Month: January 2019

The Qualities of a Powerful Landscape Photograph

When working on a photograph and wondering where to start, it’s helpful to know what is possible.

I think we all understand that serious landscape photography does not document nature but interprets it.  A well-made landscape photograph captures the photographer’s response to what was experienced and is able to convey this response to the viewer.

The Professional Photographers Association has 12 criteria by which they judge their competitions.  Granted, the PPA membership consists of very few fine art landscape photographers but still, the criteria of a great photograph are pretty much the same.

Here are the twelve criteria (the order is my own):

1.    Impact

2.    Composition

3.    Center of Interest

4.    Lighting

5.    Color Balance

6.    Technical Excellence

7.    Story Telling

8.    Creativity

9.    Style

10.  Presentation

11.  Subject Matter

12.  Technique

I mention these because there’s a lot that goes in to making a great photograph and these criteria provide a framework in knowing what to look for.  But rather that exploring these criteria in words, let’s look at a few photographs.  And let’s do it by looking at two examples of the same image – what it looked like when it came out of the camera and what it became when transformed in the digital darkroom.

Image 1

The first image is a scene in the mountains of Southern California.  I was wondering by myself along a remote trail.  The sun was sinking lower and lower in the sky and I was thrilled climbing the trails and walking among the trees and rocks.  I came upon this scene and it just felt right.  I had to capture it.

San jacinto 180720 SM37804

The mid-afternoon light is actually quite nice.  It’s not spectacular but it’s very pleasant and doesn’t pose any exposure challenges. The shadows make for interesting patterns on the forest floor.  And I tried for a composition that captured the energy and harmony I was feeling while at the same time portraying the stately strength of the trees.  And the center of interest is the rocks that form a sort of path that leads up to the trees on the right.  The trail leads out of the frame on the right, inviting the viewer to explore what lies beyond.

It’s a very nice picture but now it’s time to make it even nicer.  An effective way to add impact is to increase the contrast.  (This will be a recurring theme.) The shadows can be darkened along with the midtones.  Care is taken, however, to not lose detail in the shadows.  You also have to be careful with the clouds.  They have more detail that the RAW image doesn’t show, detail that can be coaxed out.

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Finding the Soul of a Photograph

Finding the soul of a photograph is a journey that can take many paths.

I often get asked if I manipulate my photographs.  My answer is always, “Yes, of course!”  But no one has ever asked, “Why?”  And I have an answer for that too.  “Because my camera doesn’t know what I’m feeling.”

For me, making a photograph is making art. I want to do more than capture where I’ve been and what I’ve seen.  I want to share with you what I feel when I’m out there.  And that is often more intense than what my eyes see.

I was in Long Valley last summer preparing for a photography class I was teaching for the Mount San Jacinto Natural History Association.  It was midday and I was walking around wearing my amber tinted Polaroid sun glasses.  Why do I mention my sun glasses?  Because I was getting very excited about what I was seeing.  And for those of you that know about midday light, it is anything but exciting.  But the amber tint of the glasses and the effect of the polarization on the sky and foliage got me excited.  Added to that was how good it felt to be back in these mountains after an absence of 15 years.

I want to share what I feel…. And that is often more intense than what my eyes see.

So, I asked myself if it was OK to make photographs that reflected my mental state when it contradicted the physical reality of what my eyes saw. 

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JPEG or RAW

Which file format is better – JPEG or RAW. Well, it depends….

Our digital cameras give us a choice of two file formats in which our images are stored – JPEG and RAW.  In fact, some digital cameras only store images in JPEG format.  What’s the difference and is one preferred over the other?  Let’s take a look at each.

But before we begin, I was curious what JPEG stands for, so I looked it up.  It’s pretty weird – Joint Photographic Experts Group.  Strange indeed.  But. be that as it may, JPEG is widely used.  Practically every image you see on the web is JPEG although you occasionally see other formats.  If you use a lab to print your photographs, there’s a good chance they will ask you to send them JPEG files.

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