Showing posts for 'composition'. Clear search
Making sense of forest scenes
July 16, 2023 - Forests can be chaos, photographically speaking. There seems to be too much. Too many trees. Too many bushes. Too many b...
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Bird Photography: Show a bit more
July 03, 2022 - We always tend to want to fill the frame with the bird. It is exciting to see the fine detail of the feathers. We use lo...
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Composition
May 01, 2022 - Let's start with an image:
The light is not good and hence this image is not that great. Nevertheless, what lessons c...
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Explore
October 24, 2021 - We are back at the Cholla garden today. You can find this "garden" in Joshua Tree National Park. The garden can be diffi...
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Shooting from elevated positions
October 17, 2021 - I like shooting from elevated positions. The higher your elevation the longer or deeper the foreground - it stretches th...
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Dealing with too many of something
October 03, 2021 - The art of photography is to create some form of order, flow, and balance. We do so by choosing carefully what to includ...
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Foreground
September 26, 2021 - In many cases, strong lead-in lines start at the bottom edge of the frame and also act as the foreground element. Such l...
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Composing with a strong sky
September 19, 2021 - So the sky is where all the action is. But what if clouds beyond the brightest part of the sky are not as beautiful as i...
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Positioning the sun
August 29, 2021 - I a recent trip to Joshua Tree National Park I decided to stop at a particular location to wait for sunset. As I always...
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Light and Darkness
June 13, 2021 - The slot canyons around Page, Arizona is a mesmerizing place to visit. These slot canyons abound in photographic potenti...
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Clearance space
April 18, 2021 - Humans have two eyes. That gives us the ability to see and to measure depth and distance. We can see when something is c...
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Balancing elements
April 04, 2021 - Balance is important in composing nice photographs. Having too many elements on one side of the photograph without somet...
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Look-room & choosing a position to shoot from
January 03, 2021 - In the video industry, they often refer to "look-room." Look-room speaks of leaving enough room for the subject to look...
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Wildlife photography: the myth of always needing to fill the frame
December 27, 2020 - Generally speaking, we want to fill the frame with the animal. But doing that can be boring and can miss telling the sto...
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Mixing the abstract with wildlife
December 13, 2020 - Abstract photography is usually reserved for a different genre of photography than wildlife photography. But why not com...
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Wildlife and patience
February 16, 2020 - Wildlife photography is really difficult! Yes, anybody can take a nice-looking image of a static animal just looking at...
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Featuring iconic elements as secondary interest
February 02, 2020 - We have all seen great photography featuring iconic elements. The iconic elements are often the main subject of the imag...
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Telephoto Lens Landscapes
January 26, 2020 - Whenever people think of landscape photography they almost always tend to think about using wide to super wide-angle len...
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Mirror elements
January 19, 2020 - Nature seems rather random in terms of where what grows, flows, or is placed from a compositional perspective. So when w...
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Pay attention to detail
January 12, 2020 - Nature does not place rocks or plant trees where we want them. One challenging thing about photography is that there is...
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Natural Frames
January 05, 2020 - Yes, I have written about using frames compositionally before. Today I am going to be looking at a large frame (not just...
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Lead-in lines
December 22, 2019 - If you have followed my blogs and photographs you will know that I like to use lead-in lines because they powerfully nud...
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Reflections on water
December 15, 2019 - Reflections on water can make for great imagery. They can captivate the viewers' attention and make them look at an imag...
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Juxtaposition weight
December 08, 2019 - I have written about visual weight before and am doing so again today because it is important to composition and balance...
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Order from chaos
December 01, 2019 - The way nature arranges itself can seem chaotic to us. Trees don't naturally grow in straight lines. Rocks don't tend to...
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Balanced Composition
November 24, 2019 - The best landscape images often have balance. The elements within the scene are in harmony. Visual elements and color ca...
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Different images - Same subject
November 17, 2019 - I want more than one image from a site. I want to get as many good images as I can from each visit to a place. Often the...
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Depth formula refined
November 10, 2019 - Last week's blog revealed an easy formula that creates depth. This formula is to have a strong foreground, a middle-grou...
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Easy depth formula
November 03, 2019 - I often want someone to give me a quick formula that just works when I am doing something I don't have much knowledge of...
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Break the rules
October 27, 2019 - The rule of thirds is a photographic rule for a good reason; it just works. As new photographers start out it is best to...
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Foreground shapes
October 20, 2019 - You have heard me say that an interesting foreground is good for landscape images. This adds interest and depth to the i...
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Using light and dark areas compositionally
October 13, 2019 - We have already mentioned in previous blogs that various things can be used compositionally.
Elements - the placement o...
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Composing wildlife images
August 18, 2019 - We typically have two options when it comes to the composition of wildlife. Either we photograph the animal showing it i...
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Summarize the scene
July 14, 2019 - With macro photography we go very close to show what we don't often see or look at. When we struggle to see great compos...
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Something has to stand out
July 07, 2019 - Something has to stand out. We cannot have a see of objects all looking similar and end up with a great image. Something...
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Depth from above
June 23, 2019 - Photographers use many elements and techniques to create depth in an image such as:
Paths or roads
Tracks
Placeme...
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Repeating patterns
April 21, 2019 - Repeating patterns can make for interesting photographic material. We are still at the ghost town of Kolmanskop today. B...
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Kolmanskop, Namibia
April 14, 2019 - Ghost towns can be very interesting to photograph and to explore. Kolmanskop is a ghost town near Luderitz in Namibia. W...
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Get close
April 07, 2019 - I am a big fan of getting close to things to enlarge them and to give them importance in the scene. The object you get c...
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Foreground Lines
March 31, 2019 - I have said this many times but it remains important. Foregrounds can often make landscape photographs. An interesting f...
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Balance and weight
March 10, 2019 - Visual object carry weight. The darker the they are the more visual weight the represent. The larger they are the heavie...
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The human element in landscapes
February 10, 2019 - I shoot for a major photo stock agency. My agency will not sell an image with a person in it without me having and suppl...
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The sun as the image
December 30, 2018 - When I was still growing up the adults always used to tell me that you shoot with the sun behind your back. Everytime th...
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Foreground as the image
December 23, 2018 - You often hear me say that depth is what makes good landscape images. To create good depth we need a strong foreground,...
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Photographing the Icons
November 11, 2018 - I have written about iconic locations and those trophy images that we all want before. The message has consistently been...
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Composing at night
October 21, 2018 - Night photography can be tricky. It presents various challenges. The most obvious of which is that it is dark. How do yo...
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Character and composition
October 07, 2018 - When you visit a scene that is a photographic icon you don't want to just get the image that everybody gets. Hopefully,...
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Foregrounds can be very important
September 09, 2018 - Some images do not need much foreground interest. A beach scene with a beautiful lit dramatic sky typically does not rel...
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Get really close
September 02, 2018 - One of the best things you can do to improve your landscape photography is to use a wide-angle lens and then get really...
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Using texture to draw attention
August 26, 2018 - Texture can be used powerfully in photography. The texture of bark, sand, skin, hair, and so forth can be used as a foca...
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Contrast and balance
August 19, 2018 - When photographers speak of contrast they typically refer to light and dark values. However, at times we like to contras...
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Get Close, Shoot From Lower Down
August 12, 2018 - We often plonk our tripods down fully extended and shoot from eye level because it is comfortable to do so. What do you...
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Directing the Viewer's Eyes
July 29, 2018 - One of the goals we have as photographers is to direct the viewer's eyes. We want to pull their eye's into the image. We...
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Think About Your Composition
July 22, 2018 - Photography is half science/technical and half art/vision. When you get to a scene what do you do in terms of your visio...
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The human element in landscape photography
June 17, 2018 - When I learnt photography a few purists attempted their best to instill in me the principle of not every including any m...
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Add life to the dead
April 08, 2018 - Kolmanskop in Namibia is a fascinating place. In fact, Namibia is a fascinating country. If you would like to take a pho...
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Using light to invite
April 01, 2018 - In landscape photography we always want to invite the viewer to come into our images. That is why I write so much about...
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Balance, lines and depth
March 18, 2018 - Landscape photography often requires balance. Different colors have different weights. Darks are heavier than lights. Ob...
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A few minutes can make a big difference
March 11, 2018 - A few minutes can make a big difference. When shooting wildlife a few minutes make the difference between seeing the leo...
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Windows and frames
March 04, 2018 - Well I am not talking about man-made windows and frames today. Our interest today is on using nature to frame a scene in...
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The Orton effect
February 25, 2018 - The Orton effect is where in post processing you make the light look more soft, dreamy and glowing (just a bit). This ca...
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Minimalistic Images
February 18, 2018 - Less is sometimes more. Minimalistic images can be impactful. They are typically calming image; images that evoke though...
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Shooting for advertising
February 11, 2018 - There is a slight difference between fine art photography and advertising photography. I take images for both purposes....
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Wait for the right moment
January 21, 2018 - Even fleeting moments have the right moment. Since fleeting moments do not last shoot them fast. Once you have a few ima...
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Shoot front and back
December 31, 2017 - On a trip to Yosemite I wanted to get some elevation and headed for Sentinel Dome. I was on the dome before sunset. One...
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Water flow and depth
December 24, 2017 - My wife is not a big fan of flowing water in images. She prefers faster shutter speeds that freezes the water more. I ju...
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Seascapes
December 03, 2017 - I had a few minutes at the ocean near Monterey, California to photograph. The weather was foggy and the light was no goo...
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What about the road?
September 24, 2017 - When I was learning the craft of photography I was very young. I attended photography clubs for years. They taught me mu...
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Distance on a flat image
September 10, 2017 - You will hear me say this over and over again. We want people to look into our images rather than from side to side. Let...
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Maximizing skyscapes
September 03, 2017 - What is the most interesting, the land or the sky? Whichever is the most interesting should be emphasized. If it is the...
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Using height
July 09, 2017 - There are more ways to create depth beyond just using lead-in lines and light. One can use height. Yes, when you are sho...
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Foreground, middle-ground, and background
July 02, 2017 - Not all photographs are the same. Not all landscape photographs subscribe to the same recipe. Some of them work very wel...
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Combining lead-in lines with light drawing the viewer in
May 28, 2017 - Over the last month of so, we have been spending a lot of time with lead-in lines. By now you should know how important...
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Water movement
May 07, 2017 - We most often shoot in the direction of flowing water or against the flow of water; upstream or downstream. But who says...
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Using multiple lead-in lines
April 09, 2017 - Last week we looked at S-curves to lead the viewer into the image. This week we are looking at using multiple lead-in li...
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Looking for curves
April 02, 2017 - Curved lines are more dynamic than straight lines. They take you into the image. They create flow. Sometimes they are ve...
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All elements working together
March 19, 2017 - I was judging images at a photography club. Eventually, it came down to deciding between the top two images of the night...
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Elevation
March 12, 2017 - Most people walk out to a scene and plonk their tripods down when they have selected a spot to shoot from. They then set...
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Composing for harmony
January 08, 2017 - Let's take a look at the image below:
This location offers a bit of moving room (if it is not lined with other photogra...
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Reflections and composition
December 11, 2016 - Landscape photography is not always about great big open spaces. Telephoto lenses can also produce nice landscape images...
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Using Shadows
July 31, 2016 - There are many sources of lead in lines; fallen trees, railroad tracks, water, footpaths, roads, etc. One that is often...
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A closer look at river rocks
May 22, 2016 - River beds can be littered with rocks. When we are lucky or plan correctly we find moss on them to add color and interes...
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Using brightness compositionally
May 08, 2016 - I have mentioned before that the eye will always go to the brightest parts on an image first. Black and white images whe...
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Foreground, middle-ground, and background
April 17, 2016 - Not all images require a foreground (especially when using telephotos in your landscapes). Not all images require a back...
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Use your feet
April 10, 2016 - Ansel Adams was reported to once saying something like "the difference between a great image and a good image is a few f...
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Using rocks, logs, and water to form lines
February 14, 2016 - When you are in nature you look into the scene because you have depth perception. You can even estimate the distance to...
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Wildlife photography tips: Part III - Use good composition
November 22, 2015 - Animals and birds do not often cooperate with photographers. At times they turn their backs at us. At other times they j...
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Directing the viewer's eyes: Part II
August 09, 2015 - Last week we said that photographers can direct a viewer's eyes by using brightness, anything different from the rest of...
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Old Buildings
July 05, 2015 - Old buildings can be fascinating. Many people shoot them from the outside. Many of these buildings can be large and you...
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Juxtapositioning
May 24, 2015 - "Good bye God, hello Bodie" is what people used to say when they went to this wild western town when the west was still...
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Get Multiple Shots
December 21, 2014 - Last week we talked about Alpen Glow in the image below:
While I really like this image I never want to walk away fro...
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Lines create depth
September 07, 2014 - We have spoken about lead in lines and depth over and over again. So why is it addressed again? The reason is simple. Am...
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Landscape does not always refer to Grandscape
March 30, 2014 - Last week we looked at composition. One of the points made was that we often like to include something of interest right...
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Composition
March 23, 2014 - Non-photographers just shoot. Photographers think about where they place what in the image. Well how do photographers mo...
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