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Discovering Your Personal Vision Through Digital Landscape Photography
By © Don Smith
I first picked up a camera over forty years ago. To say the least, technology has changed. Books in my personal library that deal with equipment from ten or more years ago have very little bearing on today's automated digital cameras, lenses and flashes. Yes, the fundamentals of setting exposures via shutter, lens aperture and ISO speeds are still relevant, but technology has provided us with instant feedback and hopefully a new way of thinking about making our images better in the field. Moreover, sophisticated software programs like Photoshop have allowed photographers to finish their images as they had envisioned it in their mind's eye.
However, there is one constant that doesn't change but rather evolves and that is personal vision. I loosely describe personal vision as the manner in which each of us uniquely sees a scene photographically. Books dealing with vision will stand the test of time no matter what type of technological wonder is used as a capturing device. This is true because landscape photography is all about capturing light - great light! What means we use to capture it (film or digital) is really irrelevant. I've seen great images made from old pin-hole cameras and I'm sure there are some masterpieces that have been recorded with the latest camera-phone technology. The ability to make a high-quality enlargement from either will be severely compromised but not the actual visceral experience that the image will provide.
If an image is great, it will stand the test of time regardless of what medium was used to record it. It's the image itself that speaks to the hearts and minds of the viewer. It is a combination of many elements that, as a whole, will cause an emotional connection with your audience. So having said all of that, it begs the question: "What makes a great landscape image?" Let's look at five different aspects pertinent to all great landscape photos to help answer that question. As we discuss these five topics, keep in mind they will vary in overall importance from one photographer to the next. I call this "personal vision." No two photographers will be alike in their personal vision just as no two photos will be exactly alike. Remember photography is really a combination of science and art working together to produce a final image that is pleasing not only to the person creating it but also to those who view it. Let's begin discovering your personal vision!
Great Light: If I had a choice between shooting in great light and shooting a great location, I would take the light hands-down. Think about a time when you had been exploring a new area and seen something that you had only previously seen in a book, magazine or perhaps on television. How many times have you thought to yourself, "Gee, that's not as impressive as I remember it?" Our stored memory of a certain location usually will not match reality because we are not seeing it in that special light in which the photographer/videographer had captured it. Great light can make even mundane subjects look awesome. This fact is why landscape photographers drag themselves out of their warm beds in the wee hours of the morning so they can capture pre-dawn light. It is why they will brave the elements when most sane people are huddled indoors. They are seeking great light. Renowned landscape photographer Galen Rowell used to say he would first seek great light then find something earthbound to match it. Most beginning landscape students think about the subject first, and light second. Try reversing that thought pattern and see if your images don't immediately improve!
Look for Edges in Light and Nature: I define edges in nature as anywhere land and/or light come together. In the sky, this can be dark foreboding clouds with a warm sunset glow lighting their underside. It can be where a forest meets a meadow, an ocean meeting land or a horizon meeting sea. The possibilities are endless. Radically different edges provide tension. Tension tugs at your viewer's emotions. Your images must draw your viewer into them, make your viewer stop and study them. Your audience may not be able to explain what it is that is drawing them into your image - at least not immediately, but you do. One of my favorite things to capture when I see it presented in nature is the juxtaposition between warm and cold hues. A vibrant warm sunset against a cool chilling mountain lake is one example that comes to mind. Read some books on color psychology to better understand how color affects us. Why do reds and yellows excite us while blues calm us down? The more you understand color and how it affects the human psyche, the better you'll be at utilizing it in your images.
Learn to See as your Camera Sees: Photographers learn quickly what a camera can do. I believe it takes years of practice to understand what it is not capable of doing, especially when it comes to the limitation of seeing the world as the human eye does. The human eye is capable of seeing a contrast range of 2000:1. In photographic terms, that is an amazing 11 stops of light! The best digital camera sensors are limited to about five stops. This is referred to as the sensor's "dynamic range." With slide film, the range was a mere three stops! Thus the problem becomes immediately apparent: How do we make our images reveal the range of light that the human eye can see? With film, we could use split-neutral density filters to hold back the exposure on certain parts of the scene, thus providing a better balance. With digital, we can take multiple exposures and combine them in the computer using sophisticated Photoshop techniques or expensive plug-in filters. Camera engineers are constantly working towards developing sensors that will eventually meet or even exceed the range of human vision. But that will be only one part of the equation. The best printers on the market can only produce a range of about four stops of light; however, technology is amazing, so who knows what tomorrow will bring? The one thing we can do as digital photographers to ensure we are getting the most from our present-day sensors is to expose as carefully as possible. This means having a full grasp of the camera's histogram to guide us in making correct exposures. Sensors are linear capture devices. I am not an engineer, but I understand that to get the most out of my sensor I must utilize its capture ability to the fullest. Try to visualize your sensor divided into five equal segments from bright to dark (right to left). Most photographers tend to underexpose by at least a stop. If you do this, you are making a huge mistake because you will be throwing away half of the information that could have been recorded. The brightest fifth of your sensor is where half of your captured information resides! The second-fifth is where the next half of all your captured information resides and so on. So be careful with your exposure. Try to get your histogram graph to move as far to the right-hand side as you can without touching the wall (visualized by a vertical spike which indicates clipping of one, two or all three of the RGB channels). Also, turn on your "Highlight Alert" indicator (commonly referred to as "blinkies"). If you are shooting RAW images, you will actually have at least a half-stop of overexposure fudge-room where you can, in essence, recover that data! This will not be possible if you are shooting JPEG images only. A carefully exposed image will produce a print with a full range of tones. Get the exposure right and you will spend much less time in front of your computer screen!
Composition: I know you have heard this one before but it bears repeating: crop in the camera. I know this is hard especially for beginner and intermediate photographers as the tendency is to place your subject in the center of the frame and ignore the perimeter. I'm not much for rules when it comes to composing; rather, I trust my sense of balance. When something doesn't feel right as I'm looking through the viewfinder, I try to find what it is and then problem-solve how to correct it. It may mean changing lenses, my perspective or even what is in the frame. The old saying is: "artists start with a blank canvas and decide what to add while photographers start with a full canvas and have to decide what to eliminate." If something doesn't add to the scene, get rid of it. Try to keep your compositions simple and your success rate will increase. Think about the three key ingredients of your image: foreground, middle ground and background. Do they all work together? Does the foreground lead the eye through the frame or are the three parts disjointed? Does that tree branch or rock add to or distract from the overall image? These are questions only you can answer. It will help to study composition guides which artists use. Amongst the multitude, I tend to think "rule-of-thirds" more than any other when composing an image. I also like leading lines, S-lines and patterns when they present themselves in nature. Study top landscape photographers' work with a critical eye for composition. Ask yourself if you would change, eliminate or add to the frame. The next time you shoot, pretend you are one of them and think how they might compose the landscape you are viewing. Eventually, you'll begin to develop your own style. You will begin to see your compositions more clearly in your mind, and then make lens and perspective choices accordingly. One last piece of advice I would add is to try composing with the camera off your tripod. Once you have found your composition, bring the tripod in so the camera is placed where you want it - not the other way around.
Keep Moving: Perhaps this is not practical advice to those shooting with 4x5 or larger cameras. But for the majority of us shooting with 35mm, this is extremely important advice. Many times I find myself moving (jogging and even running) to get elements within my scene to line up as the great light is happening. Sunrise and sunset light is very fleeting. It will not sit still for you if you delay. Personally I find it a challenge to assemble all the pieces of the scene in a short period of time. I actually find the experience exhilarating! Perhaps it comes from my sports background (I can remember numerous times in my 25 years covering the NFL where I would make a sprint from one end zone to the other). Believe me, when it pays off in allowing you to capture a better image, the feeling is awesome! So remain flexible (both mentally and physically) and watch your images improve. Don't settle for a good image when a change of position could result in capturing a great image.
My last bit of advice, no matter what ability level you may be, is to honestly assess your shoot. How could you have improved upon what you shot? Did you have a game plan and how did that game plan play out? What would you do differently? These are all assessments which will help you grow as a photographer. Also, don't forget to congratulate yourself for what went right. Perhaps that last minute decision to change to a wide-angle lens made a difference. Maybe it was something more subtle like changing your position by a couple of feet or taking a different angle. More than anything, remember to have fun. If you enjoy what you are photographing, you will do a good job. Trust your instincts and go for it! As in life, your development as a photographer should be a journey. Enjoy the ride and soon you'll find your personal vision emerging every time you raise a camera to your eye!
Visit Don Smith's website:www.donsmithphotography.com
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