ACHIEVING GREAT OUTDOOR IMAGES
By David Gafney
Maple trees
line a dirt road in October Mountain State Forest, Massachusetts. A
telephoto lens can compress objects within a landscape. Nikon 6006 camera
with 75-300 mm Sigma zoom telephoto lens set at approximately 200 mm; f/16 at ½
second; Fuji Velvia (50 ISO) slide film.
PART 2 - Composing
the Image - Some Tricks of the Trade
The techniques discussed here are not particularly difficult to
understand or master.
Forest of yellow poplars, Nantahala National Forest, North
Carolina
[Tip #10]
Don't Just Stand There, Lie Down!
Don't be afraid to reposition yourself. Lie down if you have to. Even if others are present and it is somewhat embarrassing. See if they are still snickering when you win the Pulitzer Prize!
Maple leaf on rock outcrop in Beartown State Forest,
Massachusetts
[Tip # 11] Keep it Simple!
Sometimes the
simplest themes can be the most inspiring.
A single
autumn maple leaf on a rock may hold more magic then a million such leaves
spread out over the forest floor.
Capturing the
simple subjects is often a function of using a zoom telephoto lens and
conditioning yourself to becoming alert to, or conscious of, the small subjects
or subtle compositions that others might pass by.
A
zoom telephoto lens allows greater flexibility in composing the image by
allowing you to zoom in on the primary subject while excluding the surrounding
clutter.
And this is particularly important when the
goal is to focus the viewer's attention on the central theme, while drawing
attention away from the visual chaos that surrounds it.
In the photograph below of a paper birch growing along the Appalachian
Trail in the Green Mountain National Forest of Vermont, a 70-300 mm zoom
telephoto lens was used, set at about 100 mm.
The
birch stem is framed by bronze-colored beech leaves that tend to hang on the
trees through much of the winter, long after leaf fall has stripped the foliage
from other tree species.
On a day-long hike through
a forest of thousands of trees, a single birch stem framed by a few dead beech
leaves was more visually interesting than anything else I had seen and I am not
sure that I can articulate or even understand why.
It is important to understand the concept that “less is more” and avoid the
clutter of subjects that can fail to focus the viewer’s attention on that which
should be the most important component of the image.
In New England, the post-autumn period of late October and early November can provide more subtle coloration than exists during the foliage peak of mid-October. After the brilliant fall colors have begun to fade, there is a certain magic in the period of somber “earth tones” that follows.
Birch tree photographed in Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest (#AT0022)
Rainbow Lake
on the Appalachian Trail, Maine
[Tip # 12]
Landscape Composition
-The Use of Interchangeable Lenses
I tend to carry two zoom lenses covering most of the focal range from 24
to 300 mm (a 24-50 mm zoom lens and a 70-300 mm telephoto zoom).
These allow a great deal of flexibility in composing an image, while also
providing the convenience of having to carry only two lenses.
Being able to minimize the amount of photographic equipment you carry
matters greatly on forays deep into the backcountry and can make even a two-hour
hike more pleasant when the load in your pack is light.
The image above and the two images below of Rainbow Lake were shot from the same spot on the Appalachian Trail deep in the wilds of northwestern Maine. All three shots are of the same subject photographed from the same location. The image above was shot with a 70-300 mm telephoto lens set at 200 mm, while the image below (left) was shot with a 24-50 mm lens set at 24 mm. The image below (right) excludes everything except part of the foliage reflected in the lake and was shot with a 70-300 mm telephoto zoom lens set at 300 mm. Three very different compositions shot of the same subject from the same place. It's great to have a range of options and that is exactly what the two zoom lenses mentioned above provide!
Two more images of Rainbow Lake, Maine. Left: photographed with 24-50 mm zoom lens set at 24 mm (#AT0037). Right: photographed with 70-300 mm zoom telephoto set at 300 mm to crop out everything except part of the foliage reflected in the lake (#AT0038).
Other books and e-books by David Gafney:
Berkshire Autumn: Congregational Church in Lee, Massachusetts
[Tip # 13] Exclude the Clutter!
A zoom telephoto lens can sometimes
work miracles.
The ability to zoom from one focal
length to another adds greatly to a photographer’s versatility in the effort to
weave shapes and forms into a striking design.
It is
possible, for example, with such a lens to exclude unwanted features from the
landscape.
The image above was shot from the
upstairs bedroom window of my mother’s house in Lee, Massachusetts using a
70-300 mm zoom telephoto lens.
By “zooming in” to
300 mm, telephone lines that were strung just above the image’s field of view,
and the roof of the neighbor’s house that lay just below the framed view could
be “cropped out.”
The artifacts of suburbia were
eliminated allowing for a more countrified New England scene. A telephoto lens
also serves to compress features within the landscape.
Here, the forested mountain backdrop is “brought closer” to church and
steeple.
A friend once observed that when I photograph churches I tend to have them dwarfed by wild nature. He inquired as to what was the deep psychological significance behind this. My answer is that “I’m not really sure.” I do know that a zoom telephoto lens allows for greater creativity in composing an image by allowing you to zero in on the subjects you want included and cropping out those that you don’t.
Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee
[Tip # 14] Hey, Don’t Center That Subject!
In
my home area, the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, it is possible to
stand on a ridge top and see row upon row of mountains spreading out to the
horizon.
All of them are blanketed in a lush forest
of oak, maple, beech, birch and hemlock.
The natural
inclination is to simply raise your camera and push the shutter release.
But such views deserve more thought and more effort.
Most books on photographic technique include a segment on the
"rule
of thirds."
Under this, imagined lines both vertical and horizontal divide the
field of view into a tic-tac-toe pattern.
In the
image above of Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the low
lying clouds occupy the upper third of the image; the forested mountains
comprise the middle third; and the meadows of the valley floor comprise the
lower third. The barn lies within the left third of the
"tic-tac-toe" pattern. The premise behind the rule of thirds is
that the photograph is more visually interesting if the subject is not centered,
but rather placed to one side or the other of the image.
I am not sure if I ever consciously followed the rule of thirds.
When I compose or frame an image, what I like and don't like in terms of
composition arises out of some internal intuition.
However I am including the rule of thirds here, because when you are starting
out, it is good to get out of the habit of always centering your subject.
Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a photographer’s paradise - a valley completely surrounded by mountains that are 3500 to 5500 feet in elevation. The floor of the cove is a matrix of woodland and meadow that is rich in deer, bear, wild turkey and other wildlife. As “frosting on the cake” a number of historic structures have been preserved including churches, log cabins, barns and a gristmill. While working for the National Park Service, I spent one summer living in Cades Cove. Frequently, during the evening, I was serenaded by the howls of red wolves that had been reintroduced into the area. A Nikon 8008s camera with 70-300 mm zoom telephoto lens set at 200 mm was used; Fujichrome 50 film used.
View from the summit of Mt. Camerer on the Appalachian Trail, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tennessee (#AT0012)
The
Rule of Triangles: Some of the recent writers in photographic
magazines have veered slightly away from the rule of 3rds and are suggesting
that rather then dividing your image into thirds, you should envision an "x"
super-imposed upon the view.
Such an image would be
divided into four triangles.
The subject, whether it
is a building, a rock outcrop or a hiker, should be placed within one of these
triangles.
This is simply another technique to
instill the idea that the subject should be placed off center, and in doing this
you lend artistic balance between the subject and the surrounding landscape.
In the image above, a 24 mm wide-angle lens was used to capture the
sweeping wild scenery from the summit of Mt. Camerer in the northern part of the
Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
A rock outcrop
neatly fitting into the lower "triangle" of the image makes the photograph more
interesting and lends a sense of depth to this landscape composition.
It was shot with a 24 mm wide-angle lens stopped down to F/22 for maximum
depth of field, which required the slow shutter speed of 1/4th
second.
This, in turn, required the use of a tripod.
On a 460-mile hike that started at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail and ended in southwestern Virginia, I walked through four national forests and the magnificent Great Smoky Mountains National Park - more than three million acres of wild land in what is supposed to be the settled, populated East. Mt. Camerer is the last mountain the A.T. crosses before it leaves the national park.
A grove of
yellow poplars in the Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee
(#AT0039)
[Tip # 15] Find Some Order in the Chaos of Nature!
One year I drove many miles of
roads that meandered through the valleys and coves of the Great Smoky Mountains
in Tennessee.
It was October, and the mountains were
incredible with a kaleidoscope of autumn colors.
Yet
through the miles of travel, it was one woodland that caught my eye and caused
me to pull over for a photographic effort.
It seemed
to be the one place where, rather than a jumbled forested exuberance spreading
through ravines and hollows, all the trees were perfectly straight - a place of
order in the wild chaos of the seemingly endless Appalachian woods.
This particular grove was composed almost entirely of yellow poplars, a
tree species that is characterized by straight and branchless stems.
The shot was taken with a 24 mm wide-angle lens, set at f/16 and a
shutter speed of 1/2 second.
Some writers argue that finding order in chaotic nature leads to
photographic images that appear contrived.
One
photographer, whom I greatly respect, has written that he seldom shoots in the
heavily forested areas of the eastern United States because of the chaotic
nature of the environment there and the difficulty of capturing the "feel" of a
densely forested area. Normal and telephoto lenses don't capture enough of
the majesty of the forest, while wide-angle lenses shrink stately trees to
insignificance. These statements, however, always surprise me.
I have spent a good portion of my life shooting in the densely forested
regions of the eastern United States.
I see the
eastern deciduous forests as a veritable fountainhead of photographic subjects
and opportunities.
In fact, in my opinion, one of
the most beautifully illustrated coffee table books ever published is simply
entitled Forests and features the woodland photography of
Tim Fitzharris.
In such a chaotic, jumbled place a
little order here and there is something not to see as “contrived” but rather as
unique and unusual, and therefore, highly interesting as a photographic subject.
Become sensitized to the unusual patterns in nature - a stand of perfectly straight trees in an otherwise chaotic forest or a near perfect circle of fern fronds growing from the otherwise random scattering of plants and leaf litter of a forest floor.
Left:
Badwater, on the floor of Death Valley,
California
(#NP0006); Right:
Sunset on Laurel Lake in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts
[Tip # 16] Keep Yourself Inspired: Never Stop Looking at the Work of Others!
In
1988, while browsing my way through a bookstore in Harvard Square, I came upon
Mountain Light, a coffee table book by Galen Rowell
published by Sierra Club Press.
Such books seldom
“blow-me-away” but this one had exactly that effect.
Not only were the images spectacular, but up until then, almost all coffee table
books were done by photographers shooting with large or medium format cameras.
Galen is strictly a 35 mm guy.
Yet the large
color images were perfectly sharp, and with the lack of “graininess” and the
kind of color saturation that was once the exclusive domain of the big format
photographers.
The message that came through to me
was that advances in the technology of printing, combined with the development
of new high quality fine-grained films, has allowed 35 mm photography with its
accompanying convenience of size and its advantage of greater versatility, to
now encroach into what had been the exclusive domain of the large format
photographers - calendars, posters and coffee table books.
Additionally, what highly impressed me was that Galen was “spilling the
beans” – explaining the techniques that he used to achieve these images!
Earlier generations of photographers tended to guard their knowledge of
photographic technique as if revealing such information would threaten national
security.
Despite being a poor graduate student at
the time, an irresistible force caused me to reach deep into my pocket for the
cash to purchase this book.
This is a simple, yet important, tip. To develop an eye for composing powerful photographic images, take the time to look at the work of others. Spend time at your local bookstore or library. Get on-line and browse the growing number of photography web pages (some photography schools go further and have their students study the works of the great landscape artists, such as the nineteenth century paintings of the Hudson River school). Analyze which images have a real impact on you and which ones don’t. When you see a great photograph, part of the process should be to think about what kind of lens was used, what time of day was the photograph taken, how much depth of field was achieved or not achieved (and whether it matters), and what kind of film did the photographer use. Think about the exposure variables of shutter speed and f-stop. If the photographer provides information on all of these variables, great! If he or she doesn’t – try to figure it out. What would you have done with the same photographic opportunity?
Housatonic River, Stockbridge, Massachusetts
[Tip # 17]
Keep Going Back To a Favorite Subject or Place
Not far from where I live in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, there is an old railroad bridge that spans the Housatonic River. The view from the bridge encompasses the river as it flows beneath the forested slope of Monument Mountain. It is a place and a subject that excites me enough to cause me to keep returning in different seasons and under different lighting and weather conditions. The weathered, rough wood of the bridge combines with the converging of the curving tracks and river to create an image that, for whatever reason, has an impact on me. Maybe it’s the romantic significance of railroad tracks and the movement and travel that they represent or maybe it’s the tracks being the only man-made infringement upon an otherwise wild view of mountain and forest and free-flowing river. I can easily spend an hour in that place composing and re-composing and fiddling with my camera - losing all sense of time. The sound of the flowing river lends further to a peace of mind and a temporary relief from the stresses of the day. Probably, not far from where you live there is a place that holds some magic for you. Visit it frequently in different seasons and under different lighting and weather conditions. Your chances of capturing an exceptional image will increase, and even if you never achieve a photographic masterpiece, it will still be good for your mental and spiritual health.
You are welcome to share this eBook with your friends. It may be freely distributed, reposted, reprinted and shared, provided it appears in its entirety, without alteration, and the reader is not charged to access it. Please pass it on!
Remember to "Bookmark" this page so you can easily return to it.
Other books and e-books by David Gafney:
BACK TO CONTENTS PAGE GO TO NEXT LESSON
©
50
Tips to Great Outdoor Images by David Gafney,
2010