|
Landscape Photography
By Rheese Thomas 27th Nov 2002
It’s never a problem finding subject matter when taking photographs of landscapes. Fantastic scenery is all around us – you just have to get out there and get amongst it all.
Great landscape pictures don’t come about by chance, although luck is sometimes involved and you are usually glad when you have it. Once you’ve discovered an interesting scene, think of balance in the scene’s elements – trees, hills foreground to background. Think about the lighting conditions for your chosen landscape – what time of day would be best to shoot it. Think of the kind of light that will make the most dramatic picture - bright sunshine or the soft light from a cloudy sky.
Here are some tips to get you started.
Get your eye in whenever you are outside, even when you do not have your camera with you, although, being the committed photographer you are, you probably will. Try seeing potential pictures even in unsurprising and return with your camera when you think you have found a good subject.
Take a tip from the great landscape artists had a frame to use as a viewfinder. Follow their lead, and use your camera’s viewfinder to see a scene’s potential.
You may not get that great landscape shot first time round. Often when you think you’ve captured the awe inspiring beauty of a particular scene, you finally view the photograph, only to find that you’ve missed a trick of the light, your exposure wasn’t quite right and the image isn’t all that it could have been. So be prepared, if you able, to return to the scene – giving you the chance to experiment with different lighting conditions.
In bright sunlight, the lighting rule generally is to keep the sun at your side or facing you. You may have been told to keep the sun at your back, but for me this can produce extreme light and tends to flatten out the scene.
Don’t just go out in the sun though. Great landscape pictures depict the variations of nature – wintry or even stormy scene posses there own dramatic beauty. So think about taking landscapes all year round and you’ll soon build up a gallery of powerful scenes.
Get creative. If you are viewing a scene that has been over –photographed try taking few shots from a different angle.
Look for landscapes in other than obvious ‘picture postcard’ places. Also don’t limit your vision to naturalistic scenes. Urban landscapes can be just as exciting – so look around your town or city and you’ll find there are more landscape opportunities than you’d ever thought.
Photographing Animals
By Rheese Thomas 20th Feb 2003
Photographing Animals
Know Your Subject
Photographing animals, whether your cat or dog at home or a bird outdoors, needs patience, perseverance and an understanding of animal behaviour so you can predict how they will be likely to act or react, and anticipate the moment for a good photograph.
If you think about an animal's character in the same way you do when you take pictures of people, you’ll be on the right track. Make sure you know what you want your images to say about the animal before you begin.
Be Patient
Patience applies equally when photographing wild and domestic animals. The phrase “never work with children or animals” may well be good advice, as when taking pictures of animals, you can count on their unpredictable nature. Getting your subject to sit and look into the camera will be (in most cases) will be near impossible. Your best plan is to follow the actions of the animal, and if you stick it out you get a great shot of them behaving naturally, which can produce some amazing results.
Get some practice in
If you are planning a trip into the hills to take pictures of the furry, scaled or feathered friends there, it is a good idea to practice first.
The zoo or wildlife park is an ideal place to begin as you can safely study the animal’s behaviour and you will have an idea of what to expect when you confront them in a natural setting. Maybe a friendly farmer might allow you to take some pictures of the animals on a farm near you.
See how the pro’s do it – you local library and the Internet will give you information on how professional animal/wildlife photographers get their amazing pictures.
|
|
