Читать книгу Collins Complete Photography Projects - John Garrett - Страница 47

Think about the possibilities of the angle of light in relation to your focal point, and whether you could make it more important in the picture at a different time of day. If the answer to that is yes, plan to come back rather than just settling for second-best. A compass is invaluable to a landscape photographer – they are not expensive, and you may even have one on a smartphone. On a sunny day, it’s not hard to work out that if your focal point is lit from the front in the morning sun and you want it backlit you need to come back in the evening, for example, but if the weather is dull you’ll be glad of a compass to tell you which way the light will fall when the sun is out.

Once you have begun to think about focal points you will soon look for one as second nature. However, while you should always search for the perfect photograph, a little digital help can be the answer where you have a lovely scene but the crucial point of focus is missing. So, for the second part of this project, shoot a landscape that needs a focal point, then find one in your archive and put it in; you’ll find details on how to do this in Combining Images. Again, remember the light – if your photograph is taken on a sunny day with strong shadows, a house, boat or tree with the light coming from a different direction will be an obvious fake.

EVENING SEASCAPE

I shot this seascape very late in the evening in the Highlands of Scotland. I like the warm light and the composition and I underexposed it by –1 stop to make it more dramatic. At the time I was thinking, ‘A little boat would be great,’ but none was to be seen. For your own photograph, find a landscape with a broad view that pleases you, but no specific focal point; estuaries, forests and agricultural land are good places to look. 1/350 second at f11, 120mm, 400 ISO. JG

A FOCAL POINT FROM THE LIBRARY

This boat picture is a perfect match because it was shot in very similar light conditions to John’s seascape. It’s a good idea to collect pictures such as moons, boats, clouds, cottages and so forth for inserting into landscapes that just lack that little something. GH

RETOUCHING THE SHOT

The colour of the boat has been changed using Hue/Saturation in Photoshop to match the colour in the original shot; this made the retouching easier because we didn’t have to cut out the boat too accurately. I think it has improved the seascape, and it’s fun to see your picture transformed like this. If you take care to match the colour, light and tone, your own added focal point should sit comfortably in the landscape. JG