ADVENTURE PHOTOGRAPHY

With Cathy & Gordon ILLG

PHOTO TIPS

    Landscape/Scenic Techniques

Few subjects make as dramatic a silhouette as a saguaro cactus.  In this situation though, I didn't want a silhouette, or at least I didn't want everything silhouetted.  I wanted some color in the closest cactus, especially its blossoms, so I used a flash to illuminate the cactus while exposing for the sunset sky.  The flash was set at full.  Here I was trying to draw attention to the fact that saguaro blossoms bloom at night, and these were just opening up at sunset.

When composing images around running water (as well as any other subject), it's important to decide what you want to include and what you want leave out.  What are you trying to say with your photo?  Here the photographer was trying to capture a little of the grandeur of fall in Zion National Park.  By including the winding river, the line of autumn cottonwoods and some of the canyon walls, the image hints at the secrets of the world this river has created at the bottom of the gorge it carved.  We considered including more of the canyon walls by widening the view, but then the other picture elements become smaller.  This is a compromise that I like.

This tight shot of running water was also taken in Zion National Park in the fall.  It was taken on the same trip as the previous image.  Here the photographer was simply telling the story of water on its way to the sea.  The reflected color gives a hint of autumn.  It's a much more subtle image.  Which photo is stronger?  That's entirely up the viewer.  Personally, I prefer the top one, but then I've always been a sucker for grand scenics and warm colors.  Cathy took both, so there is no bias.

Capturing the seasons is a good way to draw attention to your images, especially if it's a season not normally associated with the landscape you're photographing.  Here we have a snow-covered scene in Arches National Park, and the contrast between the red rock and snow is dramatic.  A couple of things to keep in mind--under heavy, overcast skies it's hard to capture the red of the rock formations on film.  It can be done with a warming filter, probably an 81A, but it is easier with digital.  Also, notice how the junipers were placed against red rock.  This helps highlight the twisted, snowy branches.  If they had been placed against the sky, the trees would not have shown up well at all. 

Digital capture has opened up a whole new world of night photography.  This image was taken in Valley of Fire State Park, about 45 minutes east of Las Vegas, Nevada.  Some of the reddest rocks in the world can be found here.  This is a 20 second exposure taken at an ISO 400 at maximum aperture.  The foreground was illuminated by a waxing moon, a few days from full.  Noise has not been a problem unless we brighten the image (and they often need to be brightened to obtain a good print), and then we need to use noise-filtering software to make the sky look better.  We've had good luck with Noise Ninja.  We rarely need to use this software unless we are making a print.  It wasn't needed on this image for digital showing (computer screen or projected).  However, when we printed it, we definitely needed to filter out the noise.

Reflections are a good way to liven up a scenic image.  Naturally, still water is pretty much a necessity in this situation.  Ideally, the subject being reflected will be in the sun, and the water will be shaded.  This will give a much brighter reflection than it would if the water was also in the sun.  This photo was taken high in the San Juan Mountains in Southwest Colorado, and it tells a story of summer at high elevations.  Even though it's mid-summer, a large snowfield dominates the left side of the frame while marsh marigolds in bloom border the right.  Even though they appear to be opposites, the snow is the source of the water flowing through the frame and therefore the source of the flowers as well.  Pay attention to where your reflections fall.  If the reflection of the peaks had touched the rocks, the image would not be as strong.

Here we have another reflection image taken around the same alpine tarn as the previous one.  In this one we've only included the reflection of the mountains and left the mountains themselves out.  We still know the photo was taken in the mountains, for we can see them in the reflection.  This is a much simpler image than the previous one, and simpler is often better in photography.  We often cannot tell which photo we'll prefer until after we've taken them, and sometimes our opinions change over time.  I advocate taking both when you have the opportunity.

This photo was taken on Mona Island, a deserted island in the Caribbean where we were marooned for a week.  It wasn't exactly a disaster.  In fact, we worked long and hard to maroon ourselves there.  One of the fascinating things about this island is the numerous caves.  The caves are generally large and airy, and we would enter them from the inland side and follow them to the coast where they would end on a cliff face above a turquoise sea.  We wanted to capture some of the magic of this location, and the cave mouth alone just didn't do it for us.  It needed something more, something that could help the viewers put themselves in the same place.  It needed a person's silhouette.  When using a silhouette like this, place it against a bright part of the background so it's obvious.  Also, keep the silhouette simple and easily recognizable.