In the second part of our series on landscape photography, Andrew Fildes explores the essentials of good composition.
Want to shoot better landscape photos? To mark the recent launch of the Fujifilm X Landscape Photographer of the Year competition, we have put together a collection of useful tips to help you improve your composition, camera technique, and post production skills. In this, the second instalment, Andrew Fildes looks at the essential elements of good landscape composition.
01 FOREGROUND INTEREST
Landscapes are often about the scenery, but you need more than that. A point of interest in the foreground gives the shot a sense of scale. The foreground point of interest could be something like a rock, pool, bird, or a contrast like a building or even a person. Sometimes you can use the branches of trees or other features to frame your shot.
A classic landscape composition. The rocks in the foreground give the image scale and empasise the feeling of depth in the picture as our eyes move into the distance.
02 ACTIVE COMPOSITION
In many images the background is little more than nice wallpaper, but in a landscape, it’s everything. Think about why you’re taking the shot, what you want to include and just as importantly, what you don't want to include. Stop thinking about it as a ‘view’ and start seeing it as a set of interlocking shapes. Make decisions about the position of different elements in the frame and adjust your viewpoint to make the image work. Move up, down, left and right to see how it affects the composition.
03 RULE OF THIRDS
The ‘Rule of Thirds’ gets thrown around a lot but that’s probably because it works – most of the time. What is it? Divide the scene into a grid of threes – with two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines. Now place the key element (or elements) on an intersecting point. Many digital cameras will happily place the appropriate grid lines on the LCD screen for you. They aren’t there just so you can get the horizon straight. I’ve known fanatics in the past who had the focus screen in their film SLR engraved with them. With a beach shot, drop the horizon on the top line, the sandy shoreline to the bottom line and find something vertical like a tree for the left or right vertical line - you’ll have the classic seascape! Or try for an ‘L’ shape with a point of interest on at least two of the four intersects. That’s composition 101.
It's not uncommon for landscape photographers to position the horizon line on either of the two horizontal rule-of-third lines.
04 LEADING LINES
You need some dynamic flow through the image and a clear vanishing point is a great help to the eye moving through the composition. This implies clear lines leading through or into the image, such as a road, creek, jetty or ridge. Take a look at your favourite landscapes – chances are there will be some form of leading line that drags your eye into the photo. Ansel Adams' iconic image 'The Tetons and Snake River' (below) is a classic example of a landscape that uses a leading line – the Snake River – to draw our eye through the landscape toward the distant Teton mountain range. (If you're in Sydney between now and 8 December 2013, you can see more of Ansel Adams' remarkable landscapes at the Australian National Maritime Museum in the exhibition Ansel Adams - Photography from the Mountains to the Sea.)
In this iconic image by Ansel Adams, the Snake River aacts as a leading line, drawing our eye into the landscape towards the Teton mountains in the distance. Leading lines can be anything which helps create the impression of three dimensions in your two-dimensional scene. (The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, 1942. Photograph by Ansel Adams. Collection Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust. From the exhibition Ansel Adams - Photography from the Mountains to the Sea, now showing at the Australian National Maritime Museum.)
05 SHAPES AND PATTERNS
Many good landscape compositions have a set of geometric components within them – triangles usually, but also rectangles and rounded forms. Mentally reduce the image to basic shapes and try to balance these components within your own images.
Like it or not, most people like order and respond to images with identifiable shapes and patterns. In this image there is key foreground interest (with the bale of hay placed following the Rule of Thirds), and shapes have been used to create a semi-abstract pattern. How many shapes can you see?
06 SYMMETRY
Symmetrical elements in a composition can really fascinate a viewer. This usually involves abandoning other compositional rules like ‘Thirds’, but it lends itself to abstract shapes. It’s most commonly seen in images with strong reflections in water.
In this image the photographer has opted to place the horizon in the middle of the picture to make the most of the mirror effect created by the perfectly still lake.