Blissful Landscape Photos: 10 Ways To Truly Master The Craft
A sublime view, early in the morning, above the clouds on Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain), China.
Keyword: Landscape Photos
10 Approaches Styles Types To Truly Master
There are many ways to photograph the landscape and many types of landscape photos we can make. To better understand the different types of landscape photos it’s useful to group them into a variety of sub categories.
The Landscape Photos You Make Are Important
The reason the landscape photos we make are important and worthy of attention is because they represent our own, personal experience of being in a particular place at a very specific moment in time.
While such moments are but tiny fragments of our existence on this earth, our photos document these places in a way that preserves our memories and communicates our own personal experience and response to these landscapes and any connection we may have felt to a greater, universal experience or truth at the time the image was created.
It’s this personal, experiential response to the landscape that’s so important.
Such images rely more on suggestion and interpretation than on a mere factual documentation of the scene in question. It’s this move away from documentation towards a more subjective response that makes our very best landscape photos more visually interesting and emotionally provocative.
“Our photos enable us to speak to the world as much about ourselves, as individual, creative souls, and our relationship with the universe, as they do about the subject or scene depicted.”
Likewise, our photographs can also be more about the weather than the actual topographic nature of the landscape we're photographing.
Consider the image at the top of this post as a case in point. I made it, just after sunrise, looking down upon the clouds while hiking across Huangshan Mountain in China. Actually, this single peak is one of a collection commonly referred to as Huangshan or Yellow Mountain.
It’s possible to hike up, across and down the main mountain trail on Huangshan in a single day. But as a photographer, carrying a hefty backpack, I choose a more leisurely approach, spending three days on the mountain in the middle of winter.
It remains one of the greatest experiences of my life.
1. Traditional Landscape Photos
A traditional, documentary approach is, by far, the most common way to take landscape photos.
Often straight forward in style and intentionally representative or descriptive of the scene photographed, traditional landscape photos often seek to showcase the topographic nature of the environment being depicted.
In this way the photographer hopes to showcase the terrain, season and weather at the time the image was created.
To produce a pleasing result, traditional landscape photos often depend upon the following:
Great lighting
Large depth of field
Use of a wide angle lens to enhance the illusion of three dimensional space in the photo
Inclusion of compositional elements such as color, line, shape and texture to lead the viewer’s eye to important focal points within the frame
As photographers it’s good to remember that a photo of a beautiful landscape cannot compare to the beauty and majesty of the actual location.
So why make the photo?
After all it’s just a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional reality.
The fact is there’s no depth in a photograph. There is only an impression of depth, created by visual clues, that might include the following:
Light and shade
Perception of scale, via the juxtaposition of varying sized focal points within the frame
Definite foreground, mid ground and background elements that draw the eye through the image
The impression of three dimensional space created through the use of a wide angle focal length
A viewpoint that’s often significantly lower (worms eye) or higher (birds eye) than you’d achieve with the camera brought up to your normal eye level
Of course you make photos, primarily, because it pleases you to do so. But, more importantly, you want to document your memory of being in that particular place and time by employing your camera in a way that allows you to respond to and partake in the beauty in front of your camera’s lens.
It’s about preserving a memory for posterity, a memory that you helped shape, and a desire to share your experience with others.
A scattering of snow, on and around the mountain trail, on Huangshan (Yellow Mountain), China.
Notions of Wildness and Wilderness in Landscape Photos
The words wildness and wilderness appear similar, but the differences between them are as much political as actual. Let’s use the above image of a well-tendered mountain trail on Huangshan Mountain in China as an example in our examination of how to make really blissful landscape photos.
Huangshan Mountain is a spectacularly beautiful area which receives millions of tourists per year. I visited during January, in the middle of winter, when tourist numbers are low. Yet, despite the cold, the mountain paths were well maintained and I had little trouble traversing them during my three-day stay.
What’s more, I slept in a different hotel on the mountain on each night of my stay.
The terrain is steep and wild, to be sure, but by following the well maintained pathways most folks with a reasonable standard of fitness should have no trouble traversing the main trails on Huangshan Mountain.
There are many wild landscapes throughout our world. They may be referred to in that way because of the difficulty of the terrain, the extreme weather conditions present there, or the dangers posed to humans by local wildlife.
Many parts of Africa would fit this definition yet, with proper supervision, most of us can visit these places and return with quite spectacular images of landscape and wildlife.
But what is wilderness, and does it cease to exist after we’ve experienced it?
I don’t think so, nor do I feel that mapping or photographing topographical features of a landscape makes it any less of a wilderness.
But what about the effects that the inclusion of roads, buildings and modern forms of communication have on such an environment and upon our relationship with it?
Our experience of the environment is altered, as is our relationship with it, once modernity is introduced into it. And, by implication, that means cameras as well.
Now I wouldn’t want any of this to stop you making pictures in such places. Landscape photography is one of my life’s great loves and it’s a tremendous privilege to have had opportunities to photograph in wild and extremely remote regions around our planet.
Nevertheless, when it comes to describing and presenting our photography or, for that matter, branding our business, it’s good to have thought through what it is we photographers do and why we do it.
Wilderness photography sounds more highly specialized than landscape photography. Right?
If you want to better define the specific type of landscape photography you do, most often, consider the places in which you make your photos.
If Greenland, Antarctica, the more remote regions of Australia, the Himalayas, the Sahara and the Amazon are amongst them then I think it’s fair and reasonable to brand yourself as a wilderness photographer.
You might also find it useful to look at the portfolios of some of our world’s most eminent wilderness photographers to see how your own photography stacks up. You see it’s not just where you photograph, but how you go about making your photos and the story they tell that matters.
Here’s a few highly regarded landscape photographers, specializing in photographing wilderness regions, to get you going.
American
SSSSS
SSSSS
Lush terraced rice fields and palm trees on the island of Bali, Indonesia.
3. Landscape Photos and The Cultivated Landscape
This image of lush, terraced rice fields on the island of Bali, Indonesia seemed the perfect choice to illustrate what’s meant by the term, the Cultivated Landscape.
The photo is a great example of how a rich tropical environment, with plentiful rainfall, can be turned into a highly cultivated landscape able to support the farmer’s family and, potentially, supply a market beyond those living and working on the farm.
The vibrant green color of this lush landscape is peaceful and soothing. It quietens the mind and refreshes the soul.
But being on the edge of wild landscapes, such environments are not without danger.
There are snakes and a range of other nasties, including water born parasites, that could, so easily, bring a relaxing vacation on a sunny, islands paradise to a very unpleasant end.
My advice to city folk exploring landscapes outside of their normal, everyday experience is to breathe deeply, but tread carefully.
And, remember, how unfit for survival our soft, sanitized bodies are when faced with the reality of surviving in a harsh and wild natural landscape.
While our planet retains small populations of hunters and gatherers, I’m not expecting many of them will be reading this post.
Over the millennia technological advancements allowed us to move from hunter/gather societies into rural farming communities, and then to urban dwellers.
Many folk find connection with the notion of a rural retreat, on a few acres. The notion of self sufficient living, off the grid, is enticing. Though, for many of us, the hard work associated with that form of lifestyle may not be so exciting a prospect.
When it comes to photographing the cultivated landscape it’s good to ask yourself why are you doing so.
Is it because it’s visually attractive?
Is the scene enticing at a deeper level?
What is there about that scene that connects with you and how can you better explore and describe that connection through the photos you create?
Mindset is everything and this post titled, 3 Words In Photography I Really Hate might be worth reading.
A protective barrier guards a beautiful tree on a high, windy pass on Mt. Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) in China.
4. Conservation and the Environment in Landscape Photos
The above photo, made near the top of a particularly high pass, on Huangshan Mountain, is interesting to me as it depicts a degree of conservation on the mountain.
China is blessed with tremendous natural beauty. Nonetheless, it's true to say that the natural environment has, all too often, suffered with the rapid advancement of the Chinese economy.
However, from what I witnessed during my time on Huangshan Mountain, the management of huge amounts of tourists has been done in such a way that maintains protection for much of the natural environment.
I do hope this image of conservation on Huangshan Mountain can act as a metaphor for a future China where economic prosperity and the natural world can co-exist more harmoniously than has been the case in the recent past.
The 3 days I spent atop Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) in Eastern China during late January 2011 are amongst the best of my life, thus far.
January is the coldest time of year on Huangshan, with minimum temperatures dropping below -20 degrees Celsius. Thankfully, maximum daytime temperatures can reach xx Celsius which, when climbing up and down the steep mountain trails, can seem positively balmy.
However, as I was out and about before sunrise and after sunset, I certainly experienced my share of cold and bleak conditions in search of inspirational photos while exploring Huangshan Mountain.
You can imagine that the winds, often prevalent at high altitude, could make conditions difficult for the landscape photographer. And I refer here to difficulties in maintaining sharpness as much as personal comfort.
Fortunately I experienced very still days which, together with the thick blanket of near white clouds that surrounded me, made for fantastic conditions for photography.
The huge bank of cloud greatly softened the quality of the light and reduced contrast (i.e., dynamic range) to an acceptable level.
A group of old rusted oil drums at Port Foster on Deception Island, Antarctica
Let’s continue our discussion of conservation and the environment with this photo of of a group of rusted oil drums at Port Foster on Deception Island in Antarctica.
It’s hardly blissful subject matter. Nonetheless, these remnants of a now abandoned whaling station are a sad yet, somehow, heroic testament to the workers stationed at this bleak outpost in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Do you want to use your photography to make a political statement concerning environmental issues or to explore the notion of the human condition?
It’s your choice. In fact, in a variety of cases, such as this picture from Port Foster on Deception Island, it could be argued that the two are very much interlinked.
The presence of these oil drums and the nearby ruined buildings pollutes what would otherwise be a pristine, wild landscape.
But the story they tell about the folly of human endeavor is both fascinating and, possibly, appoclo (what predicts a bad ending)
A surreal scene of plastic autumn leaves, hung over a window, looking out onto a winter landscape at a guest house in the Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) region of Eastern China.
5. Landscape Photos: alternate Approaches to Photographing Our Natural World
Experimental by nature, the alternate landscape is often cheekily disrespectful to the notion of traditional landscape photography.
In the world of the alternate landscape potted plants, ceramic garden flamingos and plastic flowers are all worthy of attention and consideration.
As much as anything else this kind of photography explores our relationship with the natural landscape in contemporary world.
We no longer live within and as a part of the landscape, but we need pleasant and safe memories of it to remind us of the once vital connection we maintained with the natural world.
I'm a huge fan of traditional, picturesque landscape photography. But I'm also fascinated by alternate views of beauty. Kitsch, for example, provides wonderful opportunities to explore notions of taste and beauty.
In the above photo, made from a small cafe in a guest house I was staying at while traveling in the Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) region of Eastern China, I was fascinated by the autumn colored plastic leaves, placed on the inside of the window, with the winter landscape behind.
I guess they're placed there as a reminder of how beautiful the location is during the fall (autumn).
I like the vibrancy and strong shapes of the foreground leaves against the subtly of the background.
The crack in the window adds yet another element of unconventional beauty to the image. Perhaps that’s because the lighting reflecting off it transforms the crack into a luminous wave or ribbon shaped line.
A steep staircase leads the visitor through a narrow alleyway in the City of Melbourne, Australia.
6. The Urban Landscape: Where Most People Live
This is a pretty broad term that generally relates to photos made in and around a city’s Central Business District (CBD).
Urban landscape photos often include buildings but, being more about the environment and the way people interact with it, are different to much of what is commonly referred to as architectural photography.
However, just as in certain kinds of architectural photography, urban landscape photos may include people as elements within the landscape being explored.
In the above photo of a narrow alleyway in the city of Melbourne there are no people present. But the staircase suggests it’s a space through which people would pass through.
The warm, incandescent interior lighting is also interesting as it compliments the otherwise cool color of the shaded light throughout most of the image.
This color contrast really lifts the image and, together with the tension between the almost straight lines and surfaces with the wackier angles throughout the image is what intrigued me to make the image in the first place.
I must say it was a fun, but difficult image to compose. But spending the time to do so really puts you, as maker, into the image. In doing so you leave a bit of yourself behind, in the environment, but you also become a part of the photo you’ve created, just as it becomes a part of you.
And it’s that combination of location, photographer and image that makes the photos each of us make unique from each other.
Magnificent God Rays illuminate the landscape in the Highlands region of Central Iceland.
Landscape Photos that Explore Weather
A porter, loaded with goods, walks a windy and exposed path on Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain), China.
Photographing People in Landscape Photos
Blissful landscapes certainly provide opportunities for us to connect with the sublime. But this is also true for the very best landscape and nature photography.
Interestingly its not only in images showcasing super fine detail or razor sharp images where spiritual connection is made. It’s also in subtlies of shape and form, and the momentary emergence of the sublime light
transition, transformational transience nature of light - quote
An abstract image formed, momentarily, on the surface of water off the coast of Prion Island in South Georgia.
Abstract Landscape Photos
A mountain peak, bathed in warm light, is framed by ice encrusted treees on the spectacular Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) in China.
Landscape Photos that Move from Realism to Suggestion
Composition is a great way for the aspiring landscape photographer to begin to move beyond a straight, documentary approach to their photography. That’s because, the stronger the composition the quicker our images move beyond realism towards suggestion.
That’s because composition allows photographer and viewer alike to concentrate on compositional elements such as line, shape, color, texture and tonality and, in doing so, begins to separate us from more obvious and easily formed connections with subject matter like rocks, trees and sky.
Likewise, an impressionistic landscape produces a more elusive sense of reality. What you’re left with is more about the impression of the landscape, and how light interacts with it, than a true visual representation of the scene in question.
A visitor to the magnificent Huangshan (i.e., Yellow Mountain) in China moves gracefully through the mist shrouded landscape.
7. The Personal Landscape: Photos that Act as a Point of Departure
This kind of image can feature any kind of subject matter. Personal landscapes are more about internal feelings, moods and ideas that are given form, through the subject matter and the art form (e.g., photography) in question, than about what’s actually in front of the camera.
It might help to think about such photography as landscapes of the mind.
A photo of mine was used on a CD cover featuring music from a Swedish group. The music was highly experimental and very non-traditional. It was, exactly as I expected it to be, a soundscape that reminded me of the mournful quiet of polar regions punctuated by the sounds of ice moving and breaking apart.
By listening to that music it was easy to create landscapes of the mind, unique to your own experience, worldview and imagination.
Personal landscapes often make use of abstraction, which uses individual elements from within the scene as graphical elements, to explore relationships and conjure up imaginings removed from the physical reality of the scene in front of the camera.
In this kind of composition, the need to suggest an altered reality is more important than the need to record a visually accurate representation of the scene in front of the camera.
Your photographs become art when they move away from realism and concentrate. To achieve this a visual departure from reality is required. The use of metaphor is an example of this kind of departure.
For example, does your photograph document a bushfire/wildfire or does it explore the awesome power of nature and our desperate need to survive such a catastrophe?
Whether directly or via the use of metaphor I believe most great photos explore the Human Condition.
Spectacular cloud formations are illuminated by a glorious sunset over the Beagle Channel near Ushuaia in Argentina.
Cloudscapes in Landscape Photos
The world of landscape photography is a rich and varied one. There’s room for all, just as there’s room for experimentation and individual interpretation, from artist and viewer alike.
I love all manner of landscape photography, just so long as it’s well crafted, life-affirming and celebrates the beauty of our world.
