12 secrets of abstract landscape photography

Landscape photographyIt is one of the most popular subjects for photography lovers. It can not only enjoy the natural scenery, but also freeze the beauty of the world in the camera. Most people like to take pictures from afar in a panoramic way, and the shooting effect is magnificent. However, such pictures are too stereotyped, so it is better to focus on some details of the landscape, and create the picture into an artistic abstract picture, which may produce amazing effects. Although it is very beautiful to shoot a magnificent landscape in a panoramic way, it is another challenge to focus on some details in the landscape and create an artistic abstract picture. Christian Hoiberg, a landscape photographer, shared 12 tips for taking abstract landscape photos to make them look different.

The first step in taking interesting and abstract landscape photos should be to focus on the details instead of the big scenery. Photographers can spend a minute observing the surrounding environment and looking for outstanding places, such as cracks in mud, colorful flower fields, or rivers flowing in a special way, which can produce interesting images. The above image is shot with a 400mm focal length, and the image focuses on the ice and snow on the mountainside, rather than the iceberg itself.

2. Use telephoto lens

It is a common misunderstanding that we can only use macro lens to shoot abstract landscapes. When shooting abstract scenes, use a lens with a focal length of 500mm, which is very helpful to search for interesting details in the landscape, and can make abstract photography simple.

3. Look for light and shadow

Light is particularly important in abstract photography. Photographers can try to find a scene with light shadow interaction, such as the shadow of a mountain, a hill with both light and dark sides, a light dot pattern, or a shadow of a solitary tree in the sun.

4. Hard light is preferred

Although the soft light of sunset or sunrise is applicable to any type of photos, the photographer should not limit himself to shooting at a specific time of the day. In fact, harsh light can produce excellent shadows, and combined with some interesting textures, there is a chance to take unique photos.

5. Use Leading Lines or Repeating Lines

The composition technology using guide lines is very common in landscape photography, and it will be more challenging to find these lines in abstract photography. Photographers can use the lines of hillsides, mountains or rivers to view and guide from the corner to the center.

6. Taking water as the shooting theme

The fast flowing water will produce lines and shapes that cannot be seen by the naked eye. It is one of the best elements for taking abstract landscape photos. Use a low shutter between 1/20 second and 1 second to capture the flow, and then convert different exposure times and shutter speeds to repeat the same scene until you get satisfactory interesting patterns and shapes.

7. Take a fuzzy picture

When the photographer only focuses on shooting a small part of the scene, the messy pictures tend to distract the viewer from the subject. For example, when shooting forests and trees, sometimes the photographer will choose a tree or branch as the main body, but other trees and shrubs around will cause interference, so as to highlight the main body, unnecessary elements can be blurred.

8. Eliminate interference elements

A good abstract landscape photo tends to be simple. The photographer needs to clearly understand what is “an important part of the picture”. If this element is not important, it is unnecessary to include it in the picture.

9. Use slow shutter

By using a slower shutter and deliberately tilting or rotating the camera (ICM), the realism of the picture can be effectively eliminated, and the viewer can have a unique personal feeling and view. However, this technique requires a combination of different shutter speeds and camera movement methods to try to obtain satisfactory photos.

10. Use the built-in double exposure of the camera

This technology enables two or more images captured to be merged into one picture in the camera. The photographer can better control the image fusion method by adjusting the shutter speed, ISO, aperture between images, etc.

The following example photo is composed of two slow exposure images fused in the camera. The first one focuses on the cold forest, while the second one focuses on the bushes.

11. Stacked focusing images increase sharpness

When focusing on a small part of the landscape, some areas in the picture will inevitably appear soft due to focal length compression, which will be more obvious when taking a close shot. In order to make all subjects appear clear, focus shooting should be carried out several times separately until there is a clear image in each range, and then overlay the photos in the revision software to form one.

In the following figure, although the ice layer is only a few centimeters apart, when the focus is in the center, the front and rear ice layers will become slightly blurred.

12. Explore the world from a high perspective

Sometimes, small angle changes can make a great difference to the picture. Through aerial photography or climbing mountains, you can get a higher angle of view and have more possibilities to look down. The long focal length lens is used to shoot the beach from the mountain down, which is completely different from the picture taken simply standing on the beach.

The photographer reminded that it is not necessary to force all the above techniques into the shooting process, just choose the appropriate techniques according to the situation. All skills should be practiced more, so that they can be used more easily.