotes:

“Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution.”

“The [35mm] camera is for life and for people, the swift and intense moments of life.”

Custodian in YosemiteJapanese internment camps

Born and raised in San Francisco

Work extensively in Yosemite and helped to preserve Yosemite and other wilderness areas as National Parks.

Environmentalist – Sierra Club

“A photograph is usually looked at – seldom looked into.”

Ansel Adams 1902 - 1984

A visionary figure in nature photography and wilderness preservation.

An environmental hero and a symbol of the American West

Inspire an appreciation for natural beauty and a strong conservation ethic.

Adams was often criticized for not including humans in his photographs and for representing an idealized wilderness that no longer exists.

“Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies: but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the rooms of human spirit.”

Modern

Natural landscape

Visual Characteristics

High contrast

Strong Geometric form

Broad tonal range

B&W

Sharp images

Landscape Rules, to consider … not mandatory!

1. Maximize your Depth of FieldEnsure that as much of your scene is in focus as possible!

2. Use a TripodLonger shutter speed need to be used to compensate for a small aperture. Ensuring that your camera is completely still during the exposure.

3. Look for a Focal Point or Point of Interest

All shots need some sort of focal point to them and landscapes are no different – in fact landscape photographs without them end up looking rather empty and will leave your viewers eye wondering through the image with nowhere to rest. Focal points can take many forms in landscapes and could range from a building or structure, a striking tree, a boulder or rock formation, a silhouette etc.Think not only about what the focal point is but where you place it. The rule of thirds might be useful here.

4. Think ForegroundsThink carefully about the foreground of your shots and by placing points of interest in them.

5. Consider the SkyMost landscapes will either have a dominant foreground or sky – unless you have one or the other your shot can end up being fairly boring.

One of the questions to ask yourself as you take Landscape shots is ‘how am I leading the eye of those viewing this shot’? Lines give an image depth, scale and can be a point of interest in and of themselves by creating patterns in your shot.

6. Lines

Movement in an image will add drama, mood and create a point of interest. Wind in trees, waves on a beach, water flowing over a waterfall, birds flying over head, moving clouds.

7. Capture Movement

Many beginner photographers see a sunny day and think that it’s the best time to go out with their camera – however an overcast day that is threatening to rain might present you with a much better opportunity to create an image with real mood and ominous overtones.

8. Work with the Weather

9. Work the Golden Hours

Dusk & Dawn - These ‘golden’ hours are great for landscapes for a number of reasons – ‘golden’ light and the way shadows are long – creating interesting patterns and textures.

10. Think about HorizonsBefore you take a landscape shot always consider the horizon with these 2 points in mind:

Is it straight? –it’s easier if you get it right in camera.

Where is it compositionally? - a compositionally natural spot for a horizon is on one of the thirds lines in an image (either the top third or the bottom one) rather than completely in the middle.

11. Change your Point of View

Take a little more time with your shots – particularly in finding a more interesting point of view to shoot from. This might start with finding a different spot to shoot from than the scenic look out (wander down paths, look for new angles etc), could mean getting down onto the ground to shot from down low or finding a higher up vantage point to shoot from.

Eliot Porter, Landscape Photographer

Paul Strand, Photographer (Multiple Genres)

Alfred Stieglitz 1892

Photographer of many genres, but also a painter.

Advocated to get photography recognized as a form of art.

Showed photography work next to painting in his art gallery in New York.

Equivalents is a series of photographs of clouds taken by Alfred Stieglitz from 1925 to 1934. They are generally recognized as the first photographs intended to free the subject matter from literal interpretation, and, as such, are some of the first completely abstract photographic works of art

Equivalents

Stieglitz took at least 220 photographs that he called Equivalent or Equivalents; all feature clouds in the sky. The majority of them show only the sky without any horizon, buildings or other objects in the frame, but a small number do include hills or trees.

“Are these clouds?”

“I DON’T SEE WHY THAT MATTERS?”

“What do you see? What does it make you feel?”

Equivalents is an idea or emotion attached to it by the viewer or photographer.

Pushed the way people thought about photography and what it could be.