Close-up landscapes

Close-up landscapes are a particular favourite of mine and so I'm happy to comment on this one, sent in by Gordon. The water is well-exposed and the chosen shutter speed certainly shows the movement in the water. The water creates an interesting pattern by flowing in various directions, but unfortunately this pattern is rather obscured by the large log. Because of its position the log dominates the picture, and I have to say that I don't find it very interesting. Things like this succeed either because of their texture, which we can't really see too well at this size, or because of their shape, and unfortunately this is not a very interesting shape. I like the stones and greenery at the top right, but it gets a bit messy moving left from there. Simplicity is usually the key to success on a shot like this.

The day before Christmas

When you get unusual conditions like this it can be difficult knowing where to go, so it's nice to have a little database (on the computer or just in your mind) of places that you know will be ideal for certain types of weather or certain lighting conditions. It's only by continually revisiting the same locations that you acquire this sort of information.

reader's image for discussion

Thanks to Gordon for being brave enough to send this one in.

Firstly the things I like about the image. The sky is a good colour and has some nice clouds. I like the fact that the image contains areas of light and shade rather than being uniformly lit all over. The viaduct adds an element of interest to what would otherwise be a rather empty scene.

Now for the bad news! The part of the landscape that is illuminated has very little of interest in it. The lighting does nothing to bring out the texture of the hillside or its shape. The area of shadow is too large - it should not be larger than the sunlit area. The main point of interest (the viaduct) is too far away and rather blends in with the background. The sheep are too small to make a significant contribution to the composition.

Let me see your pictures

I'd like to make this blog more interactive and so I'm inviting everyone to send me a picture (just one a week) to feature and to talk about. We'll give it a try for a few weeks and see how it goes. They can be good, bad or indifferent.

Here's one I took a couple of months ago:

Merry Christmas!

Watching the river flow

One of my favourite occupations is exploring mountain streams. Here on Skye it is possible to follow a river from the sea all the way to its source in just a few hours. This produces literally hundreds of potential photographs. To take full advantage of the opportunities you will need a telephoto lens. I would normally stop down to f22 in order to get a slow shutter speed of around 1/8sec. This of course requires you to carry a tripod. If the light is good, or you have a camera that produces good results at high ISO settings, you can also shoot with a wide aperture in order to freeze the movement of the water. These are the only options I would consider. Intermediate shutter speeds do got give very attractive results. As always composition is very important and the simplest pictures are generally the best.

In praise of the compact

Many landscape photographers are also keen walkers/hikers/trekkers and this creates something of a dilemma. Burdening yourself with a lot of heavy equipment will make the walk less enjoyable and, if you are continually stopping to set up a tripod, you will not be popular with your walking companions. The solution is to use a compact camera that can be carried in a pocket or shoulder bag. With auto-exposure and auto-focus all you have to do is frame and shoot. Modern compacts have a wide range of focal lengths, enabling you to successfully frame the subject whether it is 10 feet away or 10 miles away. To avoid the perennial problem of burnt-out skies, it is advisable to underexpose by something like 2/3 of a stop. Areas of the picture that are too dark can afterwards be corrected using Photoshop.

This was taken on our recent Himalayan trek.