Prairie

[Zach9318]

Where I live, everything is flat. Even where there are hills, the area is rather flat and dull. I really like landscape photography and would like to better my landscape photographs. This is one of the more interesting of my landscapes, but I still don't like it. I used a polarizing filter (and if I had a gradual ND filter I would have used it as well) and choose to photograph the least flat part of the prairie, but I still didn't get a very interesting or prize-worthy photograph. I also have troubles with getting trees to look good. Either they turn out fuzzy, even in focus, or they are overly sharp. Any suggestions on how to compose and edit landscape photographs for my flat area?

Nikon D3100
40mm
1/80s
f/10
Hand held
Photoshop CS4

[Doug Sundseth]

If you want to show the endless expanse of the prairie, use a wide angle lens, find the flattest, most open bit of prairie that you can, and include something in the photo for scale. (FWIW, the best I've been able to do was this photo.)

If you want to take a picture of one or two trees in a field, like perhaps the ones at camera center-right in this photo, set your lens as wide as you can and get as close as you can without losing bits of the subject. Let the field be the background.

If it's grain you want to show, shoot up close to show the details and let the background suggest the expanse.

But it all comes back to first deciding what you're taking a picture of. What it is that you want the viewer to notice first or what it is that you want to evoke in the viewer.

As to fuzziness of trees, I can't really see that in this photo. There could be any number of causes, from subject movement (leaves blowing in the wind), to camera movement as you push the shutter, to exceeding the limits of the data available to the camera (zooming in beyond where the file will hold detail), to losing detail to jpeg compression, to sensor noise caused by high-ISO shots, to focusing on the wrong part of the subject, to using a very large aperture at a long focal length. Each of those has a different cure.

(I'm not sure what you mean when you say "overly sharp".)

In general, use a high shutter speed, a short focal length, a sharp aperture like f8-f11, a low ISO, and get in close to your subject to prevent most of the problems noted above. (You'll probably find it difficult to do all of those at once; that's what makes photography interesting. )

HTH

[dazay]

Am not a prairie person, but irrespective of your landscape think about getting out for those early morning or evening's close golden moments. I note in your shot that the shadows are very short, and shooting around midday is a recipe for dull, undramatic photos. Also, given that flat prairie landscape, I'd suggest getting close to something interesting in the foreground.

[salome1789]

I miss the "drama": golden hours, clouds, after a storm but either lightroom can help. And the first thing that came to my mind: the rule of thirds.
Btw the grass' colours is simply beautiful, the sky should be more interesting.

[navcom]

I too am a prairie person...well sort of. We live along the Mississippi River bluffs but Minnesota is mostly prairie in the southern part of the state.

I'm a firm believer that there are no "non-photographic" areas. There are no uncooperative landscapes, only uncooperative photographers.

When we are new to landscape photography, good composition is usually the hardest thing to learn. I think it stems from a subconscious thought that the landscape scene should produce itself and that we just show up on the scene and snap the shutter. Actually, it's just the opposite. We need to work the scene to get a good composition. This can involve a lot of pre-thought and planning.

While it's easy to think that a boring prairie holds no photographic opportunities such as a place like the rim of the Grand Canyon, this is not true. The Grand Canyon is definitely photogenic, but how many pictures from the same spot have you seen? They become boring after awhile due to repetition. People just stand in the obligatory spot and shoot away. What skill is there in that? A place like the prairie may take more thought initially but once you get rolling, you find that opportunities are everywhere. You just have to think about what you want to convey and then work on composing a shot that says it.

Composing requires many tasks....finding a main subject(s), the vantage point/angle you will shoot from, the time of day, the use of lines, textures, patterns, the weather, the light quality, where the shadows fall, even the season. These variables may require you to come back another time, another day, even another year.

Just like a portrait photographer spends tons of time setting up proper lighting and composing the person properly, the landscape photographer must do the same.

Hope that helps!

[Jim Bryant]

Change the angle in which you are shooting from. Get high, shoot lower from stomach or butt and at different times....early morning...before and too sunrise and from sunset to dusk. Lighting makes things more interesting than high noon, overhead lighting.

[Krusty79]

I think you have some of the basic ingredients for a great shot, but adding some foreground interest and a focal point would help a lot. For example, if your shot had a bale of hay in the foreground and a horse grazing in the field, I think you could potentially get a great shot out of that. I would also echo what Jim said about trying different perspectives and angles.

Like Peter Lik said - Blue skies are boring. I'd try to get some sunrise/sunset clouds in the shot also. I know it's not always there, but the clouds add a lot to the mood.

[Zach9318]

Thank you for the tips. That should get me started, as I am new to photography, not to mention landscapes.