Landscapes - Important Elements to Consider

Hi everyone! In my last blog post, I observed a close-up picture of a flower and some of the techniques that were used and could be used to improve the photograph. In this blog post, I'm going to focus on landscapes and some of the important elements to consider when taking a landscape photograph.

One element that I focused on for landscape pictures is distractions. When it comes to photography, one little distraction can damage the photograph, which makes it a reason to check the edges of the composition before taking the photograph to get rid of the distractions. According to Rob Sheppard in The Magic of Digital Nature Photography, "The best that can be said for distractions is to look for them and get rid of them. even a very beautiful scene can be damaged by something that sneaks into the corner of the composition that obviously does not belong there... Distractions are most common at the edges of the composition - another good reason to check edges - but they can be anywhere" (Sheppard, 106). Sheppard's advice teaches us that we should check the edges of the composition on our camera for distractions to get rid of them before taking the picture. Doing this will allow for the photograph to be undamaged by anything that doesn't belong in the landscape.

The pictures above were taken in a park along the Soos Creek Trail. In the first picture above, the sign on the right hand side was in the picture, but doesn't quite belong in the picture. The amount of shadow distracts from the general landscape as well. These would be examples of two distractions that make the photograph not very appealing. However, on the second picture, the sign is gone and there are less shadows which makes the photograph more appealing and gives more focus on the general landscape, rather than a small detail of the picture.

Another element I focused on was vertical versus horizontal pictures. Horizontal pictures help grasp a greater part of landscape right in front of you. Nature itself is filled with horizontal landscapes and cameras are designed to create horizontal photographs. On the other hand, vertical photographs show the aspects of nature which aren't horizontal. They demonstrate things that you may not see in a horizontal image. In The Magic of Digital Nature Photography, Rob Sheppard informs us "Cameras, for the most part, are designed for horizontally-oriented photographs. As well, landscapes are pretty much horizontal parts of our world. It follows that horizontals are important to landscape photography. They parallel the horizon; they fit the scene spreading out in front of you; and they fit the way we see most landscapes... [Turning your camera to its side and taking vertical landscape photographs] helps you see new things in the world, and may even allow you to discover some new magic in your scenes that is not revealed in a standard horizontal image" (Sheppard, 106). This demonstrates that landscapes don't have a set angle at which you take the photograph. Horizontals may be appropriate in some cases because meaning and tone comes from the whole landscape. When there are many distractions and the meaning and tone come from a more specific subject, verticals are more appropriate.

The first photograph, although zoomed in, was taken horizontally, because the trees and grass made up a better landscape as a whole, and looked more appealing when including all three of the triangular trees. The tone comes from all of the landscape, rather than one part of it. The second photograph, while also zoomed in, was taken vertically, because the main meaning and tone comes from the tree itself - with the odd shape of it branches - rather than the landscape it's in as a whole. This allows us to see how a vertical picture or a horizontal picture sets the mood or the tone within the landscape picture.

The last element I focused on was lighting. Although lighting is put in the chapter about flowers, I decided to focus on lighting anyways, as it is an important part in any photograph and plays a role in the mood, tone and meaning of the landscape paragraph. In nature photography, there are different "types" of lighting. 

~ Backlight is when "you shoot toward the sun or bright area in the sky" (Sheppard, 69). The pros of back light is that it creates drama within the photograph because of the different areas of shadow and light, it "separates elements of a scene because of the highlights and shadows," the leaves and flowers glow, and the light creates a sparkle, a great texture and gives more depth if it's high enough to wrap over the subject (Sheppard, 70). 

~ Side Light is where the light "hits your subject from the side." The pros for side light is that it "makes natural objects ... look exceptionally solid and dimensional," and that the texture has a life like look to it (Sheppard, 72).

~ Front Light is "light that hits the front of your subject and throws shadows to the rear of that subject." The pros of front light is that colors are very well lit, color patterns are brought out, underlying patterns and colors are seen better because of the lack of texture, and two dimensional shapes of objects are emphasized (Sheppard, 72).

~ Top light is when the light comes from above the subject. This doesn't have any pros, so it's best for nature photographers to avoid this type of light. It brings up too much blue and can be flat and dull (Sheppard, 72).

In the first picture above, I used back light. Back light can be a bit troublesome in certain circumstances, as seen in the picture. In this case, the sun was very bright and "in your face," which made the photograph over exposed and created a shadow in the center of the photograph, which doesn't make the photograph appealing. In the second photograph, I used side light. In this photograph, the fact that the sunlight came from the side allowed for there to be more texture, makes the trees to look more dimensional, and emphasizes the life that is still left in this part of the landscape, like the grass and the remaining leaves.

To end this off, how do you deal with distractions in photographs? Do you prefer vertical pictures or horizontal pictures? What lighting do you like to use best?

Bibliography: Sheppard, Rob. The Magic of Digital Nature Photography. New York: Lark, 2007. Print.