Pixiq

One of the most alluring things about landscape photography is that we’ve all been there. We’ve all had that wonderful experience of seeing nature’s true beauty spread before us like a masterful painting. As you travel across scenic landscapes you stop to capture that wondrous beauty with your camera hoping to transfer the emotions of the moment to the captured still.

Light on Curbar Edge 2

We go home, download our images onto our computer, open our digital photography editing software only to find our images lacking. Flat. Boring.

What happened?

I think that sometimes we forget that our eyes are not cameras. Our eyes move around a scene gingerly taking in interesting subjects, selectively focusing and un-focusing, adjusting for light and color, and interacting with our other senses. Smell. Touch. Sound. Taste.

Think about this. You’re standing atop a hill overlooking rolling fields of untouched green grass. Sporadic trees litter the scenery while a backdrop of snow capped mountains reaches towards a sunset painted sky. The clouds reflect reds, oranges, and purples. The wind whips your coat about you. It’s chilly. The air smells fresh with a hint of rain.

You pull out your tripod and camera (quickly the sun is already setting!) adjust your settings, compose, and capture a few images.

Here’s what you should have been asking yourself if you wanted to bring home a stellar picture.

What is it about his scene that compelled me to pull out my camera? Was it that lonely road winding into and around the hills? Was it the mountain top? Was there an old farmhouse or patch of flowers to anchor the photograph?

Sunset Norris Arm

Try this:

Look around for something in the scenery to anchor the photograph and add a sense of scale. This is especially true if you aim at sharing the grandiosity of the moment. If you have to walk around to find the right angle to properly incorporate this subject then please do so.

Look at how the light falls and reflects color into and around the scenery. Think about how the shadows interact with negative space. Perhaps this isn’t the right time of day for this angle. Do not hesitate to consider coming back to a scene at a different time of day (or season for that matter). This isn’t a portrait setting, this is a landscape and pending disaster you can always come back. Just make sure that you do.

Photographs:

Light on Curbar Edge 2 by andy_AHG with more work to be found at AHG Photography

Sunset Norris Arm by Ira Crummey with more great photography to be found at AIC Photography