Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne
I rarely take a landscape photo – mainly because I rarely ‘see’ a landscape. Â I suspect it is just as much about being extremely short-sighted as it is about lack of practice in landscape photography.
I’m always looking at the small details around me on my afternoon walks. Â Small details are what I see.
The photo below is an exception.  The image  below shows one small section of the large Ornamental lake with one of the islands, then the slope up towards Government House on the western perimeter.
This is the very first landscape photo that I’m 100% happy with. Â You may prefer rustic country landscapes or rugged mountain ranges – I certainly do. Â You may prefer tranquil beaches with long lines of coast in the background. Â I just rarely get to see them as I no longer drive and don’t have a car anyway.
So for an inner city dweller, this is my view of a ‘landscape’.
This is my ‘back yard’.
I like this landscape,Vicki! Nice!
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Thank you Steve – I guess landscapes might be hard for you too (with your vision probe).
Any landscape is good and this one’s great for a city.!!!
Thankyou Carolyn – so kind of you to say so.
Landscapes are a struggle for me. I see small details too. I went to a seminar on landscapes last weekend and saw some work that was absolutely stunning. The artist gave some good compositional tips but his aperture notes were even more helpful. I’m anxious to try them out. This is a really beautiful scene. Well done.
I thought you might be in the same position as me re the eyesight ‘thingey’ and wondered if that is why you’re so good at close-ups. Steve, who did the first comment on this post has vision issues too.
I’m not so sure my composition is too bad in general. I just find it hard to photograph a large space. I don’t know what camera settings to use.
Thankyou for your comment. Care to share any aperture tips.
(I think I might have used the ‘landscape’ setting on the DSLR to capture the above image. I should review what ISO, shutterspeed & aperture the camera chose for the photo. The sky is fairly white, but then it was overcast at that particular stage of my walk – not blue sky as reflected in the duck images, which were towards the end of the walk).
I actually have good vision, but am drawn in by details – I studied drawing in college and I could get lost in crosshatching.
The guy who taught the seminar used hyper focus and he has charted out lots of settings – he uses f11 and focuses 1/3 into the scene. His name is Ed Cooley and his work is like looking righ into a place – personally I like to play with DOF to direct the eye, he seems to have almost every detail in focus. Of course he uses a tripod for everything and takes long exposures.
I wonder if a more closed aperture might give dimension to the sky – I think that I shy away from landscapes if the sky doesn’t seem dramatic enough – probably because I am not confident with a white sky.
Most of Ed’s work has horizontal angles to draw you in – I want to try some of these things and see if I can make better choices when shooting landscapes.
Thanks for the tips from Ed Cooley. I always find you a mine of inspiration & great tips.
By chance, I just finished looking at my DPS (Digital Photography School) weekly newsletter and would you believe there’s an article on Landscapes – talking about – focusing 1/3 into the scene. This is not the first time DPS has had an article relevant to a current post of mine.
I’ll google Ed Cooley. Interesting about how he uses horizontal angles to draw your eye in. I thought you might have said Ed uses something like f20 & a tripod, but f11 is something I’ve tried hand-held and is doable for me.
Here is Eds gallery site. He has a blog too. http://whiterivergallery.com/
He prints monumental pieces 10+ feet wide. He goes to a place over and over to study the light.
Thnx for the link.
V
It’s a beautiful and envious backyard! Who wouldn’t want a wonderful view like that. You did great on this landscape photo, Vicki!
Thankyou Fergiemoto – I am lucky to live so close to the Gardens.
By the way, I’ve lived in the area on and off since I came back from London in 1979, so it really is a location I know very well.
Yes, like Fergiemoto said above, what a beautiful backyard, Victoria.