(Landscape) photography

Me • Landscape photography • Not an expert! – grain of salt • Learning by self

Joys of photography • • • • • •

Creating Craftsmanship Sharing/storytelling Challenging Improving Accomplishment

Joys of landscape photography • • • • •

Time to slow down and think (but not always) Meditation Journey to get there Meticulous planning The small details

Downsides? • Equipment – a contentious topic • Frustrating! (like any other) • It’s “all been done”, at risk of looking boring

Equipment/software • Camera body and lens • Tripods, filters, remotes, triggers, bags, light meters…. • Software • Computer! • Graphics tablet? • Printer? • Clothing gear

Equipment/software • Is it really necessary? • When to buy

http://www.dpreview.com/articles/8511033648/readers-showcase-raiatea-arcuri?slide=4

What makes a good photo? (or how I learnt to stop worrying and love the 4C’s)

Ingredients of a good photo • Artistic concerns – Location/subject/scene/moment/story – not everything can be made into a good photograph! – Light – Composition, perspective – Colour (or not) – Lack of distractions – Other bits and pieces

• Technical concerns • Or “4C’s”…

Composition • Simple is stronger • A strong sense of creating and visualisation – add visual elements in, not subtract, if possible

• The concept of designing or composing • Sense of depth, foreground interest, anchors, asymmetry, balance, tension, framing, lines, reflections, geometries, textures, juxtapositions etc etc (read a book!)

http://salon.cpsnz.com/downloads/ltcataloguereduced.pdf

http://salon.cpsnz.com/downloads/ltcataloguereduced.pdf

http://salon.cpsnz.com/downloads/ltcataloguereduced.pdf

(borrowed from a friend)

Technical concerns •

Not everyone’s cup of tea, easy to be overwhelmed – but a necessity at the higher levels, especially for landscape

•

Sharpness – Movement – Depth of field – Lens behaviour

• • • •

Exposure Noise Colour Post-processing – Avoidance of artefacts

•

Advanced techniques – HDR, focus stacking, focal length stitching, panoramas etc etc – Are all a means to an end

Examples (separate folder)

Creating a landscape image

Landscape process • Picking a location – friends, google, flickr • Scouting – wandering, scouting shots only…don’t take a real shot! No tripod! • Planning and visualisation – – – – – – –

Composition Light Colour? B/W? Sun/moon position? Time of day Tide Weather

• Execution (the shot/shots) – technical concerns • Post-processing • Publishing/submitting/printing

Landscape process • More than one way to skin a cat • Time consuming! – Many hours for one photo

• Why take a shot if it’s not going to be great? – Would you rather 10 mediocre shots or 1 excellent one?

• A note on spontaneity, adaptability

Example 1

Picking a location • Facebook – photos of cable bay walkway

Scouting • Walked the walkway • Took a shot on various sections (~5?) • Found a potential composition

Planning • • • •

Sunset, low-angle light Low tide – patterns in water Clear weather Composition – depth, linked by the water

Execution • Three attempts • Issues – wrong tide, wrong timing of sunset, technical shortcomings (impatience) • Set of images for HDR + focus stacking

Post processing

Post processing • HDR and focus stack blend

Post processing

Post processing • Crop, rotate, lens profile correction • Global – contrast, highlights, shadows, midtones, clarity, sharpening • Local – burning, dodging, sharpening etc • Colour (WB, hue) • Cloning • Edge glow removal • Textural • Vignette • Etc..

Final image

Final image • Many hours of work for one photo – It’s not even very good! – But….it’s an improvement from before

Example 2

Picking a location • Been here before many times

Scouting • On previous trips, many long walks around the walks without taking many photos

Planning • • • •

Composition – as previously identified Time of day – limited by tide Weather – cloudy Tide – exact level, incoming vs outgoing

Execution • Multiple takes to get correct waves coming through and clouds • Careful setup with filters and settings to achieve correct exposure (long exposure shot)

Post processing

Post processing • Same as before

Final image

Publishing/entering • Only showing your best • Many competitions out there, PSNZ honours etc. – Feedback (subjective)

• Printing – Its own set of technical challenges

The bigger picture

Post processing (a side note) • • • •

The “truth” and faithfulness to the scene B&W? What is the point of a photograph? Again…not everyone’s cup of tea – but a necessity at some point

• The best post-processing is the one you can’t identify • Same goes for any photographic technique

How to improve • Is this a good photo? – be honest – What did I do well – What are things that could be improved? – be “ruthless”

• What are others doing better than me?

• Feedback – closing the loop – Competitions, PSNZ honours – Clients – Yourself

• Focus, repetition – don’t spread self too thinly • Eliminating mistakes – Diary keeping

• Goals, having a direction

Examples (separate folder – the bad)

Examples (separate folder 2 – the good)

Summary Phew!

Landscape photography beginners • Artistic aspects – Subject matter, light (time of day), composition, keep it simple

• Technical aspects – Sharpness, exposure

• 4 C’s • Take the time to plan

Landscape photography advanced •

A more deliberate approach – Create, not take – (Pre-)visualisation, end-product in mind – Aim to make one compelling photo

• •

Simplify Most people at this stage have a good sense of visual aesthetics and composition – More subtle aspects e.g. perspective, quality of light

• •

Returning to a location time and time again Is this scene conducive to a good photo?

•

Sound technical knowledge – no compromises – Sharpness – DOF tables, lens behaviour, focus stacking, mirror lock-up, electronic shutters etc. – Exposure (ETTR, ISO invariance/variance) – Post-processing (avoidance of artefacts, masks, filters, blending, HDR, panoramics, colour manipulation and colour spaces) – Calibration – screen, printer

Take-home messages • Beginners – Get the basic artistic and technical issues correct – Slow down and plan

• Advanced – Be more deliberate, plan – Simplify – No compromises on the technical side

“ Which of my photographs is my favourite? The one I’m going to take tomorrow.” – Imogen Cunningham

Resources • • • • • • •

Youtube! Endless articles on the internet Books Flickr etc NZIPP Iris awards Laurie Thomas salon Fellow club members – ask me stuff