Introduction Landscape photography captures the natural environment, but can also include man made features within that environment. A striking and breathtaking landscape image will appeal to all our senses and capture the mood of a location. Travel photography is a story in pictures of places we ve visited. It naturally includes landscape images of the destination, but also documents its culture, its people, its history, its food, it s celebrations, its architecture, its fine details and more. Documenting our adventures through images is fantastic for creating blog posts, and memory filled photo books. The destination doesn t need to be exotic...we can use the same techniques for capturing birthday parties, a day at the beach, a visit to the city in our home town. Any occasion or outing can be captured in fun and creative ways to document the action, details and stories of our lives and adventures! So let s begin with techniques we can use for capturing beautiful landscape photos, and we ll do this by re-visiting the earlier lessons.
Composition Remember simplicity, as it s usually the most simple of compositions that create the most effective and stunning images, as anything too complicated or cluttered will distract the viewer. Also consider how a scene makes you feel, and what it is that specifically drew you to want to capture it in the first place. Some landscape scenes are serene and peaceful, whilst others are stark and dramatic! Find ways to show off the elements of the scene that are appealing to you by using composition, lighting and your camera settings for best effect. Wide angle lenses are perfect for capturing landscape images as they allow us to frame the full breadth of the view before us, and have the fantastic effect of stretching out the sky and landscape.
When composing your image, look for a point of interest. If you re shooting flat open plains, find something which gives an indication of size, such as a lone tree, a solitary figure, or something else that gives a sense of scale. When you arrive at a location spend time walking, driving and exploring the area to find a compelling shot or angle! Remember to apply the rule of thirds when placing your subject elements, and keep your horizon lines straight and even. Negative space works beautifully in landscape photography, and can enhance a sense of grandeur and wonder.
Create depth Creating a sense of depth in an image gives more of a three dimensional view, it creates more interest, and draws the viewer into the frame with inviting layout and sequence. It s not something that is easy to achieve, and takes practice to recognise, but here are some techniques for creating a sense of depth in this genre of photography: Tone and colour Ensure a good variance in tonal and colour range in your image. Linear perspective Converging lines, which is where parallel lines appear to converge and disappear as they move further away from the lens, work to draw the eyes into the scene and beyond. Dimishing Perspective A repetition of similarly sized objects (such as a line of trees) appear to get smaller and smaller as they get further away from the lens. Frame within a Frame Using objects in the scene to frame your main subject. Where the frame itself is the subject (eg. the arch of an old bridge), composing it so that it frames elements in the distance will convey a sense of depth. Depth of Field when depth of field is used to blur objects in a background, a sense of depth is achieved. Be creative Look for angles or perspectives that are compelling and shows off the landscape or scene is a way that is unusual or not normally considered.
Lighting The lighting you choose for your landscape photos will reflect the mood you re trying to capture, but in saying that, most landscape images are captured during the golden hour, and then before sunrise and after sunset. The light during this time and is soft and flattering across landscapes, in addition to presenting an array of beautiful colours in the sky, and gentle graduations between light and shade.
Settings Depth of Field The idea in landscape photography is usually to have all elements in your image sharp and in focus; foreground to background, and to achieve this deep depth of field we need to set a high f-stop, from f/16 or higher. Shutter Speed With a narrow f-stop (large f-stop) and usually low lighting conditions, our landscape photography will require a low shutter speed to allow enough light into the frame. In addition, the smoothing effect of the slow shutter speed is also a technique that is used to create beautiful still waters and misty rivers. In the case of low shutter speeds a tripod or something to secure your camera in place is a requirement for in-focus and sharp images. The tripod will give you great flexibility to keep your shutter speed as low as it needs to be, and your ISO can also stay low, avoiding unnecessary grain in your image. Setting Up An easy place to start is to set your camera to f/16, ISO 100 and then adjust your shutter speed according to the exposure. You can also adjust your aperture value for different effect. Call me strange, but I actually love shooting landscape images with a wide aperture sometimes, because I enjoy the shallow depth of field and the misty backgrounds I can achieve! The beauty in knowing our settings is that we can experiment and achieve whatever affect we desire!
Travel Photography Storytelling I like to approach travel photography as though telling a story through images. We re showing the vast vista of where we re visiting, the beautiful details that lay within that vista, and appeal to all the senses of touch, taste and sight. When photographing your story, whether it s a holiday somewhere fabulous, or a gorgeous day out with your friends, try and remember these tips to capture your adventures in beautiful and colourful ways. Consider these shots for your story: Introduction: the wide angle shot that presents the scene. Action: shots of people participating in activities Details: consider all the senses; colours, tastes, and textures. Experiment with a shallow depth of field to make it abstract and interesting. Photo Tip: Remember a fast (high) shutter speed is required to freeze motion the faster the motion, the faster the shutter speed required to freeze it. Use a slow shutter speed if you want to capture that movement and remember you want to capture only the motion blur, not camera shake. You may need to use a tripod or similar if shooting below around 1/60 depending on your own steady hand.