Travel and Scenic Photography 101
When you're driving through the mountains somewhere, and you notice a car parked half off the road and some guy leaning to the left to avoid a branch with his Rebel 2000 camera in the act of focusing, you've met me. I do this because, to me, a trip isn't fulfilling unless I've preserved that beauty for posterity. I'd like to share some of the techniques that make scenic photography such a wonderful artform - simple, yet elegant. First off, equipment. As much as the cheapo disposable camera beckons, get real. These cameras have fisheye lenses which I call "spam" lenses. They cram everything in, with equal blurriness and boringness. Good photos are sharp, unless you use blur for artistic effect. Sharp comes from an adjustable lens. It can be a fixed lens or a zoom, but it must focus specially for each picture. Fixed lenses are limiting for scenic pictures, where to frame the shot you may need to move long distances. Imagine using a fixed lens on the Washington Monument, when you're half a block away! Zooms get my vote, even though they often don't have as wide an aperture, which limits their capabilities in low light situations. � Practically speaking, an SLR is the absolute best. They are lightweight, and can be used with top quality lenses. Film SLRs tend to be less expensive, but have the limitations of film, meaning you have to �get it developed and so forth. Digital SLRs are VERY expensive, so for the budget conscious either go with a film SLR or a high quality basic digital camera. With digital, resolution is also a critical factor, so look at the specs before you buy. OK, we've got the camera, emotions are running high, and that's great, but not too great! Sometimes I find a spot that is so wonderful, I start shooting like a madman, only to be disappointed by the pictures. What happened? Emotions. When you experience a place, there are sounds, aromas and breezes as well as the visuals of the spot. Needless to say, you can't photograph all of these elements, only the visual. When overwhelmed by the spectacle of a scenic hotspot, we are often overwhelmed by all of these elements. So what to do? Look through your camera. The viewfinder does not lie (usually). Try to see what you are looking at as the finished picture. Most people perfunctorily take pictures, hoping that somehow the shot will come out great. If you wonder how the pictures came out when you are on the way to the drug store to get them, you're doing something wrong. At the moment you click the pic, you should know exactly what you will get. (Of course with digital, that's not a trick!). � Now, I was a tad dishonest in saying that you can't capture all of the elements of a scene. You can hint at them. For starters, motion. Yes, even in a still picture, there is motion. Something happened before, during and after your picture. In a mountain vista scene, you may find something that hints at motion, whether it be a branch of a tree that has been swaying in the breeze, or a river flowing through the valley below. These add a sense of motion. � Then there's the "rule of thirds." When you place the main object of the picture smack-dab in the middle, it is static and boring. Place it one third of the way from either side, and you IMPLY motion. Put the horizon in a landscape photo a third of the way up or down, not across the middle. Remember, when a person looks at a picture, their eyes move. You want to frame your photo to help that movement. If you can find some lines in the scene, such as a skyline, cloud formation, path through the forest, etcetera, use it interestingly, and with the rule of thirds to draw your viewer's eyes into the picture. Avoid "summit syndrome." You get to the top of Mount Washington and shoot the majestic vista. Great. The pictures come out ... boring! How? No PERSPECTIVE. Big vistas will be flat unless you have an object in the foreground, such as a rock or a tree, to give them perspective. Then the eye really grasps how big this scene is. People enjoying the view is a real winner, because the viewer may identify with their emotions, giving the image real impact. Cheese! Yes, you do have to take the family photos. It's obligatory. But when you do, make sure that they show the LOCATION of the photo. Otherwise, you might as well do it on your driveway. Frame the scene in context, with landmarks as part of the picture. Find a way to tell as story in the picture, such as little Sara climbing up the rocks by the waterfall. Finally, any element in the picture that hints at more senses than just the visual will make it �remarkable. Actor headshots for example, tell a story about the subject. You can almost hear them saying their next lines. If you photograph a garden, the viewer may experience the aroma of the flowers. A tourist street with an accordion player on the corner may have your amazed friends � whistling "Dixie." In summation, picture taking on travel is recording the experience in a satisfying way. Use motion, perspective, sensory, storytelling and so forth, to bring your photos to life. Oh, and needless to say, make your job easy and go to great places! See you at the overlook! Seth Lutnick is a photographer, composer, and performer. He has taken thousands of scenic photos, recorded two albums of original music, and appeared on stage, TV and film. Visit his website - www.getitdone.biz - for more detailed plans on photography, music, health and education, and extensive product links for the resources to fulfill your goals.
MORE RESOURCES: AIPAD’s the Photography Show Gears Up for 2024 Edition, and a Return to the Park Avenue Armory artnet News Holden Luntz Gallery : Simple Pleasures : Form and Light : Sculpture in Photography The Eye of Photography Emotional reunions to frozen spider webs: The winning images of Sony World Photography Awards 2024 Euronews Fresh Frames: Strawberry Festival Photography Exhibit introduces new format as it moves to West Virginia Wesleyan ... My Buckhannon 2024 - Worldly View - The Seattle U Newsroom The Seattle U Newsroom - News, stories and more Pratt's MFA Photographers Indict the “Perfect Body” Hyperallergic Greg Shamus (Photography '93) College for Creative Studies The Daily Targum RU Daily Targum Commission again votes down proposed events, photography venue in Elon Lynchburg News and Advance Gerald Annan-Forson’s striking photos of revolutionary Ghana at Howard University The Washington Post Joel Meyerowitz: A Question of Color Contains His Best Advice The Phoblographer Photographer Stu Levy Returns to Cincinnati for Artist Talk Cincinnati CityBeat The Photography Show by AIPAD Is One of New York’s Premiere Fine Art Photography Fairs New York Latin Culture Magazine® The Poetry Camera uses AI to make poems out of photographs and it's actually pretty cool Boing Boing Unique Photography Exhibit "The Color of Movement" opens May 2 at the Edward Jones Gallery - YubaNet Exhibit of photography featured through the Grove City Art Concern Columbus Messenger The Ugly Truth About the Wild Animals of Instagram Rolling Stone Artist Spotlight: Braydin Rose – The Clipper The Clipper Xiaomi 14 Ultra review: Definitely made for photography enthusiasts Yahoo Singapore News Review | Storyteller: Photography by Tim Hetherington | Imperial War Museum until 29 September 2024 Index on Censorship Make shooting street scenes a breeze with these camera settings Digital Camera World ‘He could create beauty out of horror’: the extraordinary life and photography of Tim Hetherington The Guardian Photographers: Applications Are Now Open for the Crankworx Whistler Deep Summer Photo Challenge Pinkbike.com UBS Art Collection gives 166 photographs to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC Art Newspaper What our photographers saw on Tuesday, April 23 The Philadelphia Inquirer Photography Business Institute Students Raise Nearly $300K For Charity | PRUnderground PR Underground “Planet Ocean”: New UN Online Exhibit Featuring the Winners of the 2023 Photo Competition for World Oceans Day DivePhotoGuide.com Racine County Eye Events - A Walk Among the Trees Photography Exhbibit Racine County Eye Sports Photography Provides Outlet for Student Athlete – The Oberlin Review The Oberlin Review Winners of the Sony World Photography Awards Open Competition 2024 South China Morning Post Sign Up for the Best Thing to Happen to Photographers The Phoblographer In Focus: 120 Hours into the 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment' CU Columbia Spectator The Landscapes of Sebastian Bahr Captured in Analog Collater.al Magazine ENG Abington wedding photographer feat. in NYT for career success, recent surgery, nonbinary identity, and autism diagnosis Glenside Local Photographer Kevin Faingnaert depicts Spain's El Rocío pilgrimage in a cinematic light It's Nice That Stop the car! Capturing sunset silhouettes Photofocus Opinion | A Palestinian Photographer’s Lens on His People The New York Times Black and white photos aren't old school for teens at Schack Art Center | HeraldNet.com The Daily Herald Registration now open for Factory Works' Intro to Film Photography & Darkroom Practices classes NorthcentralPA.com J. Paul Getty Museum : Hippolyte Bayard and the Invention of Photography The Eye of Photography The best photo storage and sharing sites in 2024 Tom's Guide Photography trip to Vancouver Camera Swap-Meet and Used Camera Sale Barriere Star Journal Megan Thee Stallion Accused Of Harassment By Ex-Photographer The Shade Room |
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