Naturephotographyclasses – Ian Plant – Anatomy of a Grand Landscape Photograph

In this presentation, Ian will show you a step-by-step process for making compelling grand landscape compositions, with an emphasis on the wide angle near-far style of composition. The discussion will focus on the key elements of making striking landscape photos. This includes visual design principles, how light and weather affect composition, and techniques for achieving that “deep focus” effect that ensure sharpness throughout the entire image frame. 

• Introduction to the near-far style of landscape photography.
• Overview of the key steps to making successful grand landscape photos and the importance of scouting and planning.
• FInding a point of interest. Discussion of starting by identifying a compelling scenery feature to use as the background of the composition.
• Finding a compelling foreground. Discussion of what types of foregrounds work best, and how a foreground should be used to encourage the viewer to explore the composition more, and to invite them visually and emotionally into the scene. 
• Discussion of techniques for optimizing relative sizes of foreground and background, and how you can use focal length and relative position to do both.
• The importance of weather and light to landscape compositions, and a discussion of using cloud shapes to mirror or repeat foreground shapes.
• A discussion of achieving “deep focus” in landscape compositions, and using hyperfocal distance, depth of field, and focus stacking to ensure sharp focus from near to far.