Everything I’ve talked about in recent posts applies to photographing nature. Nature isn’t static – it tells a story. Sometimes nature waits for you – Half Dome is Half Dome and it isn’t running off anywhere. But the light and shadows change constantly and don’t wait. Sometimes nature is beautiful, sometimes harsh, but it’s always interesting. Colors, patterns, textures, contrast, perspective, shapes – all of these are critical in nature photography. And light, always light. Sometimes we don’t have a choice about the light. We can’t always be where we want to be in early morning or late afternoon: sometimes we must deal with the harsh midday sun. But it can all be handled. So let’s take a look at a few photos and analyze them.
This photo was taken at Pismo Beach. It’s a great example of how you have to look everywhere – not just at the ocean. This photo is all about texture and shows that nature can be in the details – doesn’t always have to be the big picture. It’s a little hard to see in this blog photo, but maybe you can get an better idea here. The sand is so distinct, making its own little patterns, hills and valleys, and so gradated in size – well, you wouldn’t really notice these things unless you had a sharp eye out. The feather makes it a bearable photograph and gives some perspective also. Without the feather, I’m not sure how interesting I could make the sand.
While climbing about the rocks in Cambria, I looked down into a little eddy and saw this red thing – I would guess seaweed. I had to shoot fast – nothing at the beach stays the same for more than a few seconds. But what a photo! It’s graceful, the color is intriguing, and the patterns and light are so varied. Sometimes nature stands still for you but sometimes you have to be quick. And while photos of the ocean can be majestic in scope, the little things count also.
We were in Capitol Reef, Utah, a national park we didn’t even know existed until we passed a sign on the highway and said, “Let’s go there now.” It was magnificent with the sculpted rocks so common in Utah. As we left, we drove past this desert! What a surprise. The colors are intense, the sand has gorgeous contours, and the sky is graceful. At one time I might have rejected this because of the fence – it’s not “all natural.” But that’s ok, because I’m not in the Sahara, I’m in Utah, and the fence is part of the story. The West may be settled but as the sand shows, with the contours made by wind, settled doesn’t mean it’s tamed. This photo also has a foreground, a midground, and a background: your eye takes you from the bottom left up through the midrange and to the sky. There’s a thing called the rule of thirds in photography that can help you compose, but the aim of these blogs is to stay non-technical and develop your eye. And the rule of thirds can be broken.
Nature? Yes and no. But I say yes. These rice paddies outside of Guilin, China, draw the eye back to the beautiful, mysterious karst mountains on the Li River. I could have just snapped a quick shot of the rice paddies but by taking just a moment (they weren’t going anywhere) I could determine a pleasing perspective and give the photo real depth. I am very fond of this photo, going from the rows of rice seedlings methodically planted to the karst mountains which are most often shrouded in mist.
This photo is a good example of a number of items we’ve discussed. The Ligurian Sea is nature, no doubt about it. But the fishing boat at sunset adds dimension and interest. Imagine the photo without the fishing boat and it would be rather dull. Also, the boat is not centered in the frame – just a little off-center, which gives the photo a less static feel, and the horizon does not divide the photo in half. I was sitting at the Vernazza harbor writing postcards, and I was really concentrating on the cards. I glanced up and wowza! Sunset had crept up on me. I had almost forgotten to be alert and look around me
Many more nature photos are on my website and it might be interesting for you to look and try to figure out what makes them good. Or, at least, in case you don’t think they are good, what motivated me to take them and how they were composed. I’ve focused quite a bit on “macro” nature in this blog entry, but you can see that nature isn’t as clear-cut as it seems. Man-made objects do not necessarily detract from nature.
