PRACTICE: Nature, Landscape and Composition

NATURE AND LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY: EXPOSURE, DEPTH OF FIELD AND COMPOSITION

Living and studying in the stunning South Downs National Park, Sussex, practising landscape photography utilising the beautiful environment seems a must. I wanted to continue to experiment with aperture and ISO settings, and also try to understand the mechanics of composition deeper. 

The above photos were taken in Stanmer Park. They both show the same viewpoint, the same content, but I increased the exposure for the second photo by having a slower shutter speed (1/80) and a high ISO (300) to increase the camera's sensitivity to light. This deliberate over-exposure creates a pastel tone, mimicking an extremely sunny, dry day. 

Also located in Stanmer Park, I focused my lens on selected leaves from a tree. Using a standard ISO (100) for ideal conditions, and a reasonable shutter speed (1/100), I wanted to experiment with aperture only, creating a shallow depth of field allowing me to precisely select specific items to be in focus in my composition. For the above photographs, I used the lowest aperture f/3.5, shifting my focus from certain leaves in the background to others in the foreground. 

I continued my practice of shallow depth of field in a different location, this time in a rapeseed field near to my home in Bishopstone, Seaford, shifting my focus to select different flowers to be in focus. I also altered my shutter speed setting after the first photograph (1/80), allowing the second photos to be slightly lighter (1/100). 

With the above series, I wanted to experiment with composition, choosing to dominate a certain feature of the composition over the other. 

'Even from the same viewpoint, the horizon can be placed high or low in the image. This will have a dramatic effect on the interpretation of the image by the viewer. A photograph of a small farm in the landscape can become either a tiny human dwelling beneath expansive skies or, conversely, a prominent farmhouse dominating acres of fertile land; depending on whether the horizon is set low or high in the frame. Think carefully what you want to say about a place before you decide where to put the horizon line' (Prakel, D., 2012, p. 22)

My photographs show a changing dominance in the composition, firstly the blue sky dominates 80% of the composition, then is increasingly overruled by the yellow rapeseed field, the end photograph evoking an endless field of yellow, emphasising the perhaps infinite number of flowers in the field. 

This shows how the simple placement of the horizon line and consequent domination of one feature over another can change the final connotation and feel of a photograph substantially. 

Prakel, D. (2012) Basics photography: composition. Switzerland: AVA Publishing SA, pp. 22-71.