Learning Landscapes

[BrandonLaw]

I took a workshop today on landscape photography and I feel like I learned a lot here are a couple of the shots I got let me know what you think and how I can improve please and thank you!


Enfield Overlook by BrandonLaw87, on Flickr


Viewfinder by BrandonLaw87, on Flickr

 

[WesternGuy]

I would ditch the sign and the viewer. They really don't constitute part of the landscape, although you did tell us the second one was about the "viewfinder". If it is, then it really isn't a landscape - not sure what you are trying to get across here.

The one thing that bothers me, not sure why, but there is very little detail in the trees on the distant hillsides, so I wonder if these are underexposed just a little. This often happens when you are trying to shoot a scene where you have the "bright" sky and the "darker" landscape. Your camera and the meter in it are always trying to give you the 18% grey solution. This often results in the sky being slightly overexposed and the darker land area being underexposed. You either have to take two images - one for the sky and one for the land - and then merge them in post-processing, or use a graduated ND filter to equalize the exposure across the frame.

WesternGuy

 

[Rick50]

Including something in the foreground does give a landscape a lot of depth but it's better if it looks like it's part of the scene. Like a tree or a boat on a dock, etc.

 

[spacefuzz]

I think your starting to grasp rule of thirds and foreground objects for depth rather well. As for what to include, it all depends on the story your trying to tell, sometimes man made objects are essential to the sense of place.

 

[BrandonLaw]

The entire reservoir is man made that is kind of why I included the sign in the first one because the sign tells you all about how they moved 5 towns and a bunch of cemeteries in order to create the Quabbin reservoir. I have ones without foreground objects in them I just thought that these were a bit more interesting maybe not solely as landscapes but in general.