Photography tutorial: here is a quick breakdown of what went into this image taken last week while scouting out new locations for North West Photography Courses.
Great images are everywhere around us. I didn’t know this view was here – it’s the Naden Valley on School Lane in Bamford Rochdale.
– Firstly look around and take in the scene before you pick up the camera and start to take images, those moments of reflection and appraisal often make a big difference to capturing what you remember – then decide how you need to set up your camera.
Breaking down the image and why I shot it this way: –
– 0.3s f11, 19mm iso 100, polariser
– Focused on an object a little over 1 metre into the shot to get good
depth of field where everything is in focus front to back.
– Good strong natural landscape compositions work well with the
foreground and background in harmony.
This scene uses the brook emerging in the foreground guiding us into the
distance with an element of ‘I wonder what’s beyond’ to it. The verticals
and horizontals help to draw the eye into the image and give a sense of
perspective.
– Using a polariser helps reduce glare and achieve a slightly slower
aperture depicting water that shows actual movement without it becoming
‘too’ milky when exposed for too long. It’s a personal view but water that is shown as being milky seems odd and more about being able to get that effect, rather how we ever remember water ever looking.
– Once everything is done think about how you are going to process the
image.
– having spent time composing the image it would be a shame not to ‘get
the most’ from it. The best way is always shoot in RAw (or a digital
negative if you like). This is very powerful and lets you bring out the
most from your images in post production. More on that in a future post.
I hope this photography tutorial is helpful in explaining the thinking behind the image. If there is something specific you would like me to cover, please let us know!
