Assignment 10 – Lake Bohinj

[Scamper]

I took this photo of Lake Bohinj in Slovenia. Although it is a landscape shot, I decided to take this as in portrait orientation because I wanted to showcase what is under the water, but give it some context with the surroundings.

I have to admit, I have found this assignment a lot harder than I thought I would and am very keen to hear your feedback on this so that I can improve my landscape shots.

Regardless of whether the photo is any good, this lake really was stunningly beautiful, so I’d highly recommend it if you haven’t been 😉

[attachment=0:ifah1jsz]IMG_3144T1T1.jpg[/attachment:ifah1jsz]

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Hey Tom!

You can do better than this!

Here is all you have to do:

Find the nicest looking natural area/landscape near you.
Get out there before sunrise or at sunset and compose your shot.
Get your filters going
Wait for the light and then make a nice landscape photograph!

Try your best to get something interesting in the foreground mid-ground and background.

In this photograph the horizon feels crooked, your ISO is higher than it should be, and the image is not razor sharp. In a photo like this use a tripod and a lower ISO. Also the light is white hot this time of day…

I expect more from you by now 😉

[Scamper]

Thanks for the feedback.

I think what I have been struggling with in landscape photography is distancing myself from the experience of being there and looking at the images objectively. But now that I’ve identified this, fingers crossed I can look at things from a better perspective.

I’ll shoot something else and re-submit if you dont mind.

Cheers

Tom

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Yes this is always a problem. One trick for this is to make sure that the light is good.

Another trick is to distance yourself from the photographs. Sometimes I wait like a week or two before I even process my images. Sometimes much longer.

That way the incredible experience you we’re having won’t cloud your judgement of whether or not the image alone is a good.

This is basically the same thing as the when people make films…. There is a director and an editor for a very good reason. The director knows just how hard it was to “get the shot” whereas the editor only cares about the story.

In this case as photographers are both. So taking some time to distance yourself from the image might help. (taking you from being the director to the editor…)

You can post your new landscape shot here.

Thanks

[Scamper]

Well, I certainly did take my time to get back to this, so hopefully my second attempt is a little more successful.

Now I was out at the golden hour for this one, but the weather wasn’t offering me any gold. So instead I found the bleak mist across the lakes and hills quite beautiful and serene and hopefully I managed to capture that here. Perhaps I’m taking too much of a risk breaking the rules when you’ve given me such simple and great advice to follow, but I like to experiment so nothing to lose!
[attachment=1:2kooj3y5]IMG_3635T1.jpg[/attachment:2kooj3y5]

But here is another one that I took a few weeks ago early in the morning when it was -4C, the sun was just coming up and the golden hour was living up to its name.
[attachment=0:2kooj3y5]IMG_3279T1.jpg[/attachment:2kooj3y5]

[Duncan Rawlinson]

That’s one of the benefits of learning online… You can take your time and go at a pace that suits you.

I enjoy and the stark minimalism of both of these images.

Sometimes landscape photos that are shot in portrait really work nicely. In most cases landscape shots that are done in portrait usually have a stunning foreground visual element of some kind.

For example:
[attachment=2:3e1akim3]landscape photo shot in portrait 1.jpg[/attachment:3e1akim3]
photo by Gemma Stiles

[attachment=1:3e1akim3]landscape photo shot in portrait 2.jpg[/attachment:3e1akim3]
photo by Gemma Stiles

[attachment=0:3e1akim3]landscape photo shot in portrait 3.jpg[/attachment:3e1akim3]
photo by seyed mostafa zamani

Take note of how this type of composition really works due to the strong foreground visual elements.

In your images in you have attempted a similar idea but the foreground elements just aren’t as interesting… Don’t get me wrong I like the simplistic monochromatic nature of these images they’re just missing that little something special.

Perhaps next time just get closer to something nice looking and place it in the foreground.

Also be careful with camera shake on these.

Nice job here.

[Scamper]

Great advice. I’m getting a huge amount out of this course. I guess now I’m onto the portfolio assignment, but perhaps I’ll spend some time to take more photos before I do that.

Have a good weekend!

[Duncan Rawlinson]

🙂

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