There is a lot written about landscape photography, and many of the instructional videos, tutorials, blogs and articles identify elements that could theoretically improve your images. I have identified three of the challenges that I feel need to be dealt with in order to have an effective and powerful landscape image.
1. Actually Photographing a Landscape
Consider what it is you are photographing. Today, landscape encompasses not just conventional ideas of rolling hills and blue skies at the one extreme but also environmental damage at the other end. In between, landscape covers the images of great mountains, nature at its most dangerous, individual trees, rural village scenes, and more.
Decide exactly what you want to photograph and why. To make an effective landscape photograph, without being too preachy about it, you should give some thought as to what you want to capture.
1. Actually Photographing a Landscape
Consider what it is you are photographing. Today, landscape encompasses not just conventional ideas of rolling hills and blue skies at the one extreme but also environmental damage at the other end. In between, landscape covers the images of great mountains, nature at its most dangerous, individual trees, rural village scenes, and more.
Decide exactly what you want to photograph and why. To make an effective landscape photograph, without being too preachy about it, you should give some thought as to what you want to capture.
I had a clear purpose in mind with the above photograph. I wanted to include elements of the landscape in my overall geographic area, and this spot has its own unique identity, beauty and grandeur. Having decided what type of landscape I wanted to capture, I composed this with the idea of documenting the impressive natural features of the land.
2. Appreciating the Weather
The sun is not always your friend, and overcast, foggy weather can sometimes give you atmospheric and evocative images. Don’t view bad weather as a problem; view it as another means of presenting landscape. In particular, rain or fog can present a familiar scene in new and often alien ways.
2. Appreciating the Weather
The sun is not always your friend, and overcast, foggy weather can sometimes give you atmospheric and evocative images. Don’t view bad weather as a problem; view it as another means of presenting landscape. In particular, rain or fog can present a familiar scene in new and often alien ways.
This is a familiar place to me, and I have shot it in all seasons. The view is from a small bridge crossing the brook, but the fog has made this tame brook look mysterious. The brook vanishes into the fog, and the woods are now ominous.
Make lemonade out of lemons. If you can’t photograph the bright blue sky and clouds reflected in the water because of bad weather, look around and experiment to see how you can make that weather work for you.
3. Don’t overdo the color
The general rule is to try to take the best picture you can with the camera. Working with software like Photoshop can do quite a bit, but it cannot repair certain fundamental problems. Something blurred really cannot be made sharp, for example, or at least it cannot be as sharp as it would be if the picture was a better one to start with. What post-processing can do is help with vibrancy, saturation and contrast. It can also help bridge the gap between highlights and shadows. One of the biggest problems is the overuse of these filters, and that might cause the image to look artificial. We see this overdone with high dynamic range (HDR) processing where the image does show details in the highlights and shadows, but looks more like a greeting card than a landscape photograph. If it is overdone, you just might ruin your image.
Make lemonade out of lemons. If you can’t photograph the bright blue sky and clouds reflected in the water because of bad weather, look around and experiment to see how you can make that weather work for you.
3. Don’t overdo the color
The general rule is to try to take the best picture you can with the camera. Working with software like Photoshop can do quite a bit, but it cannot repair certain fundamental problems. Something blurred really cannot be made sharp, for example, or at least it cannot be as sharp as it would be if the picture was a better one to start with. What post-processing can do is help with vibrancy, saturation and contrast. It can also help bridge the gap between highlights and shadows. One of the biggest problems is the overuse of these filters, and that might cause the image to look artificial. We see this overdone with high dynamic range (HDR) processing where the image does show details in the highlights and shadows, but looks more like a greeting card than a landscape photograph. If it is overdone, you just might ruin your image.
Here I wanted to capture an element of landscape and a scene that combined water and a rockface. I was there in the middle of the day when the light was okay but not the preferred light of early morning or late afternoon. Still, I felt I could make the light work for me by not focusing on the sky and by using post-processing.
I worked with the various filters, trying to accentuate the color. In real life, the color was bright and amazing. In the image, I may have overdone it. I tried to bring the more muted colors alive with brightness, vibrancy, and saturation. Sometimes when I look at it I think I got it just right. Most of the time I think I overdid it and made it artificial. A version of this with at least the red/orange and the blue reflection in the water desaturated would probably be more realistic and effective. I have left it as is to demonstrate the problem of overdoing the color.
There are a lot of books out there telling you a lot of things about how to take the perfect landscape picture. Obviously, composition remains key, and you want to look for special moments of weather, cloud cover, and so forth. But it remains critical to focus first on what is the landscape you want to photograph, taking advantage of the scene in all kinds of weather, and finally, being careful not to undo what you have created by using excess editing.
I worked with the various filters, trying to accentuate the color. In real life, the color was bright and amazing. In the image, I may have overdone it. I tried to bring the more muted colors alive with brightness, vibrancy, and saturation. Sometimes when I look at it I think I got it just right. Most of the time I think I overdid it and made it artificial. A version of this with at least the red/orange and the blue reflection in the water desaturated would probably be more realistic and effective. I have left it as is to demonstrate the problem of overdoing the color.
There are a lot of books out there telling you a lot of things about how to take the perfect landscape picture. Obviously, composition remains key, and you want to look for special moments of weather, cloud cover, and so forth. But it remains critical to focus first on what is the landscape you want to photograph, taking advantage of the scene in all kinds of weather, and finally, being careful not to undo what you have created by using excess editing.