Aug
1st
Author: admin |
Files under Man Made World
Formal gardens provide a great opportunity to create some stunning landscape photographs. Beautiful public gardens exist in virtually every part of the world and are usually a microcosm of the geographic location itself. The meditation gardens of Japan or the plantation gardens of the American South provide evocative reflections of their locale. Equipment isn't much of a factor; a point-and-shoot will provide fine results. (more...)
For sheer variety of subjects--architecture, interesting faces, open-air markets, historic landmarks, parks--nothing competes with the urban whirl of a city. Best of all, you can change subjects as your mood or your ideas evolve and usually just by turning another corner. In Manhattan, for instance, the glamour of the United Nations, the glitz (and grunge) of Times Square, and the cool shade of Central Park are mere blocks apart. 
Hostile and uninviting though they may seem, deserts can be wonderfully rewarding for photographers. We tend to visualize deserts as vast, arid wastelands, but in fact, most are rich with life.In the more barren desert regions, because the geologic and graphic components are so minimal–sand, rock, sky, and some plants–your compositions will by necessity often verge on the stark and abstract. In searching for and composing such scenes, then, exploit the visual simplicity to reveal the harsh nature of the place: ripples of wind-driven sand cresting into nomadic dunes, fractured patterns of cracking mud in long-dry watering holes, the delicate trail of lizard tracks leading from rock to rock. 
The rocky shores of Maine or Scandinavia or the southwest coasts of England and Ireland provide a study in the absolute power and relentless energy of the sea. The best time to photograph the clash between surf and shore is at high tide, especially just prior to or after a storm or a full moon, when the sea is at its most volatile. 
The best mountain photos are made by photographers who rise before the sun and rest only after it has. In his book Mountain Light, celebrated mountaineer and outdoor photographer Galen Rowell writes that “light during the magic hours [dusk and dawn] mixes in endless combinations, as if someone in the sky were shaking a kaleidoscope.” The pinks, yellows, golds, and reds of dusk and dawn are hallmarks of his work and make Rowell’s shots instantly recognizable. 
