With macro photography we go very close to show what we don't often see or look at. When we struggle to see great compositions, think going closer. Shrink your world. As you begin to see images slowly go wider, go further away, until you begin to see image again. The last month or so I have been talking about making things stand out, isolating elements, and so forth. However, we will be boring photographers if all our images follow the same recipe. So today I am challenging you to also find the shot to captures the grand idea of the place. Search for the image that will summarize the scene.

         Can you find the image that tells the story of the place? If someone wants to get a broad view of the place, know what to expect there ... can you make an image that conveys that? Yet, we don't want to end up with a travel log image. We are landscapers, fine art photographers. We want to capture an image that is still art. Is it possible to combine capturing an image that summarizes a place with one that is still art? Is such an image still able to capture and show mood, mystery, and beauty? Can such an image be taken on the fringes of the day when most people looking for such an image will not even be up to see?

To me this image is such an image. It captures what you will find at the Quiver tree forest. It summarizes the place. Lots of rocks and Quiver trees and nothing else. Yet the image is artsy, has some mood, and is still strong compositionally. Sometimes an image can be so artsy that it becomes abstract. People can look at an image and have no idea where the image was taken or which place it represents. An image that summarizes a scene is unmistaken of the scene. When it is seen by people who have been there they should smile and call out the name of the place. Yet, as stated before, it should still be a quality landscape image.

          Such an image shows what is mostly there. It shows how the place looks. It usually shows a large section of the place, the terrain. They give you an overview of the place. This is the image that you will use to introduce a place with.

          Try to also get artsy images that summarize a place.