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    LANDSCAPEPHOTOGRAPHY

    A Short GuideBy Kent DuFault

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    CONTENTS Landscape Photography >>P.03

    Elements Of Composition >>P.09

    Leading Lines >>P.11

    Receding Objects Of A Known Size >>P.13

    Shadows And Highlights >>P.15

    Diminishing Contrast >> P.17

    Scale Of Known Objects >>P.20

    Use Of A Focal Point >>P.22

    Color Temperature Changes >>P.25 Be Prepared! >>P.28

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    LANDSCAPEPHOTOGRAPHY

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    LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

    Depicting the landscapes of the world has long been one of themost sought after expressions of art. It was a common subjectfor many of the masters of painting, such as Monet, and laterbecame a jewel to the eyes of photographers.

    Think of Ansel Adams as he went through the grueling effort

    of hauling his gigantic bellows camera into the foothills ofYosemite Park, and you begin to understand the excitement thata beautiful landscape photograph can create. Many of Adamslandscape photographs are still some of the most recognizablephotographs in the world.

    Beginning photographers often gravitate towards landscapephotography because it seems like an easy subject. After all, it

    doesnt move does it? We dont have to tell it what to do. And,there is an abundance of subject matter all around us.

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    LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

    But lets be honest, havent we all been a little disappointedwith a photograph we took at some unbelievably beautifullocation.

    The magnificent Rocky Mountains just didnt look quiteso magnificent in our final photograph, or, the vast desert

    landscape of the Sahara didnt seem quite so vast and lonely.

    There is a reason for this. Its called depth perception.We see in three dimensions. Our brain has the ability tocalculate depth based on data that is input by our eyes. But aphotograph is a two dimensional medium.

    When we look at a landscape such as the Rocky Mountains our

    brain interprets the information, and we perceive the vastnessof what is in front of us. When taking photographs of these vastlandscapes we must learn how to create the information thatthe brain is looking for.

    We have to trick the brain. We do this through composition.

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    LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

    Lets talk about a tool that is available to us in any landscapesituation - our lens.

    Lens choice can affect the outcome of your efforts in manyways. For this guide - were going to focus in on two basicconcepts regarding your lens choice.

    1. A wide angle lens pushes your subject matter backcreating a sense of wide space.

    2. A telephoto lens pulls your subject close creating asense of intimacy, compression, and size.

    There are all sorts of different focal length lenses and each ofthem will push, or pull, your subject to some degree. Thats the

    fun part- learning what each lens will do.

    For our point and shoot camera users, when were talking aboutlens focal length, in your case, were talking about the X factorof your zoom. 1X is as wide as your lens will go and the highernumber, such as 4X, is the most telephoto your lens will go.

    Lens choice can affect the

    outcome of your efforts inmany ways.

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    LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

    For our DSLR users a wide angle lens range is typically around14mm to 28mm. A normal lens range is around 35mm to85mm, and a telephoto lens range is 100mm up to 1000mm ormore.

    Lets look at our Sahara Desert example and see how the lens

    can have an effect our picture.

    We are standing at a way station getting water. Our guideleads his camel away from us. As we observe him we see manymountains of sand, one after another, leading our eyes into thedistance; about a mile away we see a caravan of camels crestinga large hill of sand.

    First, we choose a wide angle lens. We place our guide and hiscamel close to the camera and to one side. The mountains ofdesert sand recede into the backgroundcreating a vast openlandscape. We snap the shutter. Weve created depth throughexpansion.

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    LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

    Now we change to a telephoto lens. We position ourselvesso that the caravan of camels is large in our frame and sandmountains become compressed behind it giving a sense ofdistance.

    The telephoto lens compresses our scene bringing the caravan

    closer than our eyes could see it on their own.

    The mountains of sand (which are very far apart) meld into adiorama of one; creating a pattern of light and shadow behindthe caravan.

    Our example creates two very distinctly different landscapephotographs with the simple choice of which lens to use.

    Lets look at some elements of composition that can fool thebrain into thinking that it is seeing three dimensions on a twodimensional photograph.

    The telephoto lens com-

    presses our scene bringing

    the caravan closer than oureyes could see it on their

    own.

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    ELEMENTS OFCOMPOSITION

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    ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION

    1. Leading Lines

    2. Receding objects of a known size

    3. Shadows and highlights

    4. Diminishing contrast

    5. Scale of known objects6. Use of a focal point

    7. Color temperature variations

    Lets examine each of these elements and learn how you canincorporate them into your landscape photography.

    Lets examine each of these

    elements and learn how you

    can incorporate them intoyour landscape

    photography.

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    LEADING LINES

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    Leading lines are an excellent tool for adding depth to yourlandscape photographs as they literally carry your viewers eyesinto the picture.

    They also add distance perception as the object used for theleading line becomes smaller the further away from yourcamera it becomes. Some excellent examples for leading lines

    are fences, a row of trees, a mountain range, a river, or a path /trail.

    When youre composing your landscape photograph,look forsomething repetitive that creates a cohesive line leading intoyour shot.

    LEADING LINES

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    RECEDING

    OBJECTS OF A

    KNOWN SIZE

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    RECEDING OBJECTS OF A KNOWN

    SIZEReceding objects of a known size are a lot like leading lines.Here is the difference. A leading line is an object that repeats,or is continuous, going into the photograph. You could literallytake a pen and draw a line from one end of the object(s) to theother end.

    Receding objects of a known size can be randomly placedwithin your composition. They create depth and scale becauseyour brain interprets that they should be the same size, butarent. Therefore, (your brain determines) the larger the object,the closer it is to you. Some good examples of receding objectsof a known size are farm buildings, vehicles, people, trees, etc.

    When composing your landscape photograph look for

    something within your scene that repeats randomly from veryclose to you to much further away from you.

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    SHADOWS ANDHIGHLIGHTS

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    When we take photographs, the light across our subject iswhat creates a sculpted structure. Our brain is wired to seehighlights and shadows, and it then interprets that into a threedimensional object.

    If possible, try to shoot your landscape photographs when the

    sun is low in the sky (either morning or evening). This willcreate stronger highlights and shadows which will add to thedrama and visual interpretation of depth. Shooting mountainsin midday sun is just not the way to go.

    If you have no choice as to the time of day to shoot yourlandscape photograph, (such as on a vacation tour,) thencompensate by making better use of the other compositional

    tools available to you.

    SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

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    DIMINISHINGCONTRAST

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    The nature of landscape photography dictates that we are oftenphotographing over great distances. Atmospheric haze is al-most always a factor. In some cases you may try to get rid of itthrough the use of filters or in post-production.

    However, it can also be one of your creative tools. Once again,

    we are trying to fool that brain into believing it sees distance.From birth, we have become accustomed to seeing atmospherichaze. Most of the time, we dont even notice it.

    Have you ever looked at one of your landscape photographs andwondered why it looked washed out (without contrast and colorsaturation).

    The reason is most likely atmospheric haze. But, you can put itto work for you by including something close.

    DIMINISHING CONTRAST

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    A good example might be to place a silhouetted tree just afew feet in front of you when photographing that gorgeousmountain range that is miles away.

    This scenario does several things. The close object (the tree)will add contrast. By doing this, it tells the brain that those

    mountains are a long way off because their color has beenaffected by atmospheric haze.

    You could then do a few tone and saturation adjustments inpost-production to pull out some of the color on the mountainsthat your eyes perceived (without over doing it, of course, andmaking it look unreal).

    DIMINISHING CONTRAST

    The nature of landscape

    photography dictates that

    we are often photographingover great distances.

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    SCALE OF KNOWNOBJECTS

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    Nothing lends itself to the depiction of immensity better thana shot showing an object of a known proportion that appearsteensy-tiny in your landscape photograph.

    A good example of this technique would be a castle nestled inthe mountains and the castle looks to be about the size of an

    eraser-head.

    Our learned memory tells us that the castle should be large. Butit doesnt appear that way in the photograph. So then our brainsays that those surrounding mountains must be REALLY HUGE.

    When looking for your landscape photographs, try to find someobject in the distance that says, Im big, but I appear small.

    SCALE OF KNOWN OBJECTS

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    USE OF A FOCALPOINT

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    This is a common mistake for many beginning landscapephotographers. No matter how spectacular that scene in frontof you is, you must still create a pleasing composition so thatthe image will transfer well to the two dimensional art ofphotography.

    There needs to be some element in your composition that willlock the viewers eyes to your photograph.

    Have you ever looked at a beautiful landscape photograph, orpainting, and thought to yourself that it was nice but seemedlike something was missing?

    That something was most likely a focal point. Without a focal

    point to anchor the viewers eyes, their vision will tend towander around the image like an old in a pasture filled withgrass.

    USE OF A FOCAL POINT

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    Look for something, (or create something), in your scene thatwill lock the viewers eyes to a place of your choosing withinyour picture.

    Objects that work well generally stand out because of theirshape, color, or pattern.

    USE OF A FOCAL POINT

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    COLOR

    TEMPERATURE

    CHANGES

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    Our minds are used to the color temperature changes aroundus, so, unless were looking for them specifically, we dont evennotice them.

    The camera, however, will always record them. Thats whywe have a white balance setting on our cameras. Colortemperature changes can indicate distance in your landscapephotographs.

    The atmosphere contains a great deal of ultraviolet light.

    When we photograph a scene that covers a great distance weare in fact looking through more ultraviolet light than normal.

    This will cause objects in the distance to appear bluish, (or inthe blue-cyan spectrum). Our brain interprets that as meaning,Far Away.

    COLOR TEMPERATURE

    CHANGES

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    When setting up your landscape photograph include somethingin the foreground that is closer to natural color, or, even in thewarm end of the light spectrum.

    The change from warm color temperature to cool colortemperature will be a great indicator as to the distance youwere photographing.

    COLOR TEMPERATURE

    CHANGES

    Color temperature chang-

    es can indicate distance

    in your landscape photo-graphs.

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    BE PREPARED!

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    Lets close out our discussion on landscape photography withthe subject of being prepared. Landscape photography oftenlends itself to some effort to get there. In general, it wont beout your backdoor.

    If youre going to spend time and money getting to yourlocation, you want to make sure youre prepared to stay untilyoure ready to leave.

    Lets talk about photographic equipment. These are thingsthat youll want to have along no matter what your situationis (a bus tour vs. a hike alone) - Extra batteries that are fullycharged, extra cards (its better to have several several smallercards in the 2Gb to 8Gb range rather than one large capacity

    card.

    BE PREPARED!

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    Cards can fail. You wont want to spend half a day hiking up amountain only to have your only 32Gb card fail on you.) Lenstissue and fluid to clean your lens, plastic bags (to cover yourgear in case of a downpour), and a tripod is recommended (butoptional).

    If you will be shooting in early morning, or twilight situations,you will want to have a tripod along. Its tempting to buy asuper light tripod, but, that can be self-defeating if there is agood wind blowing.

    For your personal safety be sure to bring water, sunscreen, bugspray, energy bars, cell phone (with a charger), rain gear, extraclothes and shoes, GPS (if you will be hiking into the woods),

    and finally let someone know where you are going and whenyou intend to be back.

    We hope that you have found this beginners guide tolandscape photography helpful. Good luck on your adventuresas you photograph the beautiful world around us.

    BE PREPARED!

    If you will be shooting in

    early morning, or twilight

    situations, you will want tohave a tripod along.

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    IMAGE CREDITS:

    Cover: blmiers2

    Pg 4: brandonprinceabroad

    Pg 5: fulito

    Pg 7: blmiers2

    Pg 12: theknowlesgallery

    Pg 14: ramsd

    Pg 16: stignygaard

    Pg 18: antoniobovinophotography

    Pg 21: tambakoPg 23: Kent DuFault

    Pg 24: Kent DuFault

    Pg 26: blmiers2

    FONTS:

    OvoMontserratRokkitt

    ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

    Kent DuFault is a professionalphotographer and author.

    You can check out his work here;

    Short Stories: http://www.ama-zon.com/-/e/B006RASQUI

    Website: http://www.bellaken-tuky.com

    Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bellakentukyauthor

    Twitter: @bellakentuky

    Blogging on publishing: http://novelnook.wordpress.com/we-love-photography-so-much

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