Creative Landscapes: Digital Photography Tips and Techniques

241 Pages·2011·44.48 MB·English

by  Harold Davis

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Creative Landscapes
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Digital Photography Tips & Techniques r
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Creative Landscapes
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Ansel Adams once said, “Landscape photography Learn how to plan your shots to create great images.
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is the supreme test of the photographer, and often Then discover ways to improve your landscape photos
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the supreme disappointment.” While they may seem in the digital darkroom, using postprocessing techniques v
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easy, great landscape photographs are in fact very including HDR, multi-RAW processing, and selective Digital Photography Tips & Techniques

challenging to create. sharpening with LAB color.
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In this book, master landscape photographer Harold Here’s your chance to learn from a master of landscape a
Davis shows you how to look at the landscapes around photography while you explore your own creative style. n
you with composition, exposure, and lighting in mind. d
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L earn how to observe the landscape around you
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to create great photos
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U se exposure controls to optimize your landscape
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photography
U nderstand the best composition techniques
for landscape images
W ork with planning tools and weather to be in the D
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right place at the right time g
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U se HDR techniques to expand the creative potential a
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of your landscape photos P
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L earn to enhance your images using other digital o
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darkroom techniques o
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y

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Harold Davis is an award-winning professional photographer. ip
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He is the author of more than 30 books, including Creative
&
Lighting: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques, Creative Black &
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White: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques, and The Photoshop e
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Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations. Harold writes the h
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popular Photoblog 2.0, www.photoblog2.com. i
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Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks
HAROLD DAVIS
PHOTOGRAPHY/Techniques/General
$29.99 US/$35.99 CAN
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Creative Landscapes
Digital Photography Tips & Techniques
Harold Davis
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Creative Landscapes: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques
by Harold Davis
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
10475 Crosspoint Boulevard
Indianapolis, IN 46256
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
All photographs © Harold Davis
Published simultaneously in Canada
ISBN: 978-1-118-02732-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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4 Creative Landscapes
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Courtney Allen, Mark Brokering, Steven Christenson, Gary Cornell, Anaïs Garcia, Barry Pruett,
Sandy Smith, Matt Wagner, Mike Watson—and Julian, Nicky, Mathew, and Katie Rose, too!
Credits
Acquisitions Editor: Courtney Allen
Project Editor: Matthew Buchanan
Technical Editor: Chris Bucher
Copy Editor: Matthew Buchanan
Editorial Manager: Robyn Siesky
Business Manager: Amy Knies
Senior Marketing Manager: Sandy Smith
Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley
Vice President and Publisher: Barry Pruett
Book Designer: Phyllis Davis
Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss
Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher
▲ Front piece: In blustery weather, gray clouds gathered over the Alabama Hills of Eastern California as the sun battled to emerge. In my
bones it felt like “rainbow weather”—so I was ready with a polarizing filter on my lens when a strong rainbow did emerge.
200mm, circular polarizer, 1/200 of a second at f/7.1 and ISO 200, hand held
▲ Title page: High in the White Mountains along the California-Nevada border the eye can travel long distances. In this composition, I tried
to emphasize this sense of endless horizon by positioning the road on the right to lead the viewer up and to the left in the composition.
28mm, 1/15 of a second at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted
▲ Above and pages 10–11: As the sun came up, it lit the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the remains of an overnight storm
lingered, soon to be chased away by the warmth of the new day.
29mm, 1/50 of a second at f/8 and ISO 100, tripod mounted
▼ Page 6: Often, El Capitan seems to guard the approaches to Yosemite Valley like a stone giant—so I was pleased to stumble on a vantage
point that provides a somewhat unusual view of a “kinder, gentler” El Capitan in a composition with the Merced River in the foreground.
10.5mm digital fisheye, 1/4 of a second at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted
5
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Contents
8 Introduction 146 One World, Many Landscapes
148 Seasons and a Sense of Place
12 The Tao of Landscape
154 Earth and Sky
14 Why Landscape Photography?
160 Mountains
24 Landscape in the Modern World
166 Deserts
32 Grand Landscapes
172 Seascapes
42 Intimate Landscapes
176 People and Landscapes
46 Imaginary Landscapes
182 Refl ections
52 Abstractions and Patterns
186 The City as Landscape
60 The Landscape in Black & White 190 The Night Landscape
70 The Lonely Road
194 Landscapes and Post-Processing
76 Tools & Techniques 196 Understanding Digital Workfl ow
78 Choosing a Camera 200 The RAW Advantage
82 Lenses 202 Multi-RAW Processing
94 Using a Tripod 208 Understanding HDR
98 Exposure and Landscapes 208 HDR Software
106 Aperture and Depth-of-Field 210 Hand-HDR
218 Monochromatic Conversions
114 ISO
222 Understanding LAB Color
114 Noise and Landscape Photography
224 LAB Color and Tonal Adjustments
118 Capturing Motion
228 Selective Sharpening in LAB
124 Composition and Landscape
134 Landscapes and Lighting 234 Notes and Resources
142 Working with Weather 236 Glossary
144 Planning Tools 238 Index
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Introduction
If you’ve ever stood on the rim of a canyon and
watched the afternoon colors turn to sunset, listened
to the splash, gurgle, and roar of a river fl owing
swiftly past, or looked up at a spectacular sky to
see the clouds sailing by, you’ll understand the urge
to use photography to capture the scenery that
surrounds us. But as Ansel Adams, the great master
of landscape photography, observed, “Landscape
photography is the supreme test of the photog-
rapher, and often the supreme disappointment.”
There seems to be some sort of paradox or conundrum
in operation here. It is relatively easy to fi nd inter-
esting—or, indeed, spectacular—landscapes. Unlike
some other kinds of photography, no specialized gear
is needed to capture these landscapes. In real life,
most people are moved by sublime landscapes, and
it’s not uncommon to fi nd romantic and religious
sentiments brought out through a landscape view.
It’s easy for most people to intuitively understand
the emotional appeal of nature’s landscape.
In addition, landscape photography is not the most
specialized or technically diffi cult kind of photography.
Often, the key issue is simply being there. As Ansel
Adams put it, “Sometimes I do get to places just when
God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.”
But despite the apparent technically straightforward
aspect of landscape photography, and its easy appeal
▶ Considering the impact that Ansel Adams’s photography has had on
my life, it’s hard to photograph his beloved Yosemite Valley without
considering some of the images he’s made famous—such as the photo
of the clearing storm taken not far from where this photo was shot.
In framing this photo, I tried to keep the classic Yosemite imagery in
mind while changing the composition—by moving so I could include
the trees on the right—to add my own stamp to the photo.
20mm, 1/40 of a second at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted
8 Creative Landscapes
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Introduction 9
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