Landscape Photography
August 18, 2008
Landscape art is another name by which landscape photography is known. Nothing less than genre painting, this photography style tends to bring forth the grandeur and dazzle of the nature at its best. The subjects here, ranges from waterfalls and seascapes to mountain vistas and other landforms. Smart landscape photographers make good use of the weather and the ambient light conditions to enhance their splendid art works. The legendary American landscape photographer, Ansel Adams According to the renowned British landscape photographer Charlie Waite, A prediction with total precision of light observed through its behaviour cannot be made for different regions of the world definitely have their own shares of ravishing light. Joe Cornish advocates the theory that though the landscape forms the subject, the light is what photographers record and interpret. He goes on to state that in landscape photography, the studio is the sky, where light discloses texture, explains space, sculpts form, regulates colours and also triggers an emotional response.
Ideal Time
The ideal time for landscape photography, according to the experts, generally are the hours in the vicinity of dawn. This time might render the photographs captured, a magical touch. The mist that shrouds the landscape is capable of adding a special dimension to the picture realised. Chance of camerashake is also nominal around that time due to the less windy conditions. Moreover, the photographer also gets a serene atmosphere to shoot his/her images in total tranquility for this is the time when there are not much people around. Dusk is also a good time to engage in landscape photography for, this time renders the best opportunity to manipulate on the red colour of the spectrum, while light is low and those colours supported by the dying sun are sharper due to the shady conditions. The photographers call this, the ‘warming up’ process. David Ward has rightly said that the most critical part of landscape photography is the knowledge of the precise matching of the subject and the available light.
Know the Device
Before starting to shoot make it a habit to check that the lenses and the digital camera sensor are spic and span. Because, the quality of the images get affected if the lenses are unclean and the dusty marks on the sensor will definitely show up on the pictures as well as smear some significant details. Most digital cameras, switched to ISO 100, performs at their best, yielding the lowest of noise. Camera shake is a major hassle experienced here, especially when hand-holding the device. Therefore, using a tripod is advisable here and if such a provision is found missing, the usage of higher ISO speeds is recommended than risking the camera-shake. Clicking a couple of shots for each scene, one at high ISO speed and the other, at low can be done for a smart comparison between the two images. Setting the appropriate shutter speed for a scene can aid in keeping the images sharp, especially when a tripod is not among the provisions. Roughly, a shutter speed par the focal length of the camera is considered ideal. For example, for a camera of 100mm focal length, set a shutter speed of 1/100th second. Multiple shooting of a scene, with different exposure levels also helps in choosing quality pictures by giving more chances to the camera for it can always be spoofed by the evasive light conditions. Finally, shooting in RAW mode instead of simply packing the pictures in JPEG compression files provides the option of editing the pictures without much quality loss.
Imagination
This is the essence of not just landscape photography, but all specialisations in the photography sector. A photographer must be sensitive enough to conceive the colour of light to judge between, to engage or not to engage the filter. A good photographer’s intuitions would inform him/her of the light source’s size, height and direction. The most significant advice given to an aspiring photographer by his teacher, however is, to wander more but capture only a few pictures, in-spite of sporting a digital camera that shoots at the rate of a machine gun at the expence of just rechargeable power.
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