Читать книгу Collins Complete Photography Projects - John Garrett - Страница 49

Throughout the book, we talk about light as that magic ingredient. Staying with friends in Provence, I was lucky enough to have a bedroom that looked over the hills to the Mediterranean Sea. This view provided a perfect demonstration of how light transforms a landscape.

This is a good project to do on holiday when your time is your own and the chances are you will have some beautiful countryside or seaside to shoot. Find a landscape you like near where you are staying and photograph it in different light conditions. The most interesting light will probably prove to be in early morning or late afternoon, or during stormy weather conditions.

On a fine day, it’s a good idea to start at dawn, taking shots periodically as the light gets stronger and the sun rises. The light will be clear, and there will be long shadows because of the low angle of the sun. Around midday, when the sun is directly overhead, shadows will be minimal, the light will be harsher and generally speaking there is less of interest for the photographer until the shadows of late afternoon lengthen, giving graphic shapes. As the day moves into evening, the reddening of the sky caused by atmospheric conditions creates a warm, mellow light quite different from that of early morning.

You can manipulate the colour balance either in the camera using WB or with the computer, but the highlights and shadows in the picture may make it obvious that the picture was not shot at the time the colour implies. It is better to let the natural time of day provide the colour balance.

Stormy weather will give you the drama of strong tonal contrasts, with heavy cloud and gleams of sun lighting up parts of the landscape. Where the clouds are scudding fast, you’ll be able to get a range of shots showing different light in a very short space of time. Don’t forget to take some sky shots – they may be useful for Photoshopping into another scene where the sky isn’t so interesting.

THE BASIC SHOT

This is the view from my room on an overcast day. It’s flat and grey, lacking in interest, and I only shot the picture to use as an example here. While extra shots don’t cost anything on a digital camera, it’s still worth exercising some discipline as you would be more inclined to do if you were paying for film and processing: they still have to be sorted through and thrown away, and it’s far better to just keep your finger off the shutter release button and wait for a more interesting shot. 1/500 second at f8, 105mm, 400 ISO. JG

THE LANDSCAPE AT DAWN

This is a dawn view out of the window. The light is now quite romantic and worth a picture, but this doesn’t make the grade as a really strong landscape shot; the composition lacks interest and there’s nothing in particular to catch the viewer’s eye. Given a broad view like this, look for interesting areas within it rather than just letting it fill your frame. 1/20 second at f5.3, 105mm, 800 ISO. JG

LIGHT AND COMPOSITION COME TOGETHER

The next night was stormy with dark cloud cover; the sun was piercing through the clouds and the sea looked as though it had been lit from on high with huge spotlights. The magic of light had transformed that view into a spectacular landscape. I used a neutral density graduated filter to keep the clouds dark and underexposed by –1½ stops to help the highlights stand out from the darker water. This is also an example of how to pick out one small area to make a beautiful picture; I used my longest telephoto setting to find the most interesting part of the landscape and discovered a rhythm in the contours of the hills. Using a wide angle to get everything in is tempting when you have a lovely scene occupying your vision, but it just reproduces a view rather than making a strong image. 1/3200 second at f8, 200mm, 400 ISO. JG