The Big Picture - West Midlands

Take Better Photos of Landscapes

Many of us travel thousands of miles to take in scenic views with our own eyes, others of us can see beauty wherever we find ourselves. Whatever your location, as you reach for the camera you’ll want to be sure that you record it with maximum impact, so when you show others your photographs they are excited about the location as you are.

Exploring landscapes with your camera can be really rewarding. Even though some of the tips here have their roots in technical issues like shutter speeds, you shouldn’t forget that it’s the picture in the frame that matters. Take time to compose the photo that you want in the viewfinder; walk around, change angles and cram as many shots into your memory card as you can.

Horizons

First things first, make sure that the camera is level; horizons that aren’t straight rarely work on landscape views, especially unintentional ones. Trees, buildings and other nearer subjects are not always the best guides, but the distant horizon will always be the best visual clue available (unless you pack a spirit level!). Compare these shots – one was lined up against a nearby lamppost, the other by using the sea.

Golden Hour

Photography is all about capturing light, so altering the lighting will always change the photo. When you’re out and about the light comes from the sun, but that doesn’t leave you powerless. All you need is to have a rough idea of sunrise and sunset times before you go out, which you can get from the internet. The hour just after sunrise and the one just before sunset provide such a favourable light that photographers know them as ‘the golden hour’, at midday the light is harsher and less pleasing.

Clouds

Despite what I’ve just said, we all know that midday sun does not always mean harsh light, since more often than not there will be a layer of clouds in the way. Although it’s tempting to be disappointed by such weather, there is a massive boon for your photos known as ‘diffusion’. Because the straight beams of the sun’s light are spread around when they hit the cloud layer, light travels into areas that might otherwise be ugly black shadows in your images. The even light prevents excessive contrast (the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of your photo).

Shooting into the sun

Pointing the camera towards the sun will usually confuse its automatic settings. Your camera will compensate for the sun’s brightness by trying to make every other feature of the image much darker than it really is. While this is usually to be avoided, it can create beautiful silhouettes, especially if the sun is low in the horizon.

Night Shots

Cities offer some exciting photographic possibilities at night and the Midlands is certainly not lacking in cities. To capture a cityscape at its best, however, you’ll need to support your camera in some way. That doesn’t necessarily mean splashing out on a tripod; look for walls or other makeshift supports at your shooting location. For example there is a handy wall that makes it easy to take this classic shot, in which the shutter remains open long enough for the cars lights to form trails as they move, but the buildings remain still since the camera hasn’t moved at all.

Tell the whole story

When you’re travelling and you find yourself immersed in an exciting and unfamiliar landscape it isn’t just the distant views that add to the atmosphere. Remember to look for nearby details too. You can use your photo album n a much more descriptive way by juxtaposing two photos in your album, a scenic view and close up.