Learning Landscape
It’s a common conundrum: you’re just immersed yourself within the luxuriant beauty of a pristine forest, or been rendered awe-struck upon witnessing the majesty of a mountain range, or perhaps you’ve stumbled upon a serene lake at sunset… you grab your camera in an effort to capture the moment for all time… upon arrival home however, you fire up the computer only to discover your images are ho-hum, pedestrian snapshots which do little to represent the incredible vistas you experienced earlier that day. Why is that?
Contrary to what many believe, creating good landscape imagery is not easy. You can’t simply point your camera at what you initially see as an attractive scene, depress the shutter and expect to achieve great results. The way your eyes perceive landscapes is actually different than how your sensor will capture them. The human brain tends to filter out extraneous information and allows you to focus on the most important elements in a scene — your camera isn’t quite so smart! So how do you ensure your photographs do justice to the gorgeous scenery you find yourself in? Read on!
The Three ‘P’s
While creating great images of people can often rely on spontaneity and quick reflexes in order to capture fleeting expressions and interesting motion, landscape photography is much more about patience, persistence, and preparedness.
The first order of business when planning a landscape shoot is to thoroughly scout the intended location in advance. This is best done in the late morning or afternoon and will enable you to maximize the time you are able to shoot in the ‘golden hours’ of the day: the hour before dusk and after dawn when sunlight exhibits its most magical qualities. Examine how the light falls in the scene; what position will the sun be in at the time you intend to shoot? How will the shadowed areas appear? Will you have dynamic range issues?
Ensure you are aware of all the subtle characteristics of your location well in advance of your shoot and you’ll be in a good position to capture it at the best time the light is right. Thorough scouting also enables you to discover vantage points and subjects you mightn’t have otherwise, and will afford your images that distinctive quality you are looking for — after all, who wants to produce the same hackneyed snapshots as everyone else who has visited this spot? Once you’ve selected your shooting locations, it’s all about being patient and waiting for just the right light, conditions etc. Very few great landscape shots are a product of happenstance! Often you’ll need to return to the location over days… or months, in order to obtain the best possible photographic results from it.
One note on safety however: before you venture out to scout your shoot, ensure you’ve prepared adequately for whatever conditions you might find yourself in. This means environment appropriate clothing, food and water, matches, rain gear… whatever the worst case situation could possibly demand. Additionally, be certain to inform someone of your intended destination, as well as when you are scheduled to return.
Speaking of gear, the successful landscape photographer does have some specialized equipment requirements. You’ll be needing both a wide angle and telephoto lens, as well as a compliment of filters, and a solid tripod. While using a wide angle would seem obvious for shooting landscapes, frequently the employment of your long lenses will serve you better depending on the subject matter. For example, while a wide angle might produce an amazing effect when shooting a soaring oak from below, a stand of them might be better captured using a telephoto given its ability to compress the scene within frame.
As far as filters go, there are a couple that really make a huge difference on your images — the first being a circular polarizer. This filter enables the photographer to minimize reflections on water; deepen sky and cloud contrast, reduce haze, make rainbows pop, and is an essential tool for anyone serious about shooting landscapes. Next up, the graduated neutral density filter allows you to capture scenes with high dynamic range without having to resort to HDR composites in post. These filters feature a clear portion which gradually darken to typically between 1 and 3 stops (which is actually how they are categorized e.g. ‘2 stop graduated ND filter’). While these filters have fallen out of fashion somewhat with the advent of the aforementioned HDR compositing, we feel there’s no substitute for accurately capturing the scene within a single frame, and being certain of your results — which is next to impossible with HDR.
Core Concepts
While traditional rules of composition certainly apply to landscape photography, there are a number of additional things to bear in mind when framing your shot. First, be sure to thoroughly examine everything in your viewfinder before depressing the shutter release. Nothing ruins a great subject more than a bunch of extraneous crap surrounding it. Are there power lines, garbage cans, hydrants or any other foreign objects in-frame? Recompose. Do your best to eliminate clutter from your composition so that your audience is going to appropriately perceive the subject’s importance within the image. This can be done by reframing or utilizing depth of field. While landscape photographers most frequently utilize smaller apertures to maximize depth of field (i.e. higher f stop numbers), you may find on occasion it is desirable to employ shallow DOF in order to highlight your subject, and turn distracting background elements into an attractive blur.
Certainly selecting a worthy subject in the first place is important; however, in landscape photography which employs a large depth of field, you generally should be thinking about three. When setting up a shot, you need to divide your composition mentally into foreground, mid-ground, and background, and look for interesting features to highlight in each. Otherwise you have a photograph full of unimportant elements which do little to support the subject. Further, the idea is to lead your viewer’s eye through the image to arrive at points of interest within it. This may be accomplished by using leading lines composed of rocks, fences, roads, rivers, ripples in sand… anything that serves to propel the eye through the three regions. Note, one leading line element can lead to another however; you don’t need to have one going through the entire image.
If you are shooting grand, sweeping vistas like prairies or mountains for instance, it’s often a great idea to introduce a sense of scale. This can be done by including an element with which everyone is familiar, and therefore serves to inform as to the relative size of everything else in the composition. This can be a person, an animal, a bicycle, a fence… preferably something that doesn’t detract from the mood of the image and acts to enhance the story. A sole human within a vast expanse definitely conveys a sense of scale and can inject a variety of emotions into the composition: loneliness, longing, adventure, fear, serenity, etc. — all depending on the context of the other elements in-frame.
Finally, here are some tips on dealing with common landscape situations. When framing the sky in your shot, decide whether it is a major focal point, and if so, give it space! Consider using the rule of thirds to divide your image in such a manner as to allot two thirds to it. Should it be less important, one third will suffice. This is particularly important in plains and prairie shots… if you’re in ‘Big Sky Country’, don’t sell it short! Further, don’t shy away from putting the sun in the shot. Stop down and meter for the scene without its inclusion, then recompose and snap away. Watch for flare however, particularly with wide angle lenses.
With water you really want to capture its characteristics based on context. For instance, are you shooting waves crashing on rocks? Then your shutter speed should be 1/250th or above to freeze the spray and provide a sense of the ocean’s inherent power. On the other hand, are you photographing a serene waterfall or babbling brook? To get that milky smooth look, you’ll want to experiment with speeds of between 1/15 and 1 second, depending on the water’s rate of flow.
Find yourself in the desert? Try using a telephoto lens to capture heat waves coming off the sand, rocks, or road. The compression afforded by these lenses adds definition to these elusive effects. Further, the desert is an excellent place to practice celestial photography at night given the lack of humidity. While the techniques to do it properly are beyond the scope of this article (and indeed the subject of a planned effort in future!), try centring your camera on Polaris (should you be in the northern hemisphere) and with a very long exposure (hours), capture the stars as they wheel about it. The results can be breathtaking.
Always use a tripod if possible! Not only does this provide the stability required for longer exposures, but forces you to slow down and really consider what it is you are trying to capture. A cable release is also a great item to have with you to ensure you are introducing as little vibration into your shot as possible. This isn’t sports… be patient; take your time and enjoy the wonder of nature around you!