Page 40 - Cape-Camera-Jan-Feb-2022

January/February 2022 Cape Camera

Photographic Technique

Take your best-ever landscape images

by James Abbott*

Shooting landscapes is all about capturing the great outdoors
in ways that show others your vision of the world. Whether aim-
ing for dramatic light at golden hour or taking a more subdued
documentary approach to the subject, there’s something for
everyone in this varied genre of photography. Capturing dra-
matic light, vivid colour and interesting weather conditions are
the most popular approach, and this is where we’ll focus our
attention.
So, with this idea in mind, here are 40 landscape tips that will
ultimately help you to develop and improve as a photographer
to make that 12-inches even more important.
Some tips may even surprise and excite you in ways that lead to
a eureka moment where the pieces of the landscape photogra-
phy puzzle finally fall into place.
Never give up

Go wide
It’s not always necessary to shoot landscapes with ultra-wide-
angle lenses but when you do, getting in close to the fore-
ground interest when combined with the wide field of view cre-
ates much more dramatic images. This image was shot with a
12mm lens and the rocks were less than 30cm away.
Get higher: find new perspectives
Drones have gained huge popularity in recent years because
We’ve only just got started, so telling you to never give up may of their ability to allow photographers to shoot from high alti-
seem a little premature – but it’s essential for shooting the im- tudes with ease. Whether shooting top-down landscapes, aerial
ages you desire where everything looks perfect. Planning a landscapes or shots from head height in places inaccessible on
landscape image can take days, weeks, months or even years, foot, they’re an incredibly creative tool.
so you have to be prepared to wait for that perfect moment. Shoot in Raw
The image below was planned for nearly a year and required
the season, weather, light and tide to all be perfect to be able to Capture images in Raw to give yourself more control over how
capture the perfect shot. your images look, as well as providing greater latitude for ad-
justments at the editing stage.
Create balance Use a tripod
Lead-in lines are linear elements in a scene such as a road, a wall, A tripod isn’t always essential, but during golden hour and in
a stream or rocks etc. that start at the bottom area of the frame low light situations exposures will be too long for handholding
and lead the viewers’ eye into the scene (Compositional devices the camera so a tripod is essential.
are the perfect way to inject your images with balance and to
lead the viewer into and through your landscape images. The Choose your bag wisely
main three that you can use are the rule-of-thirds, foreground Your camera bag is just as important as your camera and lenses.
interest and lead-in lines. Rear entry backpacks and those where kit can be accessed with-
The rule-of-thirds is where you imagine the camera frame is di- out putting them down are great options.
vided into nine equally sized rectangles by two horizontal and Less is more
two vertical lines. Focal points and foreground interest are then It’s often tempting to carry everything on shoots, but being
positioned at the four points where these lines intersect, and ruthless and only carrying your camera, a couple of lenses and
the horizon is placed on the top horizontal line. Many cameras essential accessories will save your back.
allow you to turn on this grid in the viewfinder and on the LCD
screen to aid with composition. Shoot wide open
Foreground interest is an object relevant to the scene that’s A shallow depth-of-field has blurred the foreground creating a
sense of movement in the crops without the need for an ND
composed in the foreground to fill empty space and to create a filter and a long exposure.
visual stepping stone into the image.
We’re often told that landscapes need to be pin-sharp from the

39 Cape Town Photographic Society