I have been studying up on Landscape Photography the past couple of weeks in preparation for my vacation next month.  I have done so much sports photography in the last year, I felt I needed to give my landscape skills a refresher.  I subscribed to Kelby Training last year to help me in learning Photoshop. It has helped me with other kinds of photography and equipment, too.  For instance, the subject of Landscape Photography has eleven video training courses which include a series done by Moose Peterson.

In those videos, Moose goes over concepts in landscape photography.  Last weekend when I was photographing waterfalls in Taughannock and Fillmore Glen State Parks, I took a little extra time in composing the photographs.

The first concept is something I have talked about before.  When photographing a landscape put something of interest in the Foreground, Middleground and Background to give the photo depth.  Using the Upper Pinnacle Falls from Fillmore Glen State Park photo again will demonstrate this concept.

The Foreground, Middleground and Background of a Landscape photograph.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 15s, f/32, ISO 200, EV 0, 62mm Focal Length, tripod, 3-stop ND filter.

Even in this compact scene, I found interesting areas in the three zones.

When people look at a painting or photograph, they will notice the bright or light areas first. You can use this inherit trait to pull a person into your photograph and create paths for their eyes to travel through it.  This is something I tried to grasp with some success.  The photo below uses the natural lighting of the gorge in Taughannock Falls State Park and the placement of the rock wall and people to give your eyes a place to start (red arrows). As you come upon Taughannock Falls, you will continue through the darker area (yellow arrows) until returning back to the starting point.

People will first notice bright areas in photographs and then travel to the dark areas.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/125s, f/16, ISO 900, EV 0, 28mm Focal Length, tripod.

It does not hurt there is a curved leading line of the stone and gorge walls. 🙂

This weekend I will be working on a couple of more landscape photography concepts from Moose I will share with you next week.