by Zack Schnepf

In the Field Composition Workflow Part 2 – Landscape Photography Workflow

Recently, on the Photo Cascadia blog; Erin Babnik posted a really excellent article about compositional patterns to look for in nature, I thought it was one of the best articles on the PC blog in a while.  Here is a link to her article:  http://www.photocascadia.com/blog/five-compositional-patterns-worth-finding-in-nature/#.VWzBB2CRl0c

I wanted to continue with the theme of composition.  In part one I’ll talk about how I simplify my field technique to allow me to focus on composition in the field.  In part two I’ll talk about what I look for in the field to build strong compositions, and the tips and tricks I use to help me build compelling compositions in nature.  Composition is the most challenging part of photography for me, it’s also one of the most important aspects of a compelling image.  It’s so easy to get distracted in the field and get bogged down in settings.  Organizing a nature scene into a compelling composition is always a struggle and takes a tremendous amount of focus and it’s made much harder if you are trying to juggle ten things at once.  To help me focus on composition, I try to remove distractions and simplify other aspects of working in the field.  There are several tips and tricks I use to help simplify my workflow and allow me to focus more on composition.

Master the technical functions of your camera.  This is the first step to being able to truly focus on composition in the field.   This goes for your lenses, tripod and other equipment as well.  When you can operate your equipment without having to think much, you can start to focus on composition.  This takes some commitment and you have to be really consistent, otherwise you forget how some functions work and have to spend time in the field trying to figure it out all over again.  This is obviously more for someone who really wants to take their photography to the next level and is willing to put in the time and effort, but once you have mastered the technical side of photography you are free to focus on the artistic side.

Shoot using the manual settings on your camera.  This seems counter intuitive for many people and it is until you’ve gotten comfortable shooting manually.  For me, when I shoot manual it simplifies my field workflow and gives me much greater control.  It also allows me to use the following tricks to keep things simple in the field.

Shoot manual focus and use the focus markings on your lenses.  This takes some practice, but once you master this technique it takes aperture out of the equation in a lot situations.  On the top of most high end lenses is a set of focus markings that gives you approximate distances for focus.  For landscape photography I typically like to have everything in focus, unless I have a specific reason to use selective focus.  This actually makes it really easy to generalize focus and take it out of the equation.  For instance, my general rule of thumb for a typical scenic landscape shot using a wide angle lens without a close foreground is f/13-f/18. In this situation I can keep things very simple, set my aperture to f/16 and set my focus meter to the inside of the infinity line.  If I have a subject that is closer to the camera and I want everything in focus I generally set my aperture to f/22 and set the focus to the general distance of the foreground element using the focus meter on the lens.  This is very effective until you have a subject that is 3 feet or closer to you.  At this point you will have to abandon this technique and start problem solving, either using multiple focal point blending, or another technique. On my current camera system the Sony A7r, the Sony lenses don’t have this on the top of the lens.  Instead there is a digital read out on the LCD that shows up when I try to manually focus a lens.  I still use the digital version to help approximate focus distance.

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Shoot raw and don’t worry about white balance.  This is a really easy one.  If you’re shooting in the RAW format you don’t have worry about white balance, save that decision for when you are working in post production.  This is just one less thing to have to have to think about in the field.

All of these techniques help remove small distractions in the field, leaving you with less things to mentally juggle.  This allows my mind to focus on the artistic side of photography.  In part two of this series, I’ll talk about my own artistic techniques I use in the field and how I use them to build compelling images.

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