Popular Garden and Landscape

Nature and landscape photography represent an area of the photographic art which requires specialized skills. As we all know, practice makes perfect and over time, with the right shooting advice and some handy photographic techniques, tips, tools and tricks, taking beautiful landscape photographs can be mastered and your shot making can improve  to the point that your photos really begin to capture some of the essence of the great places that you get to visit.

One of the photographic techniques that I find really useful, as obvious as it may sound, is making sure that I always have my camera with me when I head out. It can be quite surprising when revisiting an area that we think we know.  Things change all the time. Maybe the lighting is different. Perhaps you are passing through at a different time of the day and a scene that hadn’t previously imposed any particular sense of drama suddenly impresses you.

I recall driving through an area many times before. There was a long white sand beach with a bridge over a stream at the northern end. I had even picnicked and swum at the northern end of the beach last summer. In the intervening months since I had last visited the beach, the local council had built a path under the bridge and alongside the stream bed as part of a beautification process opening up an area which wasn’t previously accessible from the beach.

As a result I was able to acquire some very pretty landscapes where I wasn’t really expecting anything in particular.  So even if you are familiar with an area, remember not to take things for granted. People and places do change and often over shorter time-frames than what you might appreciate.

Especially now with the advent of digital cameras, immediate recall and the ability to shoot many pics without the handicap of time and cost of development, why not take multiple photos of the same scene. Play with different exposure settings, angles, variations in zoom. Change the perspective, turn the camera sideways through 90 degrees, or even set the horizon on diagonally opposite corners to optimize composition if that is what it takes.

Work through different shots of the same scene at different focal lengths, telephoto through to wide-angle and be surprised at how much variation can be achieved in the shot.  Eventually you will find the optimum picture which may appear to be quite different from the first impression. Capture a range of photos and make your selection afterwards rather than discard options at the time.  

With the benefit of hindsight it is possible to re-crop a shot to change the emphasis or mood. Digital storage is so cheap now that retaining shots that may be less than optimum and having a library of images for later use offers alternate cropping options to accent different aspects of the photo.  

Telephoto lenses enable magnification of a distant subject and wide angle lenses reduce the depth of field enabling more content to be included in the. Compact cameras achieve this variation through a single lens that offers variable focal length usually between 30-70 mm or similar and often with inbuilt converters that double or treble the focal length,  increasing the telephoto capability whereas with a digital SLR (DSLR) these are separately acquired hardware options and each lens or converter has different characteristics.

A lens that offers variable focal length usually between 30-70 mm is recognised as a standard zoom lens and will be able to be used in most scenarios. It is only when exploring the extremes that specialist lenses such as fish-eye, wide-angle, telephoto and converters are required.    

Adding scale to a photograph is another way to improve composition and generate a sense of the dramatic in your pictures. A large rock or tree to one side in the foreground with say a waterfall or mountain occupying the centre thirds of your photograph with the sky above, not only aids the composition but also imparts a sense of grandeur to your shot.  Adding more sky to your photograph can create a sense of “wide open spaces.”   

Changing the mood and feel of a scene can make the difference between average and stunning photographs. Allowing the setting sun, for example, to light up your shot or shooting into the sun to create silhouettes can produce wonderful shots.

Capturing sunlight through leaves or tree branches can achieve a dappled effect of light and shade to augment photographs.  Two hours after dawn and two hours before dusk are great times for shooting, enabling best use of light and shade. When the sun is higher, shadows are more intense and strong shadows require extra lighting, increasing the technical complexity of a potential shot.

Shooting buildings in cityscapes represents some interesting challenges where sunlight at certain angles can enhance building detail or by reflecting off glass and stainless steel, produce interesting light effects.

The very same shot at a different time might appear uninteresting without the detail emphasized. The sun going down between two tall buildings with the inner faces of both buildings lit up and other parts in shadow or semi-silhouette might achieve a very dramatic photograph.

Looking for reflections in puddles or other still bodies of water is a great way to add to your photographic composition and fill in the foreground with extra color to enhance your picture.

A good way to improve your understanding of landscape photography (or any other photography genre for that matter) is to take an image that you really admire from a leading exponent and pick the picture to pieces, isolating the different aspects that come together to create the photo. By identifying and analyzing the components of the photograph you come to gain an appreciation for the mechanics of the composition thus increasing your knowledge. Use the identified facets in your own photography to enhance your skills.

Good hunting!

Additional Resources:

Some sources that you might like to check out for techniques, tips, tricks,  and more can be found in photography books and magazines at my website portal www.photographyglobal.com where you can follow links to the best deals and discounts that that the web has to offer.  

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