Intimate landscape (28)

Requirement

4 images

Purpose

To explore close order compsitions of nature

Technical learning

• A common defintion of landscapes is that they go all the way to the horizon
• Even so, some argue that more selective views, even close-ups, fall within scope (see Intimate Landscapes, by Eliot Porter)

Intimate Landscapes, Eliot Porter

Each simple, but compelling, compositions of the texture, colours and shapes of nature

Colorful trees.
Newfound Gap Road,
Great Smoky Mountains National Park,
Tennesee. October, 1967

Foxtail grass,
Lake City, Colorado. August, 1957

Redbud trees in bottomland,
Near Red River Gorge
Kentucky. April 17, 1968 

Rock-eroded stream bed.
Coyote Gulch,
Utah. August 14, 197y

Shadbush. Near Hillsborough,
New Hampshire. April 28, 1957

Stones and cracked mud.
Black Place, New Mexico. June 9, 1977

Exercise instructions

• Produce 3 to 4 images of this type (i.e. no horizon)

Images and review

Molesey Weir, Surrey, July 12

Inspired by Toshio Shibata. The water acquires
a treacle like consistency yet still conveys
the violence of its rushing through the weir.
Taken with a ND 3 stop with smallest aperture
available on my 28mm/300mm everyday
lens at ISO 1000.

Rock strata, Sandymouth, Devon, April 12

This exposed section of cliff shows the erosion
of wind and wave on rock as well
tells part of the history of
how the rock came to be

Chopped wood, Alps, Apr 2010

Texture rather than colour is the
key feature of this neatly stacked pile of wood.
So B&W and sharpening the pixels
to bring out the saw marks. 

Rolling hills, nr Gittisham, Devon, June 12

Taken under overcast skies, the peaceful 
greens of the Devon hills

Poppy fields, Upavon, Wiltshire, June 12

Let me take you down
'cos I'm goin to...Poppy Fields For Ever

Sidmouth beach, just after a spell of rain, June 12

Seemed to capture the mood of life on the
beach better than a horizon shot, as
well contrast between shingle and
sand

Wheat field, Salisbury Plain, June 2012

Wind blown wheat,
motion blur to convey effect

Field on Salisbury Plain, May 2012

Rings of seedlings in spring

View from a lay-by on A 303, Wiltshire, September 2011

Again taken in overcast conditions, shows
the textures of farmed landscape, where
the planes fold into one another

By the light of the moon (27)

Requirement

Several images

Purpose

To work out the exposure as well as to to discover how the quality of moonlight differs from sunlight

Technical learning

• Very different to photographing the sun or in sunlight as well as the moon itself
• Anything less than a full moon almost certainly will produce an unsatisfactory result
• Light intensity is c 20 stops less than in sunlight (e.g. an exposure of ISO 100, f16, 1/250 in sunlight would translate in to   - ISO 800 (3 stops) + f2.8 (4 stops) + x minutes at 32 seconds
• Nevertheless, bracket to allow for fluctuation in light levels and inaccuracy in reciprocity (of duration and light intensity)
• Although the human eye under moonlight sees strongly desaturated colours, the sensor will pick up the natural colours of the scene, creating an 'unreal' scene

Exercise instructions

• Shoot a scene under moonlight, using a tripod and cable release
• Bracket shutter speed to finesse  exposure
• Examine the results

Images and review

Exercise not attempted

Shooting the moon (26)

Requirement

1 image

Purpose

To develop technique in shooting successful images of the moon

Technical learning

• 2 options for using the moon in a landscape: (a) include it in the image by shooting towards it and (b) use moonlight as an illumination
• Brightness of the moon, like the sun, depends on the state of the atmosphere, including the presence of haze or cloud. Use a spot meter to measure brightness, although bracketing is a useful precaution
• The urban light that often balances exposure of moon shots is generally absent in natural landscape after dark. So, shooting at dusk or dawn works better in showing some other landscape features and recognisable silhouettes
• Use the most powerful telephoto lens available (preferably at least 400mm), otherwise the moon will appear too insignificant.
• On the first night the full moon it rises directly opposite the sun at the time at which it sets. Every following night, it rises about 1 hour later (i.e. 24 hours/ 28 days of the lunar cycle)

Exercise instructions

• Pick an interesting horizon line at full moon around dusk
• Shoot at least one image of the moon

Images and review

Full moon over London Bridge

Full moon taken opportunistically with a compact camera. So, the definition of
the moon is weaker than I would like.
However, I like the composition, especially
the balance between the moon and
the buildings

Full moon over Lake Zurich, June 10

Again I like the composition except
its sharpness, especially of the moon
itself. Smaller aperture would have
improved the result.

Snow (25)

Requirement

Images showing different lighting conditions 

Purpose

To practice adjusting exposure and exploring contrast in snow conditions

Technical learning

• As with beaches, snow scenes are at the extreme end of brightness

As a result, 4 key features

• Shadow fill: powerful fill-in of shadows by reflected light 
• Backgrounds: bright backgrounds so that many of the issues arising when shooting into sunlight, or bright reflected sunlit scenes, apply (see Project 20)
• Contrast: varies between low in overcast, twilight conditions and high in direct sunlight
• Exposure: needs, typically a +1 or +2 stop compensation, for the averaging around neutral grey of reflected light meters, else snow will be rendered a muddy grey colour

Exercise instructions

• Take the opportunity of fresh snowfall and good weather to shoot as many treatments as possible of snow scenes.

Images and review

Fog

Overcast

Partly cloudy

Bright light

Clouds and sky (24)

Requirement

6 to 12 images

Purpose

• To explore the role that sky and clouds can play in composition
• To practice managing exposure in different light conditions

Technical learning

In summary, clouds:

• are the most visible component of weather
• are significant in defining landscape mood 
• are the most important element in creating the quality of daylight
• come in several types (nimbus, cumulus, etc) and even more permutations
• present a challenge to the dynamic range of the camera sensor

Working beyond the limits of your camera's dynamic range - measures

• RAW: shoot RAW, expose for the sky, lighten the land in post-production
• Bracketing: take reflected light readings of highlights and shadows separately, bracket images across the gap in exposure between the two, blend in post-production in PS or a HDR application 
• ND Grad Filter: as with meter readings for bracketing, but use then use a ND Grad Filter of sufficient strength to compress brightness of sky and land. (0.3 = 1 stop, 0.6 = 2 stops, etc)

Crude reckoner of exposure change between cloud conditions (NB not between land  and sky in those conditions)

• Heavily overcast - baseline
• Moderately overcast - + 1 stop
• Cloudy, but bright - + 2 stops
• Thin, high cloud - + 2.5 stops
• Heavy haze - + 3 stops
• Clear sky - + 4 stops

Overcast conditions (i.e. the sun is not visible)

• On the one hand, soft light produces generally shadowless scenes (except where one object casts a shadow on a close neighbour) and so drains the landscape of 'expression'. It reduces modelling of shapes, perspective and texture so making the image look flat.
• On the other hand, soft light has 2 important uses: (a) it can clarify the detail of complex subjects, otherwise masked by shadows thrown in brighter conditions, and (b) it enables reflective surfaces to produce clearer images (i.e. without the specular highlights and glare from the sun).
• Nevertheless, overcast conditions increase the contrast of tones between sky and land (compared to clear skies, the brightness of the sky falls less than that of the land). Consequently, subject to the dynamic range of your camera, if the land is exposed correctly, the sky will be burnt-out. 

Broken cloud

• Often creates interesting, even dramatic lighting, especially when the weather is changing
• Most unpredictable environment, however, particularly when (a) the sky has different layers or types of clouds, (b) conditions are windy and (c) when weather fronts collide
• Must be prepared to react quickly to changing conditions

Clear skies

• See Project 20 for the discussion of sun stars, silhouettes and reflections

Exercise instructions

• Create 6 to 12 images in which the sky dominates with different cloud conditions
• Ensure each image also works as a landscape image

Images and review

Stormbringer

Kilchberg, CH, 2010

Sun Ray

Kilchberg, CH, 2010

Fireball

Bushy Park, 2012

Meteor Cloud

Egetswil, CH, 2010

Vapour Trails

Chertsey Lock, River Thames

Deep Blue

Army Camp, Salisbury Plain, 2012

Soft light (23)

Requirement

3 images

Purpose

To show how to use overcast conditions to best effect

Technical learning

• Overcast skies soften the light falling on landscapes
• Soft light favours particularly (a) rendering the colour green and (b) highlighting details that glare would otherwise suppress (e.g. detail in branches)
• Typically, overcast skies are featureless, so consider (a) eliminating most of it by composition and/or (b) using a ND grad filter to darken.

Exercise instructions

• Produce 3 strong images in overcast conditions

Images and review

Devon Greens

View near Honiton
Overcast summer's day

Wiltshire Greens

View near Widdington
Overcast conditions reduce contrast

Poppy field

Soft light brings out the detail
of the flower and stalks

Positioning the sun (22)

Requirement

3/4 images

Purpose

Show how to shoot into the sun whilst keeping an acceptable level of detail in the rest of image.

Technical learning

Keeping some detail in a scene backlit by the sun can be achieved by:

• Using a barrier, such as foliage, to shield the impact of the sun (adjusting viewpoint, up or down, side to side) to reduce its darkening effect on the rest of the image, and 
• Placing the sun towards the edge of the frame with the area of greatest foreground interest on the other side.

Exercise instructions

• Use a wide angle lens
• Keep the sun to one side of the frame with the scene on the other side
• Move the camera up and down and side to side to adjust the brightness of the sun
• Take 3/4 shots with the sun obscured by different amounts

Images and review

Back garden on a sunny evening, September 2012

Well defined star
Fish eye lens (15mm), smallest aperture (f22)

Poorly defined star
Fish eye lens (15mm), widest aperture (f2.8)

Best defined sun star
Wide angle (28mm), smallest aperture (f22)

Poorly defined star
Wide angle lens (28mm), widest aperture (f3.5)

The larger size of the sun in the wide angle lens creates the more impressive star compared to the fish eye.




A view near Benahavis in Southern Spain, September 2010

More sunlight, darker foreground

More foreground detail

Best balance of 3 images: sun star
effect still maintained, minimal flare
(could easily be removed in PS) and
more detail in foreground.

The course emphasis on sun star effects seems overdone. Useful to know the technique. Yet I have limited interest in using it.