Landscape Photography - The Rule of Three Ps

By Yaroslav Staniec

It is true that one cannot learn Art or cannot induce in someone the eye for beauty. But obviously, if you have it in you, it can be honed to perfection; however small that is. As a self taught landscape photographer, who has learned everything from the hours of waiting for the perfect light to the mistakes committed, I feel both glad and proud to share the secrets and the insights of landscape photography that contributes to the making of a great photograph. This is for all those who breathe through their lenses like me!

But before telling you the few basic ingredients to perfect landscape photography, let me tell you one secret that holds true even for the universe. It's called the harmony. The key to every great thing is to strike the harmony right and landscape photography is not an exception. Open your eyes to the harmony all around you!

Landscape Photography: The rule of three P - preparation, patience and perseverance

To capture the mystical and scintillating beauty of nature, you shall have to wait at her doorsteps, respecting her own tantrums, whims and fancies. After all, something that is so great or so beautiful is not readily available. And for all who thinks, landscape photography is easy, here's where you'll find out that it is not. Behind a photograph that is par excellence, there are days of research, hours of thoughts, weeks of getting to know the topography, angles, crowds etc., endless failures and months of sleepless eyes eager to catch the perfect moment.

To get something great, you need to have perseverance, patience and also a lot of preparation. As a landscape photographer, I can guarantee the fact that a great shot takes a lot of time and a whole lot of mental preparation. So, my first advice to you would be before looking through your lenses, look around the geography.

Scout your chosen area. Note its important features; note the unusual and interesting angles, and its changing crowd levels. Take time to prepare the shot and make sure you are ready with your tripod or mini-tripod, cleaned lenses and the cable release before the best time of the day. Try out different filters and wait for a good foreground. If you have people in your frame, talk it out with them and break the ice to make them feel comfortable.

Choose a simple and clear layout- too many subjects dilute the depth and focus of your photograph

Remember that what you call as a good shot is the one that focuses your attention on the subject by using a fairly sparse background and a simple and interesting composition to strike a clear harmony. Removing the clutter for your picture requires real skill. Achieve that. Landscape Photography comes out best when you focus on your subject.

Not just landscape photography, any picture you click, requires that subtle judgment of de-clattering your picture. For example, if you are capturing a musician, try zooming in, getting close to your subjects eye level and find a simple backdrop for your subject which will highlight your subject. Look for that vivid balance.

Play with colors. Look for bold solid colors for that unforgettable photograph

For vivid and warm landscape photography, notice the 'Stock-quality' images. If you notice them, you would see that they make great use of color. So, while you are taking such a photograph, search for solid primary colors. Bright 'red, emerald green, lightning yellow, and ocean blue- solid colors give a different dimension to your picture. Use a polarizer to bring out the vivid colors. While you are playing with colors try to avoid patterns as much as possible as they tend to distract your viewers from the subject.

Alternatively, for a calmer effect on your landscape photography,look for 'color harmony'. Scenes restricted to similar tones and colors, or even a single color brings out a calm, restful image where the eye plays with the differing shades and intensities. Look for pastels, cream, or delicate shades, when it's a serene effect you want to capture.

Create drama with lights

In my vertical, which is landscape photography, I've often seen that photographs that win competitions are often the ones that make fascinating use of light. Keep an eye out for that silver lining- the beams of light shining through clouds, sparkling light through the trees or windows, elaborate long shadows and the effect of side and backlighting. Try and use the beautiful warm golden hours of early morning and late afternoon. You will experience magic through your lenses at these hours. Maybe this is why they are called 'magic hours'. Landscape Photography requires the skill of the use of light.

Of the people, for the people by the people

Include the power of people in your photographs. You must have noticed that magazines in particular always create a dramatic effect by including people in the shot. A human face or figure always gives the viewer a human connection. It instills in your viewer a sense of being there, a sense of scale.

If you want to portray emotions there is nothing better than capturing a face to say it all. Laughter, despair, hope, hopelessness, proud, age- a human face tells it all. Simplify the shot down to one person for that exclusive reaction.

Catch the promise of tomorrow with the young and the worldly and the weather worn. Young and old faces make wonderful subjects with their innocent expressions and aged with wisdom faces respectively. They make your shots warm, friendly, and someone you can relate to. Like a good old friend. Such photographs never grow old.

Take heed of the above ingredients and mix them in an equal proportion according to your subject, place and time and you'll see that in no time you have a photograph that you can be proud of!

Learn more about Landscape Photography

A spontaneous dreamer and a soulful photographer of those dreams etched by nature, by passion and profession, I am Yaroslav Staniec, a dream catcher. Born in Poland and residing in England, it gives me much pleasure to master the art of capturing beauty if not time, through my lenses.   Never fading colors, timeless black and whites and life like contours- witness the abundance nature has unfurled. Browse through my galleries, witness, comment, possess or just be a silent visitor.   Here's an invitation to all who appreciates nature for what it really is.

http://www.beautylandscape.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yaroslav_Staniec

How to Take Outstanding Pictures

By Jonnie Blaylock

Since way back when I first began to study photography, I have been getting asked how I take such good photographs. There are many different styles and types of photography, but I usually end up giving the same key photography tips for most of them.

Professionals Use SLR Cameras

I cannot stress enough, if you want to take quality pictures, learn how to use a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera. You would not believe how many self proclaimed amateur photographers have not started to learn how to use an SLR (some still use those point and click cameras).

I know that with the advances in technology, digital cameras and memory are getting better and better every day, but there is just not enough versatility with a point and click camera. They are great for general day to day snapshots, but they will never match up to the versatility and professional results obtained with an SLR camera.

With that said, the increase in versatility equates to more functions in the camera. So, once you have a good SLR (preferably digital), learn these functions from the owners manual. Learn how to control the shutter speed, aperture settings, ISO (film) settings, and white balance.

Note: In older SLR cameras (not digital) ISO is a function of the film and refers to the film's speed. Only digital SLRs offer ISO function settings.

Clear the Viewfinder

Too many photographers shoot much wider then they really want and have to use software to crop the shot down to the scene they want. This just causes more work later, and there is no guarantee that all of the distractions can be cropped out.

Unlike a point and click camera, the viewfinder of an SLR uses a prism and mirrors that allow you to look directly through the lens. This is why, with an SLR, âwhat you see is what you get.â By taking everything in the viewfinder into account, you may notice distractions that you otherwise would not have.

Don't you hate it when you think you have captured a really good scene just to find out later that there was something distracting in the background?

Composition

One of the most often used techniques of composition is the Rule of Thirds. Divide the viewfinder into nine equally sized boxes like on a tic tac toe game board. Where the dividing lines meet is where interesting points in the scene should be placed. Relativey straight lines (vertical and horizontal), such as a long tree trunk or the ocean's horizon, needs to be placed on a horizontal or vertical dividing line.

This technique causes stress in the scene, and this stress causes interest.

Keep in mind that the more a shot is prepared before taken, the less likely Photoshop will be necessary.

Note: Before each major session change, reset the white balance of your camera. Lighting conditions may change throughout the day (from session to session). Correcting white balance between sessions will cut down on necessary Photoshop corrections. The answer to how to take good pictures does not involve correcting them later.

Portraits

Even though the techniques we just talked about work with just about any style, there are some techniques that are commonly used with particular styles. With portraits, the subject is not the entire scene, just part of it, so it is important for the subject to stand out.

Shooting the subject in a narrow depth of field is one of the easiest ways to make sure that he or she stands out. The depth of field is the length of the distance in front of the camera where things in the scene appear equally in focus. This is controlled by the size of the aperture opening. The lower the setting, the bigger the opening in the aperture and the more narrow the depth of field.

Note: This allows more light through the lens of your camera so the settings of the film (ISO) and shutter must be changed to compensate.

Taking a portrait of a subject in a narrow depth of field while keeping the foreground and background out of the depth of field makes the subject appear in focus while keeping the rest of the scenery a bit out of focus. This results in the subject really standing out and even seeming to pop out of the picture.

Landscapes

Another common style requiring specific photography techniques is landscape photography. Unlike portraits, with landscape photography the entire scene is the subject; it is often desirable to keep the entire scene equally in focus and to shoot at a wider perspective to encompass as much of the scenery as possible.

In order to obtain this, an infinite depth of field is needed along with a lens that allows a perspective broader than the human eye. This is why wide angle lenses are commonly used in landscape photography. These lenses allow a large perspective of a scene to be captured.

A high aperture setting must be used in order to obtain an infinite depth of field. This causes the opening in the aperture to be very small. To compensate for this the shutter must be left open longer. With that understood, it is absolutely necessary to use a tripod or other camera stabilizing apparatus with landscape photography so the camera will not move while the shutter is open.

I hope you have enjoyed this article and that it has been useful. If it has helped in any way, the next time someone asks how you take such good pictures, feel free to send them this article.

Jonnie Blaylock is a professional photographer that always encourages helping those new to photography learn how to take good pictures.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonnie_Blaylock

Landscape Photography Tips - Freeze Framing Your Favorite Sunset

By Jonnie Blaylock

To put it simply, a landscape shot refers to scenery captured from one point of view. There are usually no children or animals or other objects in it, just scenery, like a sunset or mountain range. Once in a while, an animal or object may be used for composition or as a means of displaying scale and perspective. However, more often than not, it is just a view of the outside.
 
Purists argue that pictures of the sea coast or the ocean, or pictures of man-made structures are not landscapes. A picture of the coast is a seascape while that of a city would rightfully be called a cityscape. Any picture dominated by terrain or natural land is therefore a landscape.

There are three kinds of landscapes, representation, impressionistic and abstract.

Representational - This style is the most realistic of the three. There is no artificial manipulation or artifice added to the landscape. It is basically, a 'what you see is what you get picture'. It is a true snap shot of what you see.

Impressionistic - In this style the photographer uses techniques that play up the vague or elusive qualities of the scene. This kind of landscape retains the quality of what makes a landscape while at the same time giving an impression rather than a clear tone or representation.

Abstract - The photographer uses the elements of the landscape as components to be manipulated to produce greater effect. Components are juxtaposed and moved to create a design rather than a real picture of what is actually represented.

Here are some landscape photography tips for making better pictures.

1. Foreground - Focusing on an object in the foreground for framing purposes increases the drama of the shot. Also frame the shot with a center of interest to capture the eye of the viewer.

2. Move the Center - Moving the center of interest off to one side also heightens the interest of the shot.

3. Scale - Drawing attention to the size of the subject is sometimes important to the understanding of the scene. This can be done by adding people or a small object that would normally be in the scene to frame around gives the added dimension of scale.

4. Lighting - Lighting will make or break any photograph. Pay very careful attention to light source, shadows, clarity and diffusion. This is the number one frame of reference for all photography, included within landscape photography tips.

5. Tripod - Use a tripod to ensure sharpness in capturing the scene, especially in low light situations. Camera movement or shake will not add to the picture and may do it irreparable harm.

6. Composition is so Important - Really, really look at your composition. Make sure there is nothing in the picture or viewfinder that you don't want such as overhead electrical wires or errant branches from closer trees that might obscure the view and ruin the picture. Watch out for unneeded objects in the foreground. It may be necessary to move them out of your way, or barring that, if you can't move them, then move the camera.

7. Weather - Don't let the weather keep you from shooting. Sometimes the weather is just the dramatic effect that you are looking for. Rain has a way of adding softness and peacefulness to a scene, take advantage of it. Wind or ripples in water also add dramatic elements for a stronger photograph.

8. Maximize Depth of Field - This is done by choose a small aperture setting in over to deepen the focus of the picture. Bear in mind that a smaller aperture also means there is less light coming through, forcing other adjustments to compensate.

9. Lines - Find a way to lead the viewers eyes into the picture. In other words the lines that leads from the foreground to the background. Image depth and scale can make this happen.

10. Horizon Consideration - An old rule in photography is to consider the horizon on two fronts... is it straight and where is it compositional wise? A composition line falls in one of three areas of the picture rather than down the center, the upper middle or lower third. Trying working in these areas rather than always locating the main points of interest in the center of the frame.

Finally, always be on the lookout for a different viewpoint. Changing the point of view adds drama to an uninteresting or routine scene. Before snapping the shot, look through the viewer and move it right, then left, then up and down. Zoom in and then zoom out. Change the viewpoint. Only then after looking at as many possibilities as you can, do you take the picture.

I hope you have found these landscape photography tips useful.

Jonnie Blaylock is an amateur photographer that helps new photographers learn the essentials with his Landscape Photography Tips and more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonnie_Blaylock

The Basics of Nature Photography from Michael Melford

I wholeheartedly recommend this video for all nature photographers. Mr. Melford shares a wealth of information a casual, humorous presentation that is a pleasure to watch.

Presented by Lindblad Expeditions

Learn the inside tips on shooting outdoors from National Geographic photographer, Michael Melford,
who has published numerous stories and books for National Geographic, National Geographic Traveler,
LIFE magazine, as well as many other publications.

Michael's Website
www.michaelmelford.com

Lindblad Expeditions
http://www.expeditions.com