The Unpredictability of Photography, and Why Flexibility is Good...

Wildfire - Bishop, CA

When you talk to any serious photographer, amateur or pro, you will inevitably hear the old adage: "When the perfect photo presents itself, you must be ready to take the shot".  What this is actually saying is that, despite all your efforts to control a scene and construct the perfect photo, outside influences will often work against you, thus the perfect photo cannot be engineered, but rather happens naturally and usually in an instant. The only subset of photography that is immune to this is studio photography.  Elements such as weather, lighting, wind, motion within the frame, etc. all work against us every time we venture out. Pro Photographers use things like light disks, multiple strobes, and color lens filters to bring some control to lighting, but for the most part, these are crutches and often times require assistants and expensive ancillary gear. As a landscape/architectural photographer, my goal is to control what I can. I have ultimate control over perspective, composition, and timing. What I see in my mind. and not necessarily through the lens. is ultimately what I want printed.

Garden Crossing - Boston Public Garden, MA

On Composition:
I pay close attention to foreground (does it add or detract from the primary subject). Since I shoot for artistic reasons, I am not bound by the edict not to alter a scene to meet my vision as journalistic photographers are. Take the time to move trash, position a rock, wait for your scene to clear of cars or people, or whatever. I hate it when a parked car is in a scene containing an ancient structure because it destroys the timelessness of the composition. If I am not able to wait or relocate, I will remove the offending piece in post processing (remember that artistic intent isn't bound by rigid rules). As far as background is concerned in my composition, many times the sky IS my background interest. I find that a bright, sunny, and cloudless day is the worst time to venture out. It makes a boring and uninteresting backdrop. Fluffy, billowy clouds with sun breaking through is the best for color prints and full overcast with highly contrasting dramatic clouds are the best for black and white.


On Perspective:

Navy Pier - Chicago, IL

Always remember that when your lens is tilted up, lines will converge inward toward the top. This feels natural to the viewer since 90% of the photos of buildings have this perspective. The reverse of this is not so natural. Photographing from a tall building downward gives the structures an outward leaning bias. I had this issue when in Chicago shooting from atop the John Hancock Tower and the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel. Thankfully there is an option to purchasing an expensive tilt-shift lens. I use Photoshop CS5s Transform Perspective utility found under the Transform tool. This has been around since early versions of Photoshop so even if you have an older copy, check it out. I use it on all my architecture photographs to ensure a more natural appearance. Also, keep in mind that subject distortion and artifacts such as barrel and pincushion distortion can be an issue when using both wide-angle and telephoto lenses in their extreme settings. If possible, use prime lenses or shoot between 55mm and 90mm. Again, Photoshop has a filter that can aid in removing this defect if it is excessive.


On Timing:

Day's End - Huntington Beach, CA

Try and think about all the great color photos you have seen in galleries. They all have the common trait of having been photographed around sunrise or sunset. These are known as the Golden Hours, and for a good reason. The light is usually golden in color, the scenery has better contrast and appears more dramatic, and if you shoot exclusively at this time, a greater number of your prints will earn you gold! That being said, it is difficult achieving this on a regular basis. Most grand vistas are in remote, out of the way places that will mean lodging locally or driving for hours through unfamiliar lands in pitch dark. On a trip to Iceland this past January, we drove 5 hours one morning to reach the Vatnajökull Glacier Bay in order to catch the color of the sunrise through the beach ice. 

Eastern Sierras - Bishop, CA

This brings me to the reason for my posting along this topic. Yesterday we drove three hours to get to a location that was supposed to have the best wildflower blooms anywhere in a 300 mile radius.  The photos posted online from the day before showed thick carpets of golden poppies in an idyllic mountainside backdrop. Well, just remember, you can control many things, but some things are left to chance. As it tuned out, a short rain and cooler temperatures overnight caused all the poppies to close up for protection. It was a disappointing turn of chance but we chose to move on quickly to find other locations that might have different types of wildflowers. In the end, we didn't get any quality pictures of flowers, but I did walk away with some dramatic mountainside vistas and I had a nice day out hiking with my wife and two dogs. In the end, to be able to stick with photography long enough to become successful, it is important to have fun and roll with the occasional let downs. After all, great photographs are simply a bonus from having had really great adventures and seeing some amazing things.