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02-05-2013, 12:31 PM   #1
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Are Landscapes Too Easy?

My collection of photographs contains very few landscapes. I might print one or two a year to hang at home, but I never post any online. I enjoy browsing others' work but I can't work up much interest in taking any of my own. Why?

Today's cameras, even relatively cheap ones, have gotten so good that you can put one on fully automatic, point it in the right direction and get a decent result. If your first attempt is not quite what you see, put the camera mode on "scene" and try again. Still not what you see? Try bracketing, many camera's will do this for you automatically. Still not what you see? Try HDR. Again, many good cameras have this function built in. Still not satisfied? Take a RAW image or two or three (so you can eliminate pesky tourists) and work out the best exposure, contrast, color balance and shadows/highlights at home with a bottle of Bud close at hand.

You don't even have to be at the right place at the right time anymore. I set up to photograph a full moon rising behind a palm tree at dusk. Unfortunately, I was going to lose the light before the moon had risen to right spot. No problem, photograph the tree, wait a few minutes, photograph the moon and move it to the right spot later. The sample of a jungle river (actually from Disney's animal Kingdom} did not include Cookie, my Arabian mare. I thought she would add interest to the photo so I just plugged her in. Maybe an alligator or two might add even more interest. The mist was not there either. Beau, the white horse, passed away 20 years before I took the picture of the old barn. I thought the barn was neat looking, but dull. So I again plugged a little interest in. (Is this cheating? I don't pretend these images are real, and I really don't try to make them realistic enough to fool anyone. It's just for fun)

I like to photograph my horses, and I have a nesting pair a bald eagles when I feel like photographing birds, but I really like capturing the small lizards that abound here in the summer. My, those little buggers are quick!! Landscapes? I enjoy looking at others' work, but just not for me. A little too easy.

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02-05-2013, 12:53 PM - 1 Like   #2
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Easy!? No offence, but show us your masterpieces if landscape photography is easy.

I don't think any style of photography is easier than the other, because in the end it's the creativity and the vision of the photographer that will always push the limits and create beautiful pictures.
02-05-2013, 01:02 PM - 1 Like   #3
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Yes, very easy. Unless you want to do it right. Then it gets more complicated.

I won't critique your attachments but they do show that you don't really understand landscape photography as much as you think you do. Get into it a bit and learn a bit before you dismiss what others work very hard at as easy.

Last edited by abmj; 02-05-2013 at 01:15 PM.
02-05-2013, 01:12 PM - 1 Like   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by abmj Quote
Yes, very easy. Unless you want to do it right. Then it gets more complicated.

I won't critique your attachments but they do show that you don't really understand landscape photography. Get into it a bit and learn a bit before you dismiss what others work very hard at as easy.
This.
Poor landscape photography may be easy (I should know) but getting a great shot is pretty hard. I'm hoping to get one some day.

02-05-2013, 01:14 PM   #5
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I got up at 5am and drove 30 miles to be at Mt Rushmore before dawn...............then waited another 30 minutes for the sun to light up the faces...........then drive around to the other side of the mountain to get another angle...........this doesn't mention the 2 hours the day before to scout out the location and plan my shooting......yes, just landscapes and probably boring to some, but I had fun......
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02-05-2013, 01:18 PM   #6
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wsteffey ....on contrary i find landscape photography most difficult.....even if my camera does everything for me, the picture will be dead if there is no certain feeling, no emotion in it. I believe landscape photography is mostly about way of seeing and interpreting that emotion or feeling if you like....
02-05-2013, 01:47 PM - 1 Like   #7
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Well the editing in those photos is very apparent, so you whether you pretend or not wouldn't make a difference. Couldn't you say the same about any photography, though? I mean, you can edit portraits, products, even news. But photoshop can never be better than good results straight out of the camera. Photoshop can only enhance what you got, it can't add something that wasnt there.

02-05-2013, 01:48 PM   #8
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At times I will take loads of shots to get just the right one. Landscapes easy? You have to be in the right place, at the right time, and with the lighting how you need it to make it all come together. Sure, anyone can take a landscape pic, and anyone can use photochop, but not everyone can take a good landscape that grabs you and makes you want to be there. I throw away more than I keep, and though I have the right equipment and I sometimes hike with all of it to the right places I don't always get what I want. One of these days I will get a super awesome landscape, but I know there's loads more that I need to do and learn to get one of those spectacular ones.
02-05-2013, 01:52 PM   #9
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If landscape were easy, we would be innundated with excellent landscape photos. Obviously not the case.


Steve
02-05-2013, 01:54 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by stevebrot Quote
If landscape were easy, we would be innundated with excellent landscape photos. Obviously not the case.


Steve
I don't have much good landscapes around me. I'm sh*t out of luck here.
02-05-2013, 02:02 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by JinDesu Quote
I don't have much good landscapes around me. I'm sh*t out of luck here.
But surely there are some interesting urban landscapes a.k.a. cityscapes in big apple
02-05-2013, 02:03 PM   #12
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I have to agree with the tenor of the responses to your post.
I don't think there is anything easy in capturing landscapes. They have to emote a feel of some kind to grab me.
Your images may do that for you, whether by your choice of subject, composition or post processing. And that is fine, but one must not confuse gear/technology with the brain/eye behind the camera. Unfortunately, there are more postcard landscape images than well thought out images that capture a feeling in a landscape thanks to the lighting, PoV, subject, time of year, and more.
Perhaps your starting premise is what is wrong.
02-05-2013, 02:04 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by JinDesu Quote
I don't have much good landscapes around me. I'm sh*t out of luck here.
A true master can make an interesting photo out of a not-so-interesting subject. Or show you why what you had previously regarded as uninteresting was actually interesting.
It's certainly easier with a spectacular landscape, but a spectacular landscape definitely doesn't ensure a spectacular landscape photo. I've got a lot of so-so landscape photos to prove it!
02-05-2013, 02:05 PM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by vrrattko Quote
But surely there are some interesting urban landscapes a.k.a. cityscapes in big apple
You'd be amazed how many things get in the way of a good landscape shot out here

But I was making a little joke in that - one of the biggest difficulties in shooting landscapes is finding a good landscape to stand out. And then hoping that nothing gets in the way (i.e. random tourist).

So people who make average landscape locations stand out must have done quite a bit of work to do so.
02-05-2013, 02:07 PM   #15
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For example, I think a guy with an eye like our fellow Pentax shooter Camus Wyatt could make a compelling image out of scenes many of us might consider mundane.
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