National Audubon Society Guide To Nature Photography:

Part Four: Light on the Land


To take good scenic pictures some clues are suggested in the beginning of part four in the book. The first one is a suggestion of having strong color as an indicator to create a nice photo. Here again, they remind us that the most attractive color is red so finding this hue in small batches and the picture has potential. This could be flowers, leaves, rocks or anything that can be taken in to a wider scene. And the red objects should get a lot of attention, and by doing so place them in the foreground in sharp detail to have the eye catch it right the way and the photograph will be interesting.

Something else really important for shooting landscape are the clouds. They give a good light to the picture and they can sometimes be really cool. And in sunrise and sunset, the clouds that are near the horizon can turn in many different colors and give opportunity to many nice photographs. Clouds give more detail and color to the landscapes than clear skies does.

A calm atmosphere is often beneficial to landscape photography. It allows to shoot with great depth of field and the chance of getting a good picture that you don't have to edit because they were blowing around in the wind. The best conditions for this usually occur before and after sunrise. Good landscape photos include an interesting foreground detail to grab the attention of the viewer and make the photograph more interesting. It's good if it contains something that drags the eyes to the picture.

If taking picture with the light from the side it give the landscape highlights and shadows and this make the photos very interesting. And the earlier in the day you take the picture, the more effect from the sidelight you will get. In the book there's an example to look at different planes when shooting landscape with with deep perspective scenics. The first plane is The foreground plane, that sets the scale for the composition. The second plane is the mid-ground plane, that leads the eye into the picture. The third plane is the feature plane which shows the center of interest. The fourth plane is the cloud plane and the fifth plane is the sky plane that comprises the different colors depending on what time of the day it is. Sometimes there's also a horizon plane in the background behind the feature plane.