Five Reasons for Landscape Photography

Landscape and portrait photography are like two parallel lines that cannot intersect,Landscape photographyTeachers will try their best to eliminate the characters in the picture through slow door and later stage, while portrait photography will firmly lock the audience’s eyes on the characters through the way of large aperture, virtual background or simply shooting indoors. However, although the two seem to be incompatible, there are many cases of skillful combination of the two in real life. If you are aLandscape photographyTeacher, but not satisfied with the tradition, if you want to add some material to the scenery in your camera, it may be a good choice to try to include the characters in the picture. Of course, doing so may require us to pay more. Not only do we need to wait for the best moment in the early stage, but also we need additional time to adjust the characters in the later stage. So, is it really worth it? Let’s take a look at the five reasons for finding people in the scenery.

On the left side of the picture is the figure of a surfer. It is usually appropriate to add a character, but there are exceptions.

1. Tell a moving story

First of all, adding people to landscape photos can make your photos feel like telling a story. Whether it is a group of people or an individual, it can bring a mysterious atmosphere to your landscape. When we see this kind of picture, we will unconsciously want to know who the character in the picture is, what he is doing there and why he appears in the picture. Once you start to think about these problems, your eyes will stay on this picture for a longer time. For example, a lonely and standing person appears in a mountain scene, which may trigger the viewer’s thinking and then fantasize about the story of this character. If the person is carrying a backpack and shows a walking posture, the viewer may think that he is climbing the mountain; If he carries a rifle, we will understand that he is going hunting. In fact, the characters in the landscape photos do not exist in isolation, and their appearance is bound to have some connection with the scene.

The old man in the picture is recalling the time when he worked on a river boat.

2. Help balance and improve composition

Adding characters to a certain part of the picture can help balance the composition of landscape photography works. The characters in the foreground or middle position will help to create the depth of the scene. Once you need to place the characters in the picture for this reason, make sure that their positions can guide the audience’s vision. For example, put the character at the edge of the picture. Other better choices are to use the three-point principle. In any case, do not take pictures of those characters looking out of the picture, which will lead the viewer to look away from the main body of the picture, rather than explore the whole picture. It is a double-edged sword to balance the composition of landscape photos with characters. A little carelessness will have the opposite effect. Therefore, it is necessary to have a solid knowledge of composition, which will help you to properly arrange the position of characters in the picture.

A couple who are taking a self-portrait just filled the gap in the beach, and the three-part composition.

3. Highlight the sense of scale of the scene with contrast effect

A big brother who is 1. 8 meters tall will never feel tall unless he stands with someone shorter than him. The same is true for landscape photography. Contrast creates a sense of scale. Adding people to the picture is an excellent way to highlight the size of the scene. If there are no characters, the trees and rocks in the photos will lack the sense of scale.

The figure silhouette is added at the end of the cave, which not only sets off the proportion of the cave, but also adds focus to the picture.

4. Help create more dramatic pictures and add more fun to them

Want to make your scenery more dramatic? This is very easy, as long as the silhouettes of characters or backlit portraits that contrast with the sunset are included in the picture. Even the most simple and even uninteresting scenery photos can be transformed into a funny and exciting picture in this way. Remember not to just put a lonely figure, but a better choice is to add two or more characters with interactive scenes, such as the silhouette of a couple holding hands and kissing, which can bring a romantic atmosphere to the whole picture.

In the sunset, the silhouette of a father and son playing in the water added a lot of atmosphere to the photo.

5. Let the characters become the focus of the picture

A successful photographic work needs a focus that can land the audience’s eyes and attract their attention. Adding characters to the picture can do this. Because of the importance of our position, we need to be cautious at the moment, and select some interesting characters to save the scenery from falling into the abyss of boredom. Usually, we will choose landmark scenery or buildings as the focus of a landscape photo, but those living people are undoubtedly much more interesting than cold buildings. In the above, we mentioned the role of characters in balancing composition. Similarly, after becoming the focus, characters can both exist as the main body of the picture and play a complementary role with the landscape.

A pair of lovers who are addicted to the charming autumn scenery create a romantic atmosphere for the picture, and the composition is divided into three parts.

Conclusion:

In most cases, the appearance of people in a pure landscape photo is often an accidental phenomenon. They will always break into our viewfinder unintentionally, especially if the place you want to visit is a popular tourist attraction or scenic spot, which is even more unavoidable. At this time, why don’t we use “obstacles” as assistance and let people add color to our landscape photos? Of course, if there are few people in the environment, we can also guide and perform ourselves, set up a tripod, set the camera in the timed shooting mode, and then put ourselves into the picture. Next time we take landscape photos, we might as well try to see if we like the final result. Maybe you will be surprised by this change.