mountains and more.

My family went down to Whitefish, Montana this Christmas Break, so I was able to take some pictures of the beautiful mountains and scenery. The view was just fantastic, however I do wish that I could have taken my camera up to the summit, as the view from up there was even more stunning. Alas, I did not trust my first-time-skiing abilities enough to bring my camera with me! So here are a few of my favourites...

 

As you can probably see in many of my pictures, I absolutely love capturing clouds in my landscapes. In my opinion, the entirely different texture adds to the pictures, more often than not.  I am also a big fan of the swirly grey background that clouds create.

I do love how the white snow is in such a contrast with the trees as well, giving it an (almost) black and white feel.

 

 

I also, as always, try to keep the rule of thirds going. This however, is more apparent in some pictures than in others.

 

 

 



 This last one would probably be my favourite if not for one thing: Those darn wires in the bottom left corner. I probably could do something about them if I was good at editing, but seeing as I cannot, there they shall stay. Ah well, if you squint you can't really see them, right? :p But the blues of the mountains mixing with the grey sky, and framed by the harsher black (or dark green) and white of the trees and snow? Beautiful.

Landscapes! and avoiding dull ones....

So today I am going to talk about landscape. The idea of doing landscape photography was never my favourite, because sometimes it seems like the picture just doesn't compare to the real thing. Plus all too often the image turns out looking flat and two dimensional.  But I decided to work on it first, mostly because of the beautiful fall colours that leave all too soon. So I did some research, and read some great articles that helped me to learn new tricks and techniques, which (I hope) worked! So here are the two techniques that I used the most in exploring landscapes:


1. Having a Focal Point
One thing that I overlooked all too often with landscape photography, is that you still need a main "subject" or focal point. This adds more depth to the picture, avoiding the flat, two dimensional look. So here are a few of my recent pics, my favourites are from a beautiful cloudy day last week. Focal point included! And, of course, the rule of thirds as well... although sometimes you just need to break that rule.

 

 

 

 

 

 Decided to have some fun with this next one and adjust the colour a bit:

 

 

 

2. Using Lines

Another technique is to use leading lines to guide the viewers through the picture, giving their eyes something to follow. In these pictures I used lines on roads. They are not my favourite photographs, but they do the trick!



 

 

 

And one of my favourite things about techniques, is that sometimes you can just break those rules and have fun with it!

 

 

So that concludes my exploration of landscape techniques, although I am certain I will use them again throughout this passion project. These pictures were actually a lot of fun to take, and I hope you enjoyed them as well. Till next time!

 

 

And check out these sweet articles that helped me out so much: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/08/29/dull-landscapes-simple-in-camera-tricks-to-add-depth-to-your-photos/

 

http://digital-photography-school.com/5-tips-for-shooting-landscapes-with-greater-impact/