What is Contemporary Landscape Photography?

Contemporary Landscaping Photography is the art of taking landscape photographs whose center of focus is of objects of contemporary life such as waste dumps, abandoned automobiles, graffiti-covered trains and contemporary building structures, either new or decaying.

What is Composition and How Does It Relate to Contemporary Landscape Photography?

Great landscape photographs are dependent on being able to portray a scene, to arrange its elements, and to present it in a way that evokes an emotional response and allows the viewer to experience not only a beautiful scene, but also an awe-inspiring one.

To get such a feeling, it is not enough to have an interesting subject, or to maintain sharp focus, or to calculate the perfect exposure - the photographer must also be able to see a composition within a scene, to visualize it, and be able to convey his or her own inspiration to the viewer. That is the essence of landscape photography - training the eye to recognize elements in a scene that can combine to produce an emotional reaction, and then capturing your own vision in a photograph.

To lend a feeling of interest and excitement to your photographs, the center of interest should not be placed dead-center in your photographs, but off-center. You can use the rule of thirds as a guide in the off-center placement of your subjects. Before you snap the picture, imagine your picture area divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically. The intersections of these imaginary lines suggest four options for placing the center of interest for good composition. The option you select depends upon the subject and how you would like that subject to be presented.

The Importance of Lighting in Your Landscape Photographs.

Pay attention to the lighting as well, it can give your picture just the right touch or ruin the entire shot.
Since reflected light is what the camera uses to create images, lighting is clearly a key element in all kinds of photography. Besides Natural or Artificial sources of light, the photographer should be aware of the direction of light and what effects it can render to a landscape scene. Light is classified into four types: front, back, side and overhead. Each brings their own specific effects to the subject.

What Type of Filters Do You Need When Taking Landscape Photographs?

There is a large number of filters available for use in landscape photography, but the two most used are the UV and the Polaroid. The UV filter is used to remove the haze that is usually present in landscape photos, and the polarizing filter used to reduce or remove reflections both in the sky and in the composition. There are many types of lenses, both for color and black and white photographs, too many to list here, but of which the photographer should be aware.

The Most Important Part of Contemporary Landscape Photography.

Know your abilities, strengths and weaknesses. These three things determine what you are capable of. And practice, practice and practice some more. Rome was not built in a day, but it was built Learn from your mistakes. But have fun. Enjoy the process.