The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography

243 Pages·2005·128.41 MB·English

by  Randall Glenn.

The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography
Glenn Randall (www.glennrandall.com)
Project Editor: Maggie Yates
Copyeditor: Maggie Yates
Layout: Hespenheide Design
Cover Design: Helmut Kraus
Printed in China
ISBN 978-1-937538-47-7
1st Edition 2015
© 2015 Glenn Randall
Rocky Nook, Inc.
802 East Cota St., 3rd Floor
Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Randall, Glenn.
The art, science, and craft of great landscape photography / Glenn Randall. – 1st edition.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-937538-47-7 (softcover : alk. paper)
I. Title.
TR660.R365 2014
770.92--dc23
2014043876
All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any
form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without written permission of the publisher.
Many of the designations in this book used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are
claimed as trademarks of their respective companies. Where those designations appear in this book, and Rocky
Nook was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps. All product
names and services identified throughout this book are used in editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such
companies with no intention of infringement of the trademark. They are not intended to convey endorsement or
other affiliation with this book.
While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no
responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein
or from the use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
This book is dedicated to my parents, who first introduced me to the
wilderness, to my wife Cora, who always inspires me to do my best, and to
Emily and Audrey, our daughters, in hopes that their generation will
continue to value, protect, and enjoy our precious wild lands.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ....................................................................ix
Foreword ...............................................................................x
Introduction ...........................................................................1
Chapter 1
Landscape Photography Looks So Easy ..........................................11
Viewing a Print vs. Viewing Reality .....................................................12
Chapter 2
In Search of Extraordinary Landscapes ..........................................23
Chapter 3
Visualization .....................................................................39
Using a Map to Help Visualize Photographs ..............................................41
Shooting Moonset at Sunrise ..........................................................47
Chapter 4
The Art and Science of Light .....................................................59
Lighting Fundamentals ...............................................................61
Blue Skies and Red Sunsets ............................................................64
White Clouds and White Haze .........................................................71
Rainbows ...........................................................................74
Rainbow Position Chart ...............................................................79
Rainbows and Polarizers ..............................................................82
The Rarest Light of All ................................................................84
Chapter 5
The Art and Science of Composing Compelling Images ........................91
The Essentials of Graphic Design .......................................................95
Balance and Depth ...................................................................99
Focus Stacking ......................................................................106
Color ..............................................................................108
Chapter 6
The Perfect Exposure ............................................................115
How Light Meters Work ..............................................................115
Exposure Danger Zones ..............................................................116
Histograms .........................................................................120
The Four Basic Exposure Strategies ....................................................123
The PhD Strategy ....................................................................124
The Limiting Factor Exposure Strategy .................................................124
The Rembrandt Solution .............................................................126
Which Split ND Do You Need? ........................................................130
HDR ...............................................................................132
The Universal Exposure Strategy ......................................................133
vi
Chapter 7
Digital Capture and Processing of High-Contrast Scenes ......................137
Countershading .....................................................................138
How our Visual System Processes High-Contrast Scenes ..................................141
Capturing Rembrandt Solution Images in the Field ......................................143
Merging the Images in Photoshop .....................................................146
Smart Objects and the Masks Panel ....................................................148
Final Thoughts on the Rembrandt Solution .............................................151
HDR: Great Potential, Many Pitfalls ....................................................152
Setting up an HDR Image .............................................................155
Tone-Mapping in Lightroom ..........................................................157
Keeping it Real with HDR .............................................................159
Final Thoughts on Realism and HDR ...................................................165
Chapter 8
Take a Walk on the Wide Side ...................................................167
Setting up a Single-Row Panorama ....................................................167
Finding the Nodal Point ..............................................................170
Camera Settings for Single-Row Panoramas ............................................172
Stitching Panoramas .................................................................173
Shooting and Processing High-Contrast Panoramas ......................................173
Multi-Row Panoramas ...............................................................177
Chapter 9
The Landscape at Night .........................................................185
Photographing the Milky Way .........................................................185
Depth of Field for Selected Lenses Focused at Infinity ....................................186
Focusing and Composing at Night .....................................................187
Maximum Shutter Speed Chart .......................................................190
Holding Detail in the Land ............................................................190
Processing Milky Way Images .........................................................194
Shooting Milky Way Panoramas .......................................................196
Photographing Star Trails .............................................................200
Removing Jet Trails ..................................................................203
Closing the Gaps ....................................................................204
Photographing the Aurora ............................................................205
Can Night Photographs be Authentic? ..................................................210
Chapter 10
The Psychology of the Compelling Landscape .................................215
Landscape Photography and Evolution .................................................217
On Culture and Creativity ............................................................225
Index .................................................................................228
vii

Acknowledgments
The roots of this book go back many years, and so there are many people
to thank. My parents deserve thanks for the patience and love they showed
when they took my sister and me camping, then hiking, and eventually
backpacking in the wilds of California. My wife, Cora, and our children, Emily
and Audrey, deserve thanks for tolerating the long absences that a career as
a landscape photographer requires. I’d like to thank the many photographers
whose work inspired me during my photographic journey, including Galen
Rowell, David Muench, Jack Dykinga, and Tom Till. And I’d like to thank the
staff at Rocky Nook for their painstaking efforts to make this book as good
as it could be.
◀ Stormy sunset over Longs Peak from
the Ute Trail, Rocky Mountain National
Park, Colorado
ix
Foreword
I am in love with photography books. They are the ultimate showcase for a
photographer’s words and images, and one of the most powerful and impor-
tant legacies that we leave behind as image-makers. As a photographer, I
am inspired by looking at photography books. As an educator, I learn about
photography by reading books on the topic. I have surrounded myself with
photography books on every conceivable subject—they are one of my few
indulgences.
For six years in the 1980s, I ran a photo bookstore in Maine. Now, as direc-
tor of Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, I receive photo books on a weekly
basis as gifts, for review, to be considered for our campus bookstore, or from
photographers who want to teach for us. Given my passion for photography
books, I was delighted to receive an advance copy of Glenn Randall’s new
book, The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography. Glenn is one
of our most popular instructors at the Workshops (and a friend), so I began
pouring over his book as soon as it arrived. Immediately I realized that the
book posed a pleasant dilemma for me.
Over the years of collecting photography books, I have found that they fall
into three categories—books on the technical aspects of the medium, books
on the creative and aesthetic side of photography, and books filled with
images (monographs). All three categories are well represented in my ever-
growing library. Structured person that I am, all of my books are meticulously
organized by category and subject matter so I can easily find whatever I am
looking for.
All was well in my world of photography books until Glenn’s new book
threw me for a loop. The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography
is a wonderful collection of Glenn’s stunning landscape images, but it is
also brimming with his advice on how to craft stronger images, along with
clear explanations of key photo-related topics in geography, atmospheric
optics, vision, and psychology. The scientific information is always coupled
with tips on how to put that information to practical use in the pursuit of
great images. The book also contains Glenn’s musings on the creative and
aesthetic sensibilities we need as artistic beings to create compelling state-
ments. So should Glenn’s book go in the monograph category or with the
technical manuals? Perhaps it should go into the creative category instead?
I was stumped. Where should I put it? On what shelf and in which cat-
egory did it belong? I realized that if I didn’t put this beautiful book on the
x
right shelf I might never find it again. A moment of panic ensued, and then
I relaxed. The Art, Science, and Craft of Great Landscape Photography falls into all
three of my categories, so it ended up on my coffee table where I can find it
easily regardless of my photographic mood. Thanks, Glenn, for throwing my
world of photography books completely off kilter.
I suggest you read this book because it is beautiful, informative, and inspi-
rational. Let me know if you figure out what category to place it in.
Reid Callanan
Director, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, January 2015
◀ Indian paintbrush
and Peak Two at
sunset, Grenadier
Range, Weminuche
Wilderness,
Colorado
xi
Chapter Foreword
xii