LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY BPH203

LEARN THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHING LANDSCAPES

You will learn and develop skills in discovering and creating different effects and use various materials & equipment to achieve stunning landscape photos.

Parts of the course are devoted to such things as special affects, colour richness, photographic terms and achieving sharpness.

Discover how to unleash the natural beauty and uniqueness of landscapes from behind the lens.

LET THE LANDSCAPE EXPRESS ITSELF IN YOUR PICTURES

This course will guide you through many different types of landscapes and ways to capture them dramatically and effectively.

A course for Professional Photographers or Amateurs, wanting to explore and develop better ways of taking photographs of the landscape.

COURSE STRUCTURE
There are 8 lessons as follows:

Introduction
The Main Principles
Creating Different Affects
Photographing Natural Areas
Photographing Streetscapes
Photographing Water
Developing Your Photographic Style
Major Project

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Course Aims
On successful completion of the course you should be able to do the following:

To know and understand the equipment and materials used in photography.
Achieve different affects photographing the same landscape.
To compose a well-balanced photo.
To utilise form to create a three dimensional affect.
Develop your own photographic style.

Duration: 100 hours

WHAT THE COURSE COVERS
Here are just some of the things you will be doing:

Revision of the basics of photography.

Starting a resource file.
The principles of landscape photography.
Choosing the right equipment and materials.
Using filters.
Dealing with a range of problems found in natural areas, including uneven light, shade, glare, etc.
Photographing buildings and streetscapes.
The characteristics of water and its affect on photography.
Selecting and composing a photograph to create the predetermined affect.
Create a folio of landscape photographs.

What is in Each Lesson?

1. Introduction

Different Approaches –realistic, impressionistic, abstract
Understanding the landscape (components, change)
Lighting (Shooting into the sun, time of day, weather)
Using Filters (Polarising, ultra violet, red, orange, yellow)
Snapshots
Equipment
Camera settings (Shutter speed, aperture,)
Introducing Digital Technology
CCD’s
Resources

2. The Main Principles

Open view scenes
Closed view scenes
Rule of thirds
Unity
Balance
Proportion
Harmony
Contrast
Rhythm
Line
Form
Mass
Space
Texture
Colour
Patterns
Tone
Other compositional components
Camera Techniques
Movement
Depth of field
Angles
Framing the landscape

3. Creating Different Effects

Landscape effects
Sunrise and Sunset
Weather effects
Haze
Mist
Rain and Rainbows
Storms
Exposures for landscapes
Sun
Clouds
Creating intense colour
Creating different effects
Scenic Photography
Digital filter effects (Coloured pencil, fresco, sponge, blur, etc)
Hue/Saturation
Digital toning

4. Photographing Natural Areas

Locations (Arid desert, Arctic ice flows, volcanic peaks, tropical rainforests, etc)
Grasslands
Forest
Mountains
Rural areas
Tropical Rainforest
Desert
Wetlands
Snow photography
Coastal plotography
Photographing plants
Compositional elements
Lenses
Shooting in bad weather
Extreme temperature
Extreme Cold
Extreme heat and humidity

5. Photographing Streetscapes

Modern buildings
Historic buildings
Viewpoints and perspective
Equipment
Photographing architecture at night
Mirrors and reflections
Exposure readings
Converging lines
Tips for architectural photos
Tips for street photography

6. Photographing Water

Water characteristics
Reflections
Exposures
Creating effects with water
Water in motion
Freezing movement
Achieving a soft artistic effect
Droplets
Using filters with water
No tripod
Seascapes
Underwater photography
Exposures

7. Developing Your Photographic Style

Styles & work of famous photographers (Ansel Adams, Paul Caponigro, Thomas Joshua Cooper, John Davies , David Doubilet, Carleton E Watkins, etc)
Developing a photo style
Hints on style
Photographing detail
Atmosphere
Trip or Photographer Themes
Know your equipment
Computer Techniques (Levels, Channel extraction, Channel mixer, Duotones, Hand tinting, Panoramas)

8. Major Project

Uses for Photography
Using your work to get a job
Photojournalism
Freelancing
Publishing
Form of photo
Creating a website
Creating works of art
Framing
Creating a Folio (In this lesson, you create either a photo essay or a folio as a major project)

How to Photograph Water
Photographing water is a little different to most other types of photography because of the way water and light interacts. Water photography can be both challenging and diverse, and offers more possibilities than what you might think of. Consider photographing a water droplet, pouring from a jug, rapids in a river, waves in an ocean, reflections on still water, rain, fog, splashing, bubbles, spray from a garden sprinkler, melting ice, snow, or underwater photography.

When light moves from water to air, or vice versa, it can change, just as it changes when it moves through the surface of a lens.
Water can bounce light off in sometimes unpredictable directions, and when the water is moving, things can get even more complicated. Photographing water is not all bad though, by any means. These same characteristics that make water difficult to photograph, also provide possibilities for creating images that might never be created, when photographing other subjects.

General Tips

Protect the camera from getting wet; unless it is an underwater camera
Keep water drops off the lens, as they can distort the image uncontrollably
Be careful of extremes in reflective light (e.g. sunlight bouncing off water can be so bright as to distort the clarity and lines in a photo)

Tips for Photographing Moving Water
Choose the subject purposefully, consider the objects (rocks, animals, people structures) that surround the water (both animate and inanimate), time of day (and light conditions) and the affect you want to achieve.

Possible subjects may be a waterfall, rapids in a watercourse, a fountain, ocean waves, ripples on a pond, fountains or water running from a tap.
Use a slow shutter speed (e.g. 0.5 to 2 seconds) with a camera mounted on a tripod to create a blur in the moving water while retaining sharpness in surrounding inanimate objects.
Use fast shutter speeds to catch a clear image of moving water
If a shutter is open for a longer period, use a timer or remote trigger so you do not cause any movement to the camera when shooting.
Be careful to avoid overexposure. When you have greater contrast in light (bright reflective water to dark surrounding plants or rocks); over exposure is a great risk. A neutral density filter is a common solution to minimize this problem.

Tips for Photographing a Water Droplet

Keep lighting subdued, and use a flash, so the exposure is regulated by the flash rather than other light sources.
Stage a photo with a camera on a tripod; keep it far enough away from the drop, to avoid any chance of water splashing on the lens.
Choose an appropriate droplet source (rain can have a great depth of field and can be difficult to focus on, while a dripping tap can have a measurable focal length. If photographing a dripping tap, hold a solid object in front of the camera directly below the tap, to set focus, before shooting.
A 200 mm lens is a good choice
Experiment with different types of drops and different sources (e.g. coloured liquids like soft drink or milk), clear liquids, different viscosities (e.g. oil, glycerine, water)
Shoot from a tripod, using fast shutter speeds, to capture the falling droplet

Photographing Reflections
A mirrored reflection is best photographed when the water is at its stillest and sunlight is not directly hitting the water. A good time to get such photos is early morning or late afternoon, or when trees or buildings beside the water are casting a shadow over the water