"The Power of Perspective"

Although color and side lighting is very important you also want to consider the depth of the landscape. For example, when you are taking arial shots of a city you can really get that feeling of three dimensional views. This is the same with wildlife landscapes on land. Here are some things to consider when taking pictures of landscapes.

SIZE CUES: One way to portray depth in a landscape would be the size of land itself. Something to keep in mind before taking a picture would be, objects that are closer to use appear to be larger than they really are. So, you really have to think of where and how to place your camera so you can get the right angle for a depth view. Some other smaller cues that you should think about could be how ripples in water can produce a pattern or how clumps of clouds appear smaller near the horizon.

HIGHS AND LOWS: Because of the way we are made we often times position the objects that are at our level (5 ft-6 ft) at a lower level. You need to find a middle ground when photographing landscapes. So, if the camera is to low you will lose space between the two size cues. However, if the camera is set up to high you will lose the horizon and eye level objects. When photographing also make sure that your camera is set at a position where it is level so that you can see all size cues. To find the right camera position it will take a lot of practice but, ultimately look for the color cues, light, and depth.

OVERLAPPING: Using overlapping to capture an image is a idea. To get an overlapping effect it would be useful to place the camera at a lateral or vertical view. When an image is overlapping it tends to appear blurred or blended together. A good example would be a photograph of a rainforest with the tree line being all the same. To avoid blurriness you might want to overlap contrasting colors or line conformity. One way to get a landscape photograph is to frame colorful or unique contour outlines that extend in opposite diagonal directions.

HAZY DAYS: There are many days where the sky isn't crystal clear but you have to find someway to that photographs in those not so great days. On foggy, hazy days close objects will appear clearer than farther objects. On these days, aerial point of views is a way of capturing the landscape. Because, with aerial views you are able to get out of the mist or haze. Although fog can make a cool effect on your picture, you could wait for it to lift or change your position.

FIVE PLANES: When you are wanting to capture depth within the landscape there are five planes to look for in the landscape.

1) Foreground plane consists of landscape details like water movement.

2) Midground plane consists of well-defined images that can lead the viewer into the picture.

3) Feature plane has the center of interest like a rock formation in the desert.

4) Cloud plane is basically the collection of the clouds.

5) Sky plane is like the background in a way because, it will be whatever the color at the moment is(blue, red, orange).

When capturing these five planes try to photograph each one clearly!