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Landscape
and Scenic Photography Tips (10/27/03)
revised
10/29/03
by
Norb Veit © all rights reserved
"The first rule of composition is
that there are no rules, ... only guidelines, suggestions,
hints and recommendations. Rules should not constrain you,
they should just make you think before you trip the shutter."
- Patience
- wait for good light, shoot when the sun is low or
not even up, try to be at a good location when the
light is likely to be favorable and try shooting just
as storms are clearing. The light associated with
the latter is magical and can produce truly dramatic
images.
Also, look for rainbows,
crepuscular light ("Fingers of God").
and don't be afraid
to shoot before the sun comes up.
- Always
use a tripod, a lens hood and a cable release.
If your camera has one, use the mirror up function
to reduce vibrations associated with the mirror
flapping up and out of the way just before the
shutter is opened.
- Avoid
50/50 compositions with reflections. Often the
50/50 will work but more often the image can
be improved by lengthening either the sky, the
reflection or adding some foreground element
to the composition.
- Avoid
putting your subject in the very center of the
frame. Consider the Rule of Thirds (which is
more of a guideline than a Rule). Consider putting
your subject in one of the corners of the frame
about 1/3 of the distance from a corner to the
center of the frame.
- Avoid
an overlap of your subject(s) with similarly color
backgrounds or other objects in the back ground (or
foreground). These are often referred to as "merges".
When your image contains merges the "crispness"
or distinct nature of individual elements within the
frame is lost due to the overlapping of these elements.
For example the
image above would just not be as nice if the reflection
of the mountain touched or was lost in the foreground
element (the reeds).
- Keep
the camera level to the horizon by careful observation,
using a grid screen and or using a bubble level.
I'm am continually amazed at the number of published
photos which are not level. To me it reflects
carelessness, neglect, a lack of skill and it
screams "amateur".
- Have
some place within your image for the viewer's
eye to rest. If your viewer's eye is busy darting
all over the image seeking a place to pause or
dwell then your image will convey a sense of
restlessness and not evoke an inviting feeling.
The following image isn't bad but there isn't
anyplace for the viewer's eye to rest.
- Simplify.
Photography is more of a "Subtractiv" art
than an Additive art like painting. Painters
can add elements which they choose. Photographers
need to take out distracting elements. Try to
capture the essence of your image without including
extraneous / distracting elements.
- Try
using curves, diagonals, s-curves or leading lines
to provide a path for your viewers' eye to follow.
- Often
your images can be improved by shooting "Story
book" compositions which invite your viewer's
eye to move through the frame in an orderly manner.
A story book composition is when you have an interesting
foreground element, a main subject and a nice background.
For example if you are shooting some mountains, get
low and place some flowers in the bottom (front) of
the frame, then place the mountains in the middle
area and try to get some nice clouds into the sky
/ background. In the example below the logs in the
foreground, frame the base of the image, the lake
and reflectionts then lead your eyes to the yellow
aspen trees which, in turn, draw your eye to the mountains
in the background then to the clouds, back to the
mountains, back to the yellow aspen.
- Be
aware that if you position an element very close
to the edge of the frame or if you have two elements
which are very close together, your image will
evoke tension caused by the close proximity of
elements. This is not bad if you deliberately
intend to create tension, but quite often you
should leave a bit of breathing room for the
elements within your image.
- From
a compositional point of view, polarizing filters
can enhance your composition by reducing reflections
or enhancing contrast between image elements
e.g. clouds and sky. Just be careful not to over
polarize the sky or it may turn unnaturally dark.
- While
we're talking about filters, I often use warming
(81A or 81B) filters to subtract some of the
blue light. Though when used in conjunction with
a polarizer, your images may display vignetting
(darkening in the corners of the image). To avoid
this I use a warming polarizer which is combination
of the two filters but without the stacking height
of two filters.
- Be
cognizant of the type of light you're shooting
in. While I generally prefer warm dramatic light,
there are times where "cool" light
can contribute an interesting effect as in this
early morning picture deep within a ravine. The
only light reaching the subject was reflected
from the clear blue sky opposite the sunrise.
My eyes filtered out this predominately blue
but the film recorded the actual hue in the light.
- Two
other filters that I use from time to time are
enhancing filters and blue-gold polarizers. These
filters have their place and time but I would
avoid overusing them. In the image below the
enhancing filter pumps up the available pink
of the predawn light. Quiz time, who knows what
that blue band is down towards the mountains?
- Learn
how to do double
exposures. 
In this image I added the moon from another part of the sky, to the sunset picture
of the Mackinaw Bridge.
- Another
creative technique is to sandwich two images
together as in this image of Ship Rock in New
Mexico.
The skies were overcast when I took the silhouette of the rock formation. I found
a suitable sky from my image files, opened the slide mount and insert the sky
behind Ship Rock.
- Shoot
lots of film or images. It's the cheapest part
of the trip.
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- If
you are a film based photographer (vs. digital capture),
I would recommend Fuji Velvia ISO 50. This is a saturated
fine grain film and about 95% of what I shoot... I
shoot with this film. Incidentally, I use 35mm format
cameras. They are a little more portable than medium
format and much easier to carry 6 or 7 miles in rough
terrain.
- Try
to add "framing" to your image by including
inherent elements which are not distracting or
may even reinforce the image.
- Try
to avoid large dark or light colored areas within
your image. Quite often, these "voids" disrupt
your composition and detract from the overall flow
of your viewer's eye within the frame. I find that
before I take the picture it is helpful to press the
depth of field preview button to stop down the lens.
The scene in the viewfinder will more clearly show
any distracting highlights and or dark voids. Also,
with the the lens stopped down it is sometimes easier
to evaluate your composition since much of the darkened
image is reduced to "shapes" while your
iris is opening to let more light in.
- If
there is a large difference in the exposure values
of foreground and background elements you might
want to consider using a split neutral density
filter to decrease the amount of light from the
bright area within your image. These filters
look like this:
I use these filters a lot. They fit in a Cokin P type holder and come in 1, 2
and 3 stop varieties. They also come with a hard edge and a soft edge. Sometimes
when conditions warrant, I may stack both a 2 AND a 3 stop split neutral density
filter to overcome a 5 stop difference between the top of a sunset image and
the foreground. This allows the foreground to hold some detail which would otherwise
be completely black. See below.
- Consider
using fill flash if the foreground element in
your composition is not as well lit at the middle
and background elements. This will only work
if your foreground is relatively small. In other
words, a one acre field of flowers will likely
not be sufficiently illuminated by your flash
gun, but a small patch of flowers in the foreground
will be.
- Just
before you click the shutter, run your eyes all around
the perimeter of the frame and see if there are any
distracting things poking into your frame. For this
purpose, it is important to have a camera which shows
100% of the frame. Many cameras only show 95% of the
frame and often result in the inclusion of some branch,
twig, wires or other distraction. You can test your
camera by using John Shaw's trick of putting four
35mm slides on the ground. Attach a zoom lens to your
camera then mount the camera on a tripod and position
it dead center over the slides. Move the slides on
the ground so that one slides is in each corner and
just touching the very edges of the frame (the zoom
feature may be helpful in accomplishing this). Shoot
the image and when you get the film back take a look
at the amount of space between the film corners and
the slide corners.
- Try
to avoid large areas of little interest between
the main elements within your image. For example
if you have some interesting rocks in the foreground
and 1/3 or more of the frame above the rocks
lacks detail or interest, you should try to get
lower. This will compress the dull area into
a smaller space within your image.
In this image notice how I assiduously avoided
a merge between the shadow of the mountain and the
dark foreground elements (the rocks) and how I was
able to "fit" the rocks in a way which
reinforces the shape of the mountain reflection.
It took me about 15 minutes to line this shot up
and not get wet by falling off the slippery rocks.
Luckily I was in position well ahead of the "sweet" pink
sunset light.
- Try
to vary your perspective. If all your images are shot
at head height they may become dull and repetitive.
Try getting higher or lower than your normal standing
height.
These icicles were
about 8 feet tall but by using a wide angle lens about
6" off the ground I was able to emphasize their
height. The light in this image is pink due to the
setting sun and the fact that the rocks behind the
icicles was pink granite.
- Avoid
white skies or minimize the amount of white sky
in your image.
- Try
to capture images at times of dramatic and or
warm light but avoid shooting directly away from
the light source (the sun) unless you want a
flat image devoid of shadow or depth.
- When
photographing images with foreground and background
elements which both need to be sharp, make sure you
use a large depth of field by using a small aperture
(f/16 or f/22). You can also check the focus of elements
by using the depth of field preview button (assuming
your camera has one).
In
this image, besides maximizing the depth of field
I used a split neutral density filter to reduce the
brightness of the sky so it wouldn't burn out while
I exposed fro the flowers in the foreground.
- I
find that one of the keys in obtaining the best
scenic images is to "work" the subject. "Working" means,
shooting horizontals, verticals, zooming in to
isolate elements, creatively using a variety
of lenses to obtain different compositions, changing
perspective shooting low or high, lining up elements
within the viewfinder, physically moving towards,
to the side and away from your subject, etc.,
etc. Experiment, don't take one or two pictures
and assume you "got it" I would recommend
this even if you are shooting digital. Get a
nice variety of compositions then pick the best.
Also, try to discern why one flavor of the image
seems better than another. This may help you
in the future with other subject. For example,
by using a telephoto lens for this shot I was
able to compress the distance between the ranch
and the mountains. This has the effect of enlarging
the apparent size of the distant mountains.
- If
you are alone in a remote area try to bring a
cellphone (which probably won't work), a GPS
and plenty of water if you're in a dry environment.
Try to let somebody know where you are and check
in with them once you get out. Also make sure
you dress appropriately for the conditions.
- Try
to avoid compositions where an element comes or leaves
at the exact corner of the frame.
Also, sometimes a strategically
placed red leave can help add a bit of color and a
small point of interest.
- Don't
leave the field too early. I don't know how many
times I've packed up my gear, gotten in the car
started driving and suddenly the clouds part
and a beautiful dramatic light is cast onto the
landscape. Stay 'til it's dark and bring a flash
light to help you find your way back.
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