Scale and Timing

Two things I'd like to point out in this photo.

The scale of the mountain is clear from the house in the middle distance. This sort of inclusion helps the viewer gauge the relative sizes of things. If people are in the photograph then that works well also.

The timing. Evening and morning light can be very rich in colour and really light up the side of a rock face.

Soft Light

This is a picture I took for my wife's business. The key to this soft light is diffusing the light. I used two flashes. One was shot through a homemade softbox held close. The other was bounced off some large white reflectors. Last of all I ran the exposure quite hot so that the whites became true white.

Negative Space

Generally, you don't want a large part of your picture to be all white or all black. Generally.

Sometimes, however, all that black can help convey context. For example, the darkness inside this primitive windowless hut.

Star Trails

This was taken in South Africa on a very dark and moonless night. The extreme length of the exposure has made streaks out of the stars. The extremely dim light on the mountain looks very bright which is also because of the extremely long exposure.

The key obstacles to a shot like this are having the camera stationary (a solid tripod is essential) and timing the exposure. Very few cameras will time extremely long exposures like this so you may be left hanging out with a cable release and a stopwatch. A few older cameras like the Nikon FE will time such exposures automatically. Generally, what you will need is a camera new enough to have automatic exposure but old enough that the circuitry is analogue not digital. Even on the FE Nikon only rate it capable of, IIRC, 10 second exposures. However, there is no hard limit (because it is not digital) and so it will actually run as long as it needs to. This exposure was probably close to twenty minutes.

Make The Most Of It

View blocked? See if you can use the foreground to your advantage.

It's In The Eyes

It may be a cliché, but if you get only one thing in focus make it the eyes. This is from the same wildlife park. It was a cub of a few months old. We were very fortunate to be allowed to actually enter the enclosure and sit amongst and play with the cubs.

Invisible Fences

One of the problems of pictures of animals behind fences is that they look a lot less exciting than, say, a Lion with a bloody mouth licking his lips as he advances towards you.

The key (assuming the fence has a lot of openings -- like a chain link fence) is to be as close as possible to the fence and have the animal as far from it as possible. If you then use a telephoto (you will have to to have the animal far off) and a wide open aperture you should be able to blur that fence to invisibility.

Keep Shooting

I really try to make each picture count when I'm shooting film. However, some subjects are hard or impossible to predict. Into this category fall ocean waves.

These waves were coming in strong and the headwind was lashing back the spray. I took nearly two rolls to get this shot which captures that feeling.

Ultrawides in Landscape Photography

Here is a photo taken from the same mountain top within minutes of the other. Here the story is about being up there and the view.

Ultrawides need careful treatment. The lens I used here is 15mm (same as 10mm on a crop sensor or "DX" camera). It sees an extremely wide view without distortion.

Here I have included the path that I am standing on. You can "walk" this path all the way to the end and you can explore the horizon all around. You can also see that I left some very close items to frame the distant ones.

Telephotos in Landscape Photography

This peak looks even more impressive now that it fills the frame. To do this took 400mm. I achieved this with a 200mm lens and a 2x teleconverter. Such a combo is perfect for things (like mountains) that hold still.

Focal Point

It is clear that the young tree and the two boulders are the focal point. Why?

Look Down

So often there is something worth seeing at your feet. These were some leaves that had spent the winter beneath an icy mountain stream.

What Did It Feel Like?

Was the sun in your eyes? Was it blinding you? Then why are you showing me a dark photograph? The lens flare helps communicate this also. Unfortunately, most lenses try to minimise flare. This is an older lens.

Backlighting

Look at the shadows on the cars. Look at the centres of the bushes. The sun is above and in front of me in this picture. It is partially shining through the petals of the flowers. That is what is making this scene explode with colour.

Unusual Light

Outdoor photography is all about the light. If the light is right it is hard to take a bad photo. But you must see it.

This was taken through the front windscreen whilst driving with a fifty year old camera. The light makes the photo.

I'm Looking At You

People and animals that look straight into the lens will be looking straight at the viewer. This can be powerful.

Distance Cues

In real life we have 3D vision.

In pictures we need things in the picture to cue us in on the distance and scale.

Distant vistas look more distant if there is something near in the foreground like these boulders. The grader in the middle distance gives a sense of scale because it is something we know the size of.

Tell A Story

This is from our trip up the Sani Pass in South Africa.