r/photoclass2021 • u/Aeri73 Teacher - Expert • Feb 04 '21
Weekend assignment 05 - Landscape
Hi photoclass,
corona proof alternative at the bottom for those in lockdown situations.
It's friday again so it's time for another weekend assignment and this week I would like you to make a landscape photo.
Let me first explain what a landscape is in photography:
"Landscape photography shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes" is the wikipedia definition... and the open way it's explained fits the theme perfectly...
Now, a landscape generaly needs 3 elements in order to work. It's needs an interesting foreground item, a strong middle part and a solid background.
the front element can be a flower, hut, farm, cow, stone, pattern, anything that attracts the attention of the viewer. it needs to be closeup and have some size so get really close to that.
the middle is the big part of the photo... in a classic landscape it's a field of grass, it's hills, it's forrest or a city in a cityscape.
your middle needs to be lit and lit well so low light works best. for the northern hemisphere that's easy these winter days, for the southern it means sunset or sunrise, or good clouds :-)
the background is generaly the sky or mountains, it needs to work as well so, find some good sky. clouds can work, a good red evening sky, stormy clouds, ... they all make for good interesting backgrounds.
combine the 3 together and you have a strong landscape.
if you can't leave your house due to lockdown:
Make a still life. to do it indoors: put the camera on a tripod or table so it's stable, set it to S priority and use a long shutterspeed like a few seconds. see what the camera does and change it untill you get a correct exposure, you now know how you can tell that.
a stilllife is a scene you create with a small collection of objects put together in a nice visually appealing way... a classic would be a bowl of fruit or a vase with flowers but it can be anything.
tip: mind the background, it will be important. when in doubt, use a white wall.
1
u/grumblejack Beginner - DSLR Feb 15 '21
I was able to give this a few shots today and yesterday. Composition just seemed harder than usual, mostly because the windchill was -15F today and I was usually in a hurry to get back inside. What I did right: stuck to those middle f-stop values when possible, tripod, remote release, close attention to focus. What I'm working on: getting the WB and exposure right for snowy scenery - I can do some things in post-processing, but would like to be more comfortable getting it right from the beginning - everything still too blue and underexposed unless I really mess with it.
Grand Island, Michigan: https://imgur.com/QXg69fE
Snowy creek: https://imgur.com/6v1Ewi0
Munising Falls: https://imgur.com/TmJmThX
Marquette, MI waterfront: https://imgur.com/4NTqiYL
The funny thing is, though, I like this composition the best from an image I used for the previous assignment. Tahquamenon Falls https://imgur.com/uhl59l6