Composition is one of the trickiest parts of photography no matter what genre you shoot, but it can be especially challenging in genres in which you have no control over the placement of the elements in the environment, such as landscape photography. This great video features an experienced landscape photographer discussing some of the difficulties of composition and showing how even minor adjustments can make or break an image.
Coming to you from Alister Benn of Expressive Photography, this awesome video discusses some of the challenges of composition in landscape photography and how small changes can make big differences. Composition is some that we all struggle with at one time or another, but if you are new to the genre, the important thing to notice is what a subtle art it is. Small adjustments are often the difference between an unbalanced photo and a harmonious frame, and they can often take a good shot to a truly compelling one. Once you have a shot generally framed up, take a few minutes to really think through all the details in the shot. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Benn.
And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out our latest tutorial, "Photographing the World: Japan With Elia Locardi!"
Really nice video and content. I really love hearing about and connecting with what goes on inside the heads of photographers before they take the shot. I really like the way you go through the process on the erratics as I was with you all the way, though Im no landscape photographer. While I can follow and appreciate what you are saying, actually doing it for oneself out in the field is a different story. Which is why videos like yours are so helpful. I just wish people would spend more time speaking about the actual craft and less on the kit. While kit is obviously important its well kicked into second place by the photographic decisions made by the photographer prior to pressing the button.
Totally agree with what you say about the art of photography.
I do have a few questions for you.
Did you think about moving a bit more to your left bringing the slope on the right almost meeting the main rock?
Did you consider including the foreground rock by focus stacking two images making the scene sharp front to back?
In my opinion the shoot looks like it the anchor of the front rock along with the land its on. I feel the land provides more balance to the image. I did feel there was not enough space in the foreground of your final image it felt to me rather compressed top to bottom, especially on the left of the image where the ground becomes a tad narrow.
Under what circumstances would you use such focus stacking?
Under what circumstances would you use exposure bracketing?
As to the processing would you not rather use targeted editing for this particular image rather than the global you demonstrated or am I missing something?
Occasionally when I do do landscapes Im at a loss to know when I should use either exposure bracketing and focus stacking.
Thanks for sharing and looking forward to any future content you may produce.