52-week challenge: The wanna-be (traditional) landscape photographer on the hunt
For the Dogwood 52 week photo challenge: Traditional landscape, paying attention to foreground and the sky. Hate to say it, but a lot of sharpness and quality has been lost on upload!!!!!
Finally more time today, so I actually drove around a bit to find a landscape to photograph. Luckily, here in Germany you don't have to go far :) And... I completely got the point of actually doing a challenge like this and not dismissing some of the weeks thinking "oh, I can do that!". I made so many mistakes today, took so many shots that did not work at the end etc etc... Hat off for the landscape photographers!!!!
Lessons learned:
1. Landscape photography takes TIME!
2. Leg zoom is SLOW!
3. You cannot outrun fast-moving sunlight.
4. You cannot wait forever for slow-moving clouds.
5. Check your camera settings BEFORE taking 30 pictures! Otherwise your ISO might be at the value you used last night for indoor shooting without light.
6. Dirt in the fields is DIRTY!
7. If you point your camera at the sky, make sure you clean the lens beforehand!
8. Etc... etc... etc.... This challenge seems to be working.
Thank you for visiting! Any comments and critique will be highly appreciated!!!!
I put my ISO on auto and only change it with special photos. Lovely to see this castle away up that steep hill - they liked to build them there, didn't they - pour boiling oil on to marauders!
Hi Vera, I had a look at the Dogwood list & thought it very well thought out. I once attended a photo-journalism workshop that discussed the effect focal length compression has on the viewer's perception of a 'being there' image compared with 'observational'. It took me a while to understand my instinct was to focus on detail, focus & texture in images without too much appreciation for artistic 'form'. Landscapes are indeed challenging! http://www.photoreview.com.au/tips/shooting/lenses-for-landscape-photography is interesting reading. I work now to shoot landscapes from down low, as wide as possible, (which gives the opportunity to have a feature in the foreground in focus so the viewer's eye can travel from foreground through to the vista )
I am not sure I have made much sense here. :-D
@ltodd Thank you so much for your input - great points to think about and pay attention to next time a landscape comes around. I will definitely look into the link you shared, and yes - I did figure out today, landscapes are tricky and also time-consuming, and need a better planning. Thanks for your comment!
This is wonderful Vera. Love the different colours and structures of the vineyards and your comp. When I had loss of sharpness upon upload (often with landscapes), I resharpened a hue in picmonkey. Sometimes it worked, sometimes not.
I love your list. and your leg-zoom took you to a wonderful spot where the lines of the fields and roads zig zag through the picture pleasingly. I also really like the castle and house below together in the same picture looking at each other. I could go on because there is so much to look at in this picture.
Some good points there Vera, and Lyn @ltodd very interesting to read your helpful comments too. Think your shot might be a good example of counterpoint which I was reading about recently after someone brought it up here. Really like the light on the house echoing the castle. I find landscapes such a struggle so I think the 52wk challenge will be good for making me have a go. (No good at portraits either eek :))
January 16th, 2016
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the patches of colour here are gorgeous
I am not sure I have made much sense here. :-D