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Part 2

Lesson 36 from: Fine Art Landscape and Travel Photography

Peter Eastway, Tony Hewitt

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Lesson Info

36. Part 2

Next Lesson: Part 3

Lessons

Class Trailer
1

Overview of Fine Art Landscape and Travel Photography

08:44
2

Our Passion For Photography

07:38
3

Looking For The Next Great Photo

19:05
4

Peter and Tony's Photography

18:35
5

What is a Landscape?

15:48
6

Considering Color: What is Real?

13:16
7

Shooting Travel Photography: Exotic Locations

13:33
8

Preparing for a Travel Shoot: Research

16:35

Lesson Info

Part 2

Obviously there's a tower there, and the question mark is whether you want the tower to be silhouetted or not. Another thing is the perspective that's obvious, the wide angle lens and looking up. So maybe we have a decision to make as to whether we might straighten that up. The foreground could have a little bit more mid-tone, like bit more contrast, bit more grit to it, just to bring that forward a little bit. I like that little building with the red face on it, with a bit of light we can pull that out to drag the viewer's eye. There's a few things there. What did you have in mind? With the photograph. When I shot this, to me it felt like a movie scene, I guess, because it was in the middle of... it was sunny, but it was just turning into a storm. A storm cloud was coming over California. So, it was warm. The weather was warm, but you started feeling cold rain, hitting against your face. It was a little deep into it. So that's why I kind of wanted to dim the foreground. So I could...

accentuate that it was far out, to kind of feel like it's at a distance, to kind of feel like a bit of, like it's a reach. It's not really something that it's up close, it's something that you have to reach for. So that's why I kind of made it... The tower, that's what I was a little unsure about, if I should take it out, or... because I kind of really like the symmetry of having it right in the center. That's why I kind of, I dimmed it a little bit. And I've kind of darkened it so to not bring so much attention to it, because I wanted the main attention to be that little building, and it's an abandoned, I'm not sure what it was, exactly, I didn't want to get too close, maybe there's something there, but it was definitely like a broken down little hut. I wanted that to be the main focus. And you've got that with a bit of color there, haven't you? Yeah. So maybe, Tony, we could just perhaps look at cropping it to start with, and Joseph can help us out here. There's one way if you said, I wanted to get rid of the tower, that certainly simplifies it. But I think that if we were to move it across, and we're going a little bit square like you like, Ton, it's sort of, I don't know whether all that space on the left is necessary because we've got the image here. I think perhaps it's more balanced perhaps that way. I don't know, whether that suits. The only thing that does for me is it actually increases the importance of the tower, because the tower and the house are positioned equally, in terms of the composition. Yes, yep. And because it's bigger, it actually it kind of starts to take a dominance, whereas the other way, the house being central, that gives that a little bit of a boost because it's in the middle of the frame. The tower being on the right actually pushes that back a little in terms of its priority. I prefer not to sort of... You prefer to have a little bit more space on the left as well. Yeah, I think you need the building in the middle, which is where Joseph intended it to be for me. I don't think I'd want to compress too hard on the tower because the tighter the crop around the tower, the more it's sort of in your face. Would you agree with that, Joseph? Yeah. You can disagree. I was wondering if I should take it out. To take it out? Take the tower out. I'm not saying it's a big problem entirely, but I just wasn't sure if, if it distracted from others... I haven't really published it out or anything. I kind of held onto my self, cuz I wanted to know, is this something I can come back to later and maybe think, oh maybe I should take it out. Yeah, okay. So, bit of a job to take out. To get the tower right, in there. There actually was a bunch of cell towers that I did take out, because I kinda wanted to seem a little more... less new technology, I guess, with all the phone towers. I kind of just want it to look very, I guess dramatic, like post apocalyptic I guess you could say. Something that doesn't have so much technology, there's a lot of little electrical boxes near the little hut underneath the tower that I also removed, because I didn't want any electronics, anything electrical to be included. I just kind of wanted it to be an abandoned house in nature in the middle of this field. And so I was a little unsure about the tower. So one of the things I'm hearing is that you want the house to be more of a hero than the tower? Yeah, yeah. So by darkening down the tower, you've basically effectively made it a stronger contrast against the background. It actually drags our eye towards it. Perhaps if it had a bit more detail in there, and wasn't so harsh, in terms of the silhouette, we would be less inclined to go there, and then work on the color saturation around the building, and use that to pull us in. You know what I'm saying? Yes, I agree with that. I've gotta say that yeah, I quite like the tower, I mean, if we got back to the original composition where you've got a little bit more space there. Yeah, I straightened it up, but I thought you said at the beginning that you didn't like the way it tilted. I actually don't mind that. I find that as part of the way that the camera sees. I'd possibly still take a bit more off the left, just a fraction, but it's just... Yeah, I wouldn't. Because the house is not not quite in the middle, and I think the way that it's cropped it's all about the house being in the middle, and I, I get it that there's not much on the left, but the fact that the left is more about an empty plain tells us that it's out in the middle of nowhere etc. Maybe if we accentuate that. Yeah, that works. And one thing I'll just point out is there's obviously not a lot of detail around that sunspot in the middle. Because you've got that bright sun coming though, so you've got to be careful how you play with that. I don't know what you had in your capture, but it looks like it would have had a difficult exposure in that light. Let's lighten that up a little bit. So we're actually reducing... It is actually a relatively unbalanced dimension, because there's so much weight on the right side of the frame. But because the left side is so open it also created a sense of anticipation because you feel like you're expecting something to come into the frame from the left. Witch, and it's something that I would in a... If I were shooting an establishing shot for a film and I wanted the audience to expect something from the left, set up something like that, because of the feeling that it creates. Good point. So maybe quick couple of things that we could change would be to lighten up, just to go down that road, and see what happens if we just reduce the heaviness of the tower by dropping the contrast a fraction or putting some detail back in. And then bringing back some of the color or intens... increasing the color saturation on the building. Just on the building itself? Yeah, just to drag the eye towards that middle, pull us into the distance. Even though the little wall along the front, too. Yeah, that's it. Do we even... Yeah, maybe. I'd probably be using a curver, so I can get a little but more of a gentle, So as I'm making a bigger brush, I'm putting more of a feather there and I'm going up to the sky as well. And raise the... ah, someone hasn't turned on the Peter Eastway button over here, hold on. Ah, this one, click. Ah, lost it. Ah, just take that off the top there, there we go. So, okay, It might be a bit much. Take that out. After the, after the green there. So, I mean, I was also, yeah, if the tower is a problem, I'm still not quite sure where we are with the tower. How does it work then, if you keep it central, and you make it into a vertical frame. Yeah, um, that works actually, as well. I was just, a little, on the fence, of-- One of things I find in the landscape is often we think wind angle because we're in the landscape. And one of my favorite lenses for the landscape is a telephoto, because it just isolates what I think is important to the scene.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

The Incomplete Guide to Shooting Aerials
The Essential Manual For The Travel Photographer

Ratings and Reviews

Esther Beaton
 

Two Aussie blokes just having fun. Peter and Tone did us proud by representing the spirit of Australia, which is: don’t take anything too seriously. They hit off each other well, in fact, they are the best twosome I’ve ever seen on Creative Live, each giving the other respectful space yet not being shy about taking the micky out of the other guy when appropriate. The whole dialogue was spirited, informative, casual and fun. They also perfectly proved the symbiotic relationship between red wine and beautiful photography.

Swapnil Nevgi
 

Loved the positive energy of this class. Just finished watching it and I would definitely recommend it to someone who wants to take their landscape photography to the next level. This course is not about learning camera or software skills, but learning how to develop conceptualizing and composing skills. How an award winning creatives mind works is a lot more important than how to use camera. This is exactly what I was looking for and very happy with my purchase. Also it was good to see some of their raw vs post processed files to learn how far the professionals like Tony and Peter go with post processing (Something I have always been concerned about). Knowledge about exhibiting was also priceless. Thank you, I have learnt a lot in this class and I am sure it will reflect in my work in future.

Debra
 

This class is fabulous! One of the best on Creative Live. Peter and Tony share so much of themselves and their great art that you can't help but want to pick up your camera and get out to shoot. It was like watching two close friends. Thanks very much for a very enjoyable 2 days of learning and viewing.

Student Work

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