Photography is about seeing. But it's also about what you don't see. For celebrated landscape photographer Tom Mackie this is one of the most important points to remember when shooting scenes. The first think Tom does once he's ready to take a picture is scour the scene, looking for any pattern or geometric shapes he can make a feature of in his composition.
" I really don't like cluttered landscapes and composing for pattern is a good way of giving a sense of order to the natural world. This helps the views eye navigate more easily through the frame "
For Tom, composition is a process of dissecting all the detail out of the landscape.
Fig 1 - Examples Composition Landscapes
Fig 2 - Examples Composition Landscapes.
Landscape Tips -
- If you're using a leading line, a common mistake is that any line will do. It needs to be engaging.
- Before you mount your camera on your tripod, walk around with it and take a few sample shots to find the best position this saves having to constantly readjust your tripod.
- Use contrasting colors. You may have a nice twilight scene, but without some balance to the cool, blue tones, its impact might be lost. You might try to incorporate a warm glow of tungsten light from a cottage for instance.
- Be selective and ruthless with the elements in a shot. If you struggling to find good way of framing an awkwardly shaped tree, why include it at all? It sounds obvious, but only include something if it looks good.
- Get yourself a Lee Big Stopper ND filter. They smooth out water to help you capture better reflections in your foreground.
To see more of Tom pictures you can visit www.tommackie.com
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