Kitabı oku: «Collins Complete Photography Projects», sayfa 4

PROJECT 2: WOODLAND AND WEATHER

There’s a tendency to think that bright sunlight and strong colours are the ideal conditions in which to take attention-grabbing landscape photographs, but this is far from the truth.

One apparently fine spring morning I set out to photograph some bluebells – but luckily I had packed wet-weather gear, for after I had been walking and shooting for half an hour the weather turned bad. Rather than race back to the car, I covered the camera with a plastic bag and hid under the small umbrella I had with me. I also had a large plastic bin bag so that I didn’t have to kneel on the wet ground. I kept shooting, the rain smudged the details in the woods and it looked great. I had to mop the camera often with tissues, but it survived the session.

It was a poor season as far as bluebells were concerned, but a photographer who has travelled to a certain spot in search of a picture has to make the best of what he or she can find. This was where a telephoto lens and a low angle could help – the flattened perspective that the lens gave meant that I was able to compress the bluebells and make them look more dense than they actually were.

The first picture for this assignment is a rainy-day landscape such as some woodland. Put on your wet-weather gear, cover your camera and use the rain to capture the atmosphere – here you are looking for misty effects rather than angles of light.

For the second task, shoot with both front and rear focus using a wide aperture such as f4 or f5.6, then focus in the middle of the subject, stop the aperture down to about f16 and get the whole scene in focus. There’s no better way of gaining an almost instinctive grasp of the aperture that will give you what you want. If you have a telephoto lens, use it for this project as it will emphasize the shallow-focus effect.

By focusing on the flowers in the foreground I have created a descriptive shot which has the emphasis on the bluebells, showing that they are in a woodland setting. The long telephoto setting on the zoom at widest aperture has enabled me to isolate the flowers in the foreground and throw the rest out of focus. You may not find flowers in your woodland, but leaves, mushrooms, pine cones and so on will perform the same function of giving your own shot something of interest in the foreground. Camera on tripod, 1/80 second at f5.6, 200mm, 400 ISO. GH

Changing the focus to the trees in the background has altered the mood of the picture completely. Now we have a woodland scene with a blush of flower colour in the foreground leading the eye to the trees beyond. Once again the telephoto lens has done its job, this time throwing the bluebells out of focus and emphasizing the background. As the foreground is now out of focus and is no longer the main point of the shot it should not occupy too much of the picture, so tilt the camera upwards slightly to place it lower in the frame. Camera on tripod, 1/80 second at f5.6, 200mm, 400 ISO. GH

SHOOTING IN THE RAIN

Weather conditions can greatly affect the way our pictures look. This photograph was taken in the pouring rain, giving it a soft, dreamy quality, very atmospheric and quite like an Impressionist painting. Use a slower speed to prevent the raindrops being sharply caught, turning them into a mist instead. 1/8 second at f8, 40mm, ISO 400. GH

SUNLIT WOODLAND

Later in the afternoon the weather improved and the sun came out. This is remarkably different from the rainy picture; it’s just a nice shot of the woodland that doesn’t evoke any atmosphere, whereas the other is more a work of art, with a much greater degree of interest to be found in it. Although good weather may be more comfortable to work in it doesn’t necessarily produce the most eye-catching shots, so be prepared to get a bit wet and cold sometimes. 1/200 second at f8, 46mm, ISO 400. GH

PROJECT 3: THE MAGIC OF LIGHT

Throughout the book, we talk about light as that magic ingredient. Staying with friends in Provence, I was lucky enough to have a bedroom that looked over the hills to the Mediterranean Sea. This view provided a perfect demonstration of how light transforms a landscape.

This is a good project to do on holiday when your time is your own and the chances are you will have some beautiful countryside or seaside to shoot. Find a landscape you like near where you are staying and photograph it in different light conditions. The most interesting light will probably prove to be in early morning or late afternoon, or during stormy weather conditions.

On a fine day, it’s a good idea to start at dawn, taking shots periodically as the light gets stronger and the sun rises. The light will be clear, and there will be long shadows because of the low angle of the sun. Around midday, when the sun is directly overhead, shadows will be minimal, the light will be harsher and generally speaking there is less of interest for the photographer until the shadows of late afternoon lengthen, giving graphic shapes. As the day moves into evening, the reddening of the sky caused by atmospheric conditions creates a warm, mellow light quite different from that of early morning.

You can manipulate the colour balance either in the camera using WB or with the computer, but the highlights and shadows in the picture may make it obvious that the picture was not shot at the time the colour implies. It is better to let the natural time of day provide the colour balance.

Stormy weather will give you the drama of strong tonal contrasts, with heavy cloud and gleams of sun lighting up parts of the landscape. Where the clouds are scudding fast, you’ll be able to get a range of shots showing different light in a very short space of time. Don’t forget to take some sky shots – they may be useful for Photoshopping into another scene where the sky isn’t so interesting.

THE BASIC SHOT

This is the view from my room on an overcast day. It’s flat and grey, lacking in interest, and I only shot the picture to use as an example here. While extra shots don’t cost anything on a digital camera, it’s still worth exercising some discipline as you would be more inclined to do if you were paying for film and processing: they still have to be sorted through and thrown away, and it’s far better to just keep your finger off the shutter release button and wait for a more interesting shot. 1/500 second at f8, 105mm, 400 ISO. JG

THE LANDSCAPE AT DAWN

This is a dawn view out of the window. The light is now quite romantic and worth a picture, but this doesn’t make the grade as a really strong landscape shot; the composition lacks interest and there’s nothing in particular to catch the viewer’s eye. Given a broad view like this, look for interesting areas within it rather than just letting it fill your frame. 1/20 second at f5.3, 105mm, 800 ISO. JG

LIGHT AND COMPOSITION COME TOGETHER

The next night was stormy with dark cloud cover; the sun was piercing through the clouds and the sea looked as though it had been lit from on high with huge spotlights. The magic of light had transformed that view into a spectacular landscape. I used a neutral density graduated filter to keep the clouds dark and underexposed by –1½ stops to help the highlights stand out from the darker water. This is also an example of how to pick out one small area to make a beautiful picture; I used my longest telephoto setting to find the most interesting part of the landscape and discovered a rhythm in the contours of the hills. Using a wide angle to get everything in is tempting when you have a lovely scene occupying your vision, but it just reproduces a view rather than making a strong image. 1/3200 second at f8, 200mm, 400 ISO. JG

PROJECT 4: GARDENS

The great outdoors can be closer than you think, so don’t feel you have to go traipsing over the countryside to find some satisfying pictures – they may be right around the corner.

Keep your eyes peeled when you are out and about, since there will be images to be had close by; familiarity often blinds us to possibilities. You may have a garden of your own that you find quite mundane, but a set of three pictures taken at different times of day and framed together may give a more interesting look than you could easily obtain from a single shot; alternatively, try a single plant photographed at three stages from bud to full bloom and then skeletal seedhead.

For this project, see how many different approaches you can take to a single planting of flowers, trying close ups and more straightforward views. Secondly, shoot a garden in the evening and try to capture that magic time when the flowers glow in the dusk. Take a series as the light falls, using a stable surface such as a table on which to rest your camera if you don’t have a tripod. Choose the best, and if it lacks the colour and glow you are looking for, make some digital adjustments (see Hue and Saturation).

FINDING THE SUBJECT

Walking in my neighbourhood, I found myself in an unfamiliar street and passed this beautiful display of poppies. Here was a neat suburban house, but when I looked into the garden I was able to find pictures that could have been made in the countryside. A portrait of the owner leaning out of the window would have looked great, but unfortunately there was no one at home. Keeping your eyes peeled for a shot always brings rewards, even if you are in apparently unpromising surroundings. 1/500 second at f5.6, 22mm, 400 ISO. GH

ISOLATING A FLOWER

Here I zoomed to telephoto and placed a flower in the centre of the frame. I used a wide aperture to isolate it, with the flowers in the foreground and background thrown out of focus. When you focus on a particular flower in this way, make sure it’s an undamaged one – it’s surprising how the eye can overlook signs of caterpillar damage, for example, which will be the first thing the viewer sees in the photograph. 1/250 second at f5.3, 95mm, 400 ISO. GH

POST-PRODUCTION ADJUSTMENT

This is my interpretation of the poppies – as you can see from the other pictures, they were actually bright red. A botanist would probably hate this, but I was after an artistic impression rather than reality. I cropped the photograph into a square then played about with the Hue and Saturation sliders in the Lightroom Develop module, decreasing the red, green and yellow to make a more muted picture. If you’re photographing flowers for identification they obviously have to look like they do in reality, but for your own creative purposes you can choose to influence their colour. 1/160 second at f6.7, 65mm, 400 ISO. GH

MIDDAY GARDEN

This picture shows how my garden looks in the middle of the day, with soft, cloudy light, normal colour and tones as you would expect in the middle of the summer. 1/125 second at f8, 5.2mm compact camera, 200 ISO. GH

THE GARDEN AT DUSK

As the daylight faded and was replaced by the soft light just before dark, everything seemed to have a bluish-purple glow. I set my camera on the tripod to try to capture that. The pictures certainly look different to the daylight one – they are darker, with more contrast, and look like an evening shot, but they don’t have that magic glow. 1 second at f6.7, 5.2mm compact camera, 400 ISO. GH

PROJECT 5: FINDING THE COMPOSITION

Establishing a strong composition can be a progressive thing; I often take several pictures where the elements are present but they are just not working together to make a really good landscape.

I know it is there somewhere and I just keep moving and looking until it all comes together for me. This takes perseverance and concentration, and often that last special element to complete the composition has to be waited for as it might be a cloud or a shaft of light. Sometimes you just have to be very patient.

For this assignment, take a black and white photograph. Find a landscape that has one strong feature, such as a great sky, then move around looking for a strong shape to put in the foreground to balance the composition. Conversely, find a beautiful foreground subject then explore different angles until you find a background that is sympathetic to it.

THE START POINT

I first spotted this mountain with the summit framed in a circular-shaped cloud – very promising, but not really enough. For your own project, you can choose any feature that appeals to you and then build on that. JG

FINDING A SECOND ELEMENT

About 100m (110yd) to my left I found the church spire, also an interesting element. I then tried to get myself into a position where the two elements came together. You may strike lucky and find a suitable element in just the right place, but it’s more likely you’ll have to move your position and rethink the angle from which you will shoot your main feature. JG

THE FINAL COMPOSITION

I was anxious to get the shot before the light and the cloud changed, but I was aware that I was looking at a series of triangles and shifted my position until they all made a pattern that I found pleasing. My final decision was to wait for the white cloud to move behind the church spire to isolate the cross. I set the camera to black and white and used a polarizing filter to darken the blue sky.

This composition is perfect for me – in fact it’s one of my favourite landscapes. The cloud looks as if it has been painted in, rather like the backdrop in some old movie. Even in a beautiful place like Chamonix in the French Alps you have to put the work in, so keep on looking for strong patterns and juxtapositions of shapes until you are satisfied that you have made the photograph as interesting as you can. 1/1500 second at f8, 100mm, 400 ISO. JG

WEATHERED BARN

I love the old barns in Pennsylvania, and here the angle of the light brought out the texture in the weathered walls. At first I tried to avoid placing the telegraph pole in front of the building, but that meant leaving out the corn silo which is so much a part of buildings such as this. I shot in colour but checked it out in monochrome as I went along, keeping the colour and the black and white options open. If the colours in reality aren’t particularly exciting, bear the possibility of black and white in mind – but remember that you will need graduations of tone to make an interesting photograph. While you may still have the mental image of, say, a grey roof and mid-brown wooden walls when you look at the shot in black and white, that may look tonally very flat rendered in monochrome. Try to banish colour from your mind while you judge the potential for black and white. JG

TRYING A DIFFERENT ANGLE

I moved to my left to show the silo, which meant the pole was now in front of the building. I knew that I could remove it later, but decided that in fact the pole and the wires worked in the composition and were an important part of the character of the building. Elements that might easily be judged unsightly sometimes speak volumes about the history and purpose of a building. 1/1000 second at f8, 30mm, 320 ISO. JG

THE FINAL SHOT

In the end I preferred the black and white version as it looks more in keeping with the period of the barn. The slightly wide-angle lens had converged the verticals slightly so I corrected that in Lightroom. Don’t just settle for your first visualization but check out the situation and look for a different angle; the character of a building will reveal itself to you if you search for it. JG

PROJECT 6: SEASONAL LANDSCAPES

In most parts of the world the countryside looks very different in each of the four seasons, bringing a range of light, weather and landscape possibilities.

We feel that dividing our landscape projects into summer, autumn, winter and spring helps to focus the mind when we’re trying to decide where to travel and what to photograph next. We may choose to go for the pretty pictures in spring, the high-contrast light and warm colours in summer, the spectacular leaf colours in autumn and the stark storminess in winter, for example. You will learn a lot about landscape photography by following the seasons.

This assignment is a long-term project; we want you to make four landscape pictures, each one in a different season. In each picture, it should be obvious which season you are depicting. Landscapes make great images to put on your wall and there are many online companies that will make good-quality large prints at a very reasonable price. You could also make a calendar of images from your seasonal landscape project – again something that can be done inexpensively online.

MIDDAY IN SUMMER

I cropped this photograph to a panoramic shape, which suits the long, wide landscape. There was marvellous bright summer light at midday; it’s often said that each end of the day has the best light, but it depends on the day and you will often find that while there are no interesting cast shadows from trees and so on when the sun is overhead, clouds will provide shadows on the landscape to contrast with the bright highlights. I set the camera on a tripod, composed the picture and waited for a beautiful cloud formation and for the sun to strike the yellow field. I darkened the foreground with the Burn tool to emphasize that yellow. 1/1000 second at f11, 48mm, 200 ISO. GH

BIRDS IN WINTER

This very simple winter landscape is a favourite of mine. It has a very melancholy mood with little saturation, unusual in these days of poster-colour pictures. The flock of birds flying across the highlight adds that special touch. It’s a picture that demonstrates that you don’t need striking colours and imposing features to make a successful landscape photograph. 1/350 second at f8, 85mm, 400 ISO. GH

WINTER IN THE HIGHLANDS

The Scottish Highlands are one of the great places for landscape photograph enthusiasts. This winter sunrise is in Glen Coe. The sun has lit the cloud spiral and backlit the foreground snow. I shot this on a Hasselblad medium format camera with a wide-angle lens, using black and white film. Putting a red filter over the lens to darken the blue sky works well in snow scenes, and I did that here. Because the colour blue is associated with cold, I scanned the negative and added the wintery blue tone in Photoshop with the Colorize button in Hue/Saturation. 1/250 second at f8, 40mm, ISO 400 film. JG

SPRING IN SCOTLAND

All the elements that a landscape photograph is supposed to include are present in this shot of Scotland in spring. The eye enters along the road, there is a middle ground of rolling hills lit by late afternoon light and the white farmhouse provides the focal point. I used a long lens to isolate this landscape out of the huge view in front of me and also to compress the perspective, bringing the mountains and farmhouse closer to the foreground than they were in reality. It’s not dramatic but it’s pretty, in the classic calendar style. I used a neutral density graduated filter to darken the sky and mountains. Later I saturated the colour a bit in Photoshop and also lightened the farmhouse to make it more prominent. 1/500 second at f11, 130mm, 400 ISO. JG

AUTUMN IN PENNSYLVANIA

In this simple autumnal picture of Pennsylvania the colours glowed in the late afternoon light. However, when we checked it out on the computer we saw a bare patch in the centre of the middle tree and the colour didn’t have quite the saturation that my eye had seen – so we decided to enhance it. JG

AUTUMN IN PENNSYLVANIA ENHANCED

To fill up the gap, we cloned some clumps of leaves from the tree on the right. We brightened the picture and increased the contrast, then added more saturation. We darkened some of the bright tree trunks with the Burn tool and finally, using the Dodge tool, lightened the leaves on the middle tree to make it the focal point of the picture. Sometimes the camera doesn’t do the scene justice and you’ll want to do some digital retouching to give the picture a final boost. 1/400 second at f8, 95mm, 400 ISO. JG