Landscape & Nature Photography

Your assignment:
  • Take 20 Images. Landscape and Nature
  • Color and black & white
  • At least 5 have to be one or the other (15 ls, 5 n ect)
  • This assignment is 80 pts, 4 pts per image
  • ​We will be printing your best image. Print is an addition 20 points.
  • This assignment is due: Monday the 9th, you will have this day and Thursday the 5th to edit.




Keep in mind:
  • When shooting Landscape you want to use a small aperture setting,  f11 or smaller.
  • When shooting Nature you generally want to use a large aperture setting. (we have some lenses that open to f1.8, but most open to f4)
  • Keep horizon lines straight.
Quick tips on Landscape Photography: 
from Robert Caouto, National Geographic


·       Take time to explore. Part of the joy of landscape photography is being out in nature. Wander around and get a sense of the place. It will take time and patience to discover the best way to show what makes it unique.

·       Visualize your photograph. Create the image in your mind the way a painter would create it on a canvas. Then think about the time, light, and composition that will translate what you see in your mind into a photograph.

·       Get out before sunrise and stay out after sunset—the times when the light is best. Use the harsher light of midday to scout.

·       It's much more fruitful to spend time on one or two locations than to race around. A great shot of one place beats several mediocre ones of many. Such an approach allows you to be creative. Once you have recorded the image you were thinking about, try something different. Climb a tree, wade out to the middle of a stream, use a flower or other object in the foreground, try another lens or a slow shutter speed. Play with the subject and your gear. Have fun. You may be surprised at the results, and you will often capture something more than what postcards show—something original and quite personal.

·       Be careful in the placement of foreground elements. You don't want them to detract from what your photograph is really about.

·       Framing can be very helpful when you cannot get close to your subject. It can give you an interesting way to deal with empty space in the foreground or in the sky.

·       Since we usually look for details, it can be harder to see blocks of color or shape. Squint a bit: Details will blur and you will see things as masses.

·       Buy a small liquid level and attach it to your tripod head.

·       Lens flare can be a problem with wide lenses. Use your hand or a piece of cardboard to screen the lens from the sun—but keep the screen out of the frame.

·       If you are staying in one place for several days, check out the long-range weather forecast and plan your shoots around the weather that is best for specific subjects.

·       If you are with friends, don't be shy about using them in images to get a sense of scale. But remember that the photos are of the place, not the people.

·       To learn how light direction affects the look and feel of images, photograph a tree lit from the front, the side, and the back. If you want circular star trails, point the camera at the North Star.

·       When making long exposures, use a remote release to avoid camera movement. If you don't have a remote release, use the camera's self-timer. And be mindful of any breeze that might be moving your subject.

·       Avoid getting your equipment wet. If you are shooting near a water fall that is sending up a lot of spray, cover your camera with a plastic bag as you would to protect it from rain. If it or a lens gets wet, wipe the item immediately and put in the sun to dry.

·       Never be content with what you see in the viewfinder the first time you raise it to your eye. Move around, lie down, find a different angle.
Some photographers to look up:
Ansel Adams
Peter Lik
Andreas Gursky
Joe Cornish
Per Bak Jensen*
Chris Burkard
Carr Clifton
Michael Kenna
Brett Weston*
Benjamin Hardman*
Slide show:
Choose a landscape photographer, or 5 different photographers. Have the photographers name on each photo
Create a slide show with:
  • 5 images of their work
  • what camera they use (if you can find that info)
  • point of view
  • exposure
  • shutter setting -slow shutter speed, if showing movement, ect. 
  • Aperture setting- depth of field (large or small)
  • Any particular editing style you notice
  • Time of day
  • Composition
Basically you are breaking down the photos so you understand how the photographer captured this image. Do this to all 5 images.
​Share the slide show with jpeery@alpinedistrict.org