Effective Landscape Photography
Photographing landscapes can be hard work—sometimes, very hard work. This involves waking up before daylight in most cases and working under sometimes very harsh conditions. Most of the time, you will stay in the woods until it gets dark and wait for the right moment, which may not come even after your bravest efforts. Then again, it makes sense to do everything possible to turn the circumstances in your favor. Here are some thoughts on that.
1. Be there!
There’s no substitute for being on location when the lighting is right and all the environments are working. There’s an old saying from a photographer in the forties and fifties, “f/22 and stay there.” Explore your locations thoroughly. I usually return to favorite spots several times during different seasons of the year until I know the place well. I know its secrets – where things are and how the light will fall at different times of the day and different seasons of the year.
2. Light is everything
Pay attention to light – what it is, what it does, how it reveals form, and how it hides unwanted details. Having said that, there are several things about lighting that we should be aware of.
The first is quantity. How much light is there in the scene’s surroundings? The photographer must have an understanding of his camera and its functions so that he can make the necessary adjustments to ensure that the amount of light entering the lens and passing through the film or sensor is the amount needed for the best exposure. If a photographer is working with black-and-white film, which is my preference, getting enough light into the darkest shadow areas is essential to producing a printable image. When working digitally, the photographer must pay close attention to shadows so that detail remains intact in those areas. If black clipping occurs, the exposure will be insufficient to show shadow detail, even when using Camera Raw. We have to be aware of how much light we allow to pass from the camera to the medium that records the image.
At the other end of the spectrum, care must be taken to ensure that there is sufficient separation of tones so that detail can be printed in the highlights. If “white clipping” occurs, as shown in the histogram illustration here, large areas of the image will be without any detail. It is better to have a description and not use it than to have a description and not need it. In my world, getting a good performance is everything.
Next is light quality. Light has two different properties: spectral and diffuse. Spectral light comes from a small or very small light source. The smaller the light source, the more spectral it becomes. It is known for casting shadows with hard edges between shadow and highlight areas. In my experience, working with spectral light can yield very dramatic and expressive images. It can also be difficult to work with because careful attention must be paid to how deep the shadows are and how bright the highlights are. Examples of spectral light include situations where the Sun is directly overhead and there are no clouds or atmospheric interference. When the sky is clear and there are no clouds, the light will be very spectral, and creating a great landscape photo can be a challenge.
Diffused light comes from a larger light source. The larger the light source, the more spread the quality of light. Generally, it is much easier to create pleasing photos when the light source is diffused. This is because the light is distributed more evenly throughout the scene, and when this happens, the shadows are filled in, and the highlights are more evenly lit. When the Sun is at, near, or below the horizon, the light source becomes not the Sun but the entire open sky opposite the area where the Sun sets or rises. There are thousands of different scenarios that could be described; However, the best solution is to simply look at the effect of the light on the subject.
One of my favorite techniques is to combine direct sunlight with diffused light. Here is another image where I have combined the red sandstone with direct sunlight illuminating the white sandstone in the distance in a rock shelter. The image reminded me of how rollers break up on the beach and then get swept back up.
The direction of the light is also an important factor to consider. The direction of light reveals the shape and texture of the subject, so the photographer must pay close attention to this. Ask yourself: “Does this light direction say what I want to say about this content? Would it be better at a different time of day, or perhaps in a different season?” This question is one reason we often return to an area. There are many ways to look at a particular space, and your choice of how you look at things will help define your personal style. this image, Blue Mesa Overlook, ArizonaIt was done in late afternoon light, perhaps an hour before the sun touched the horizon. The light coming from that direction created a type of rim lighting that I really enjoy.
3. Depth of field
Depth of field refers to something that is acceptably sharp, but also has an interesting foreground, midground, and background. I like to have detail on each area of interest in my photos.
I was hiking along this big lake in northern Montana when it started raining and I took shelter under a very large tree. I was thinking it would be great if a cloud bank came down and gave me a good view of the isthmus of land with the pine trees and the mountain behind it, as they all came together into one ugly mass. At about the same time, a cloud began to move downwards, and formed a smooth blotch on the surface of the lake, giving the foreground interesting textural detail. So I concluded by detailing the foreground, midground and background. The layers on these very large lakes are caused by warm water below the surface rising as cooler rainwater begins to flow down. Nature is fascinating.
4. Ignore the rules of composition
I’ve noticed that too many people limit all of their photography to strict adherence to the “rule of thirds,” when they would be better off capturing photos from the heart and making an emotional statement rather than following arcane rules they don’t understand.
5. Be aware of the works of great gurus
As much as I admire the work of Ansel Adams, there are other accomplished landscape photographers whose work I greatly admire. Become a student of those photographers until you become an expert in their work—not to copy them but to stand on their shoulders and go beyond what they did.
6. Be patient
Landscape photography requires either a lot of good luck, a lot of planning and intimacy with the area you’re working in, or a huge amount of patience – or all of the above.
7. The weather is your friend
In many cases, the worse the weather, the more you should stay outside – within reason, of course. I would never suggest standing in the path of an EF5 tornado or any tornado. Nor would I suggest going out in the middle of a storm. However, as storms approach or go away, great landscape photographs can be taken. However, safety always comes first.
I particularly enjoy cloud formations and often take photographs of them – not as elements to add to a photograph, although I have done so for years, even before we had the convenience of Photoshop, but simply as elements of beauty in their own right.
a final thought
I’ve learned over the years that no one sees things the way you do. Avoid overly critical criticism. If someone only has negative and bad things to say, they are not worth your time. Stay as you are. Take pictures of what you like and tell the critics to focus on you—you don’t have time. Seek advice when needed; By doing this you will progress faster. You won’t live long enough to make all the mistakes, so it’s wise to pay attention to teachers and mentors. However, a good critic will always discuss both the positive and negative and present the negative in a way that encourages you and helps you grow. Be yourself, picture what inspires you and stop trying to be what you are not.