Mastering landscape photography [+ critiques and the bi-weekly challenge]

Published: Sat, 07/06/24

Updated: Sat, 07/13/24

Hi!

Well, another week has flown by! For all of our readers based in the US, I hope you had a chance to photograph some firework displays (and if you did, I’d love to see the photos!).

In today’s newsletter, I have a few items to share:

The bi-weekly challenge (which contains a very cool photography exercise!)
Resources for capturing beautiful landscape photographs
More critiques!

So without further ado, let’s get started:

The dPS bi-weekly challenge: with light

From Sime:

Last week we went with composition and asked you to try TWO images, one portrait and one landscape of the same scene - some great results! Well done! (Missed it? You can still try it!)

We're going to go down the same path with this challenge, two images, but as you've likely spotted in the title, this time it's about light - camera flash! On camera, off camera... But we also realise that not everyone has a flash, some people use phones, some use older cameras, newer cameras and they might not have flash SO what we're asking for is that you simply LIGHT one photo and also submit the SAME photo without LIGHT... You can use ambient light in both photographs, but you MUST use light (Flash or LED or a desk lamp or a torch) in one of the photographs.

Remember to tag your post with #dpsweeklychallenge and #dPSWithLight on our weekly challenge page or on social media! You can also share your images in the dPS Facebook group as the challenge is posted there each week as well.

Helpful landscape photography resources

Landscape photography is one of the most exhilarating genres out there - but it can also be a real challenge to master.

Over the years, we’ve published literally hundreds of expert tutorials on how to effectively capture the landscape. If you’re passionate about landscape photography, or you want to learn but you don’t know where to start, these articles will take you far:

And for those of you who are struggling with landscape photography gear choices, I encourage you to check out these articles:

If you explore just one of the articles listed above, I guarantee you’ll learn a lot, so give them a read and see what you think!

Critiquing your photos

This week, I have two more critiques to share - and for anyone who would like to submit images for critique in a future newsletter, just hit Reply to this message and send along a file or two! But make sure you mention that the images are indeed for critique in the email body or subject line, and please make sure the files are JPEGs and at least 1000 pixels on the long end!)

First we have a beautiful flower image from Michel F, who notes that the photo was captured with a Canon EOS R10 at 135mm, 1/100s, f/5.6, ISO 200:

What I like:

Michel, I’m loving your low perspective here; it looks like you shot while lying on the ground, which has resulted in a wonderfully intimate composition as well as some beautiful foreground and background bokeh!
You’ve also done a nice job of ensuring that the central flower stands out, despite the space around it - and I think your frontal view works really nicely here. It makes the flower very easy to “comprehend” visually and helps draw the eye.
I like your choice of light; it looks like you’re working with relatively low sun that’s coming from the back-left, which produces a mix of shadows and highlights that give the shot a lot of punch.

Ideas for improvement:

To my eye, the colors seem a bit strong, especially the purples/magentas - on the main flower, it looks like parts are so saturated that you’ve lost some detail. I’d try dialing that back until the colors are more muted; you have a great color palette, I just think the shot could benefit from a little desaturation.
Relatedly, it looks like there might be a bit of haloing around that main flower. I’m not seeing it on the flower to the right, so that could be a consequence of post-processing.
Another thought is to try to isolate the flower even further by reframing to avoid distractions; I don’t mind the smaller green leaves at the base of the flowers, but there’s a curled dead leaf in the center that draws the eye, and some of the tall out-of-focus grass is arguably distracting. (On the other hand, I also kinda like the grass…)
One more thought: The left side of the frame is very bright, while the background is quite dark; it could be worth playing with tonal adjustment sliders to reduce the highlights a bit and create a bit less separation between those bright greens and dark background.

Second, we have a sweeping landscape photo from Marion C:

What I like:

Marion, you’ve done a wonderful job of rendering this scene in tack-sharp detail; it looks like you’ve captured a ton of detail in the foreground, the midground, and the background - not just due to a combination of a wide-angle lens and a narrow aperture, but also thanks to your focusing point. It’s easy to accidentally set the focus too close to your lens or too far away, but as far as I can tell, everything is great (with the possible exception of the vegetation in the bottom left-hand corner, which I think could be cropped out).
I also like that white car on the beach; it adds another element of interest to an already interesting photo! And your decision to include those distant buildings gives this image added sociological/documentary value.
I’m loving the way the path guides my eye through the foreground and midground, as well as the sweep of the coast on the left. Everything seems to be pushing the viewer toward the tip of the land in the distance, which is fantastic.
And you’ve included some nice foreground elements, too - that vegetation on either side of the path - which gives the shot a wonderful sense of depth.

Ideas for improvement:

As I mentioned above, the vegetation in the bottom left corner looks a little soft, and I think it could be cropped out, anyway; to my eye, it’s a little distracting, and while it does add an even greater sense of depth to the shot, there’s not enough of it to warrant inclusion, I think.
I’d also encourage you to go for a slightly tighter composition - the area off to the left feels a little empty, while the bulk of the visual “action” is happening more toward the center of the shot. To really hone in on that visual energy, with the winding path and the foreground vegetation and the distant landscape features, I’d try a crop in on the left, and perhaps also slightly on the right, as well.
One other thought: The light is very overcast, and while I like the moody clouds in the distance - which are nicely defined - I think you could combine this composition with a dramatic sunrise or sunset for an absolutely breathtaking shot, especially if you had a mix of sun and clouds. I also think that warm sunlight falling on the green vegetation would go together beautifully.

Well, that’s all for now, but I hope that was helpful - have a great week ahead!

Talk to you next Saturday,

Jaymes Dempsey (and the dPS team)

PO Box 1181, Blackburn North, Victoria 3130, AUSTRALIA

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