DAVIS Creative Landscapes C Digital Photography Tips & Techniques r e Creative Landscapes a Ansel Adams once said, “Landscape photography Learn how to plan your shots to create great images. t is the supreme test of the photographer, and often Then discover ways to improve your landscape photos i the supreme disappointment.” While they may seem in the digital darkroom, using postprocessing techniques v e easy, great landscape photographs are in fact very including HDR, multi-RAW processing, and selective Digital Photography Tips & Techniques challenging to create. sharpening with LAB color. L In this book, master landscape photographer Harold Here’s your chance to learn from a master of landscape a Davis shows you how to look at the landscapes around photography while you explore your own creative style. n you with composition, exposure, and lighting in mind. d s c a L earn how to observe the landscape around you p to create great photos e U se exposure controls to optimize your landscape s photography U nderstand the best composition techniques for landscape images W ork with planning tools and weather to be in the D i right place at the right time g i t U se HDR techniques to expand the creative potential a l of your landscape photos P h L earn to enhance your images using other digital o t darkroom techniques o g r a p h y T Harold Davis is an award-winning professional photographer. ip s He is the author of more than 30 books, including Creative & Lighting: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques, Creative Black & T White: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques, and The Photoshop e c Darkroom 2: Creative Digital Transformations. Harold writes the h n popular Photoblog 2.0, www.photoblog2.com. i q u e s Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks HAROLD DAVIS PHOTOGRAPHY/Techniques/General $29.99 US/$35.99 CAN 0011__99778811111188002277332255--ffffiirrss..iinndddd 11 44//1122//1111 1122::1122 PPMM 0011__99778811111188002277332255--ffffiirrss..iinndddd 22 44//1122//1111 1122::1122 PPMM Creative Landscapes Digital Photography Tips & Techniques Harold Davis 0011__99778811111188002277332255--ffffiirrss..iinndddd 33 44//1122//1111 1122::1133 PPMM Creative Landscapes: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques by Harold Davis Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 10475 Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN 46256 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana All photographs © Harold Davis Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: 978-1-118-02732-5 Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4744. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011924118 Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley Publishing logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley and Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. 4 Creative Landscapes 0011__99778811111188002277332255--ffffiirrss..iinndddd 44 44//1122//1111 1122::1133 PPMM Acknowledgements Special thanks to Courtney Allen, Mark Brokering, Steven Christenson, Gary Cornell, Anaïs Garcia, Barry Pruett, Sandy Smith, Matt Wagner, Mike Watson—and Julian, Nicky, Mathew, and Katie Rose, too! Credits Acquisitions Editor: Courtney Allen Project Editor: Matthew Buchanan Technical Editor: Chris Bucher Copy Editor: Matthew Buchanan Editorial Manager: Robyn Siesky Business Manager: Amy Knies Senior Marketing Manager: Sandy Smith Vice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard Swadley Vice President and Publisher: Barry Pruett Book Designer: Phyllis Davis Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher ▲ Front piece: In blustery weather, gray clouds gathered over the Alabama Hills of Eastern California as the sun battled to emerge. In my bones it felt like “rainbow weather”—so I was ready with a polarizing filter on my lens when a strong rainbow did emerge. 200mm, circular polarizer, 1/200 of a second at f/7.1 and ISO 200, hand held ▲ Title page: High in the White Mountains along the California-Nevada border the eye can travel long distances. In this composition, I tried to emphasize this sense of endless horizon by positioning the road on the right to lead the viewer up and to the left in the composition. 28mm, 1/15 of a second at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted ▲ Above and pages 10–11: As the sun came up, it lit the crest of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where the remains of an overnight storm lingered, soon to be chased away by the warmth of the new day. 29mm, 1/50 of a second at f/8 and ISO 100, tripod mounted ▼ Page 6: Often, El Capitan seems to guard the approaches to Yosemite Valley like a stone giant—so I was pleased to stumble on a vantage point that provides a somewhat unusual view of a “kinder, gentler” El Capitan in a composition with the Merced River in the foreground. 10.5mm digital fisheye, 1/4 of a second at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted 5 0011__99778811111188002277332255--ffffiirrss..iinndddd 55 44//1122//1111 1122::1133 PPMM 0011__99778811111188002277332255--ffffiirrss..iinndddd 66 44//1122//1111 1122::1133 PPMM Contents 8 Introduction 146 One World, Many Landscapes 148 Seasons and a Sense of Place 12 The Tao of Landscape 154 Earth and Sky 14 Why Landscape Photography? 160 Mountains 24 Landscape in the Modern World 166 Deserts 32 Grand Landscapes 172 Seascapes 42 Intimate Landscapes 176 People and Landscapes 46 Imaginary Landscapes 182 Refl ections 52 Abstractions and Patterns 186 The City as Landscape 60 The Landscape in Black & White 190 The Night Landscape 70 The Lonely Road 194 Landscapes and Post-Processing 76 Tools & Techniques 196 Understanding Digital Workfl ow 78 Choosing a Camera 200 The RAW Advantage 82 Lenses 202 Multi-RAW Processing 94 Using a Tripod 208 Understanding HDR 98 Exposure and Landscapes 208 HDR Software 106 Aperture and Depth-of-Field 210 Hand-HDR 218 Monochromatic Conversions 114 ISO 222 Understanding LAB Color 114 Noise and Landscape Photography 224 LAB Color and Tonal Adjustments 118 Capturing Motion 228 Selective Sharpening in LAB 124 Composition and Landscape 134 Landscapes and Lighting 234 Notes and Resources 142 Working with Weather 236 Glossary 144 Planning Tools 238 Index 0022__99778811111188002277332255--ffttoocc..iinndddd 77 44//1122//1111 1122::1155 PPMM Introduction If you’ve ever stood on the rim of a canyon and watched the afternoon colors turn to sunset, listened to the splash, gurgle, and roar of a river fl owing swiftly past, or looked up at a spectacular sky to see the clouds sailing by, you’ll understand the urge to use photography to capture the scenery that surrounds us. But as Ansel Adams, the great master of landscape photography, observed, “Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photog- rapher, and often the supreme disappointment.” There seems to be some sort of paradox or conundrum in operation here. It is relatively easy to fi nd inter- esting—or, indeed, spectacular—landscapes. Unlike some other kinds of photography, no specialized gear is needed to capture these landscapes. In real life, most people are moved by sublime landscapes, and it’s not uncommon to fi nd romantic and religious sentiments brought out through a landscape view. It’s easy for most people to intuitively understand the emotional appeal of nature’s landscape. In addition, landscape photography is not the most specialized or technically diffi cult kind of photography. Often, the key issue is simply being there. As Ansel Adams put it, “Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have someone click the shutter.” But despite the apparent technically straightforward aspect of landscape photography, and its easy appeal ▶ Considering the impact that Ansel Adams’s photography has had on my life, it’s hard to photograph his beloved Yosemite Valley without considering some of the images he’s made famous—such as the photo of the clearing storm taken not far from where this photo was shot. In framing this photo, I tried to keep the classic Yosemite imagery in mind while changing the composition—by moving so I could include the trees on the right—to add my own stamp to the photo. 20mm, 1/40 of a second at f/22 and ISO 100, tripod mounted 8 Creative Landscapes 0033__99778811111188002277332255--iinnttrroo..iinndddd 88 44//1122//1111 1122::2211 PPMM Introduction 9 0033__99778811111188002277332255--iinnttrroo..iinndddd 99 44//1122//1111 1122::2211 PPMM