How to see landscape images

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A lot of people have cameras these days and so beautiful scenes are being photographed all the time but why is it were so often dissapointed when we look at the image? So often it doesnt reflect the beauty of the scene we witnessed.

What we often see with the naked eye makes for a beautiful scene but why doesnt this always translate into a great image.
Below I will outline some of the reasons for this and give a few tips that can help you to create images worthy of the scenes before you.

Cameras dont see like humans. They only record the information at one focal length. When we see a beautiful scene we scan around it with our eyes focussing on different areas, zooming in and out on different parts of the scene to create a mental image that isn’t actually how it would translate into a photograph.

To overcome this obstacle we need to look for objects in a scene that can draw the viewers eye through the image to give it depth, otherwise it will be flat and lifeless.

Use interesting elements in the foreground to catch the viewers attention then use lines and shapes to draw the viewers eye through the photo and towards your focal point.

Yes you need a focal point. Something that is the main subject of your image, it can be an interesting rock formation, cloud pattern, a little house, a flower, virtually anything but you must have something to say this is a photograph of …. whatever you decide. Just a flat image of a sunset usually wont make a great photograph on its own.

In the pictured image my aim was to capture the light rays that were bursting through the clouds. However just a straight forward shot of those rays of light would have been an interesting record shot but it wouldnt have created a very interesting image.
so what did i do to try and avoid making a flat and lifeless image. Firstly i looked for something interesting in the foreground, I found the rocks.I didnt just randomly pick this section of rock. I chose it for the interesting textures and patterns on the rocks.
I then placed the Sun in position to take advantage of the perceived circle created by the shape of the rocks to the centre left. Circles hold attention and using gestalt theory I know that the human eye completes perceived shapes in the mind. So in theory your mind should create a circluar shape out of the rocks and the area of the Sun. This will in turn result in your eye being drawn to and held upon my focal point which is the Sun and the interesting clouds and light surrounding it.

The image also requires a sense of dynamism and this is created in several ways. I have captured the wave as it splashes over the rocks which creates some motion in the scene and also something interesting to draw your eye away from the focal point. This creates interest as the viewers eye flits between the interesting elements in a scene and one of the main reasons you dont just plonk your subject in the middle of a picture as the viewers eyes would rest on a centrally placed focal point too easily and the image may become static and lifeless as a result. (note for wildlife shots and if you want this result then its fine, just not generally advised for landscapes)

The main subject, the Sun has also been placed near to one of the intersecting lines of the golden mean which is similar to the rule of thirds. This again adds a sense of dynamism to the image as the viewers eye does not just fall and rest upon one place but is encouraged to move between elements.

Finally to create some balance I have counteracted the Sun which is positioned slightly to the left with the larger mass of rocks being positioned equally to the right. Now balance isn’t an exact science so dont go measuring things but just be aware that balanced photos are more aesthetically pleasing to the human eye and therefore generally create more pleasing images. Finding balance takes a little bit of judgement on the photographers part so just experiment and see what feels right.

The other reason why people are so often dissapointed with their shots is that the human eye can perceive and record a far greater dynamic range than a camera. The human eye can record very dark through to very bright light much better than a camera. So a beautiful contrasty scene to you might actually push modern cameras beyond what they can record. This is why you often see shots where the sky looks right but the ground is too dark or the ground looks ok but the sky is bleached out and too bright.

To overcome this you can use graduated neutral density filters
(See my Lee filters review) All these do is place a bit of dark resin or glass over the bright part of a scene to darken it and lower the contrast level between the brightest and darkest parts of the scene. Its like putting sunglasses on the camera but just for the brightest parts of the scene. This allows the camera to record all the areas of the scene more in line with what the human eye can see.

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There are also other techniques including High Dynmic Range photography (HDR) where you take several shots exposed for different parts of the scene and then merge them in post processing .
Alternatively you can shoot in Raw format and process the same image twice, once for the highlights( bright parts of the scene) and once for the shadows.
Whichever technique you use the end aim is to allow us to record the scene as we saw it with our human eye. (With HDR we can actually record much more but thats another story).

So next time you witness something spectacular happening in nature if you use these tips you may just come away with an image that captures the moment in all its glory.