Part 4

Landscapes are a huge part of nature photography. Finding amazing landscapes is a challenge in itself. Researching where you are planning to go and knowing at least somewhat of want you would like to capture is a good start. Lets start with color first. Strong color is a key factor in deciding if the landscape picture is worth it or not. The most attractive color for most people is red. If there is a red streak in the sky or the sun is a red color, or even if there is a red hue it is probably worth your time to take a picture.
Clouds make a huge difference in landscape photos. Big dominate cumulonimbus clouds are popular and usually have amazing shapes and are great for capturing the colors sunsets or sunrises. Clouds are also helpful when shooting in midday, for cover and it gives more than just a bunch of blue sky to the picture. Reflections with clouds in the water are a great eye catcher in most pictures. Using still conditions such as no wind and just a very calm scene makes great pictures. The best time to find these relaxed, calm scenes is about 30 minutes before and after sunrise.
Polarizers come in handy when taking pictures of a landscape. Sometime the sky is so much brighter than the mountains or other focus points in the picture that a neutral density filter works great for covering up only the sky section of your photo. Using animals as a small distraction is a landscape picture is also fun and great to do. Using the outlines of birds flying in through part of your picture makes it that much more eye catching. Wide angles are also a good idea for landscape pictures so the whole scene is shown and not just a small section.
There are many factors you have to pay attention to when taking a landscape picture. Such as foreground, background, and how focused the two are. I know with my digital camera it is really hard to take a picture with both being in good focus and it can be really frustrating. The angle that the picture is taken is also important. This is again where the more artistic side of photography can come in. At times it is great to stand above a landscape to get a better view. Then other times it is great to be level with the land or just at any other angle depending on the kind of picture you would like.
The five planes are 1.)Foreground: features interesting landscape details 2.) Midground: contains defined size cues that lead eye into the picture 3.) Feature Plane: shows center of interest 4.) Cloud Plane: ideally a puffy collection of clouds 5.) Sky Plane: comprises the final backdrop in pure shades of blue, rose, peach, or amber, depending on what time of day it is. Fitting all of these into a landscape photo makes a it great but it doesn't always have to be that case.