Large Format Landscapes

[xkaes]

I think the "some people" you are referring to are largely "in-laws".

[SergeyT]

I've mainly had the opposite experience where people don't want to walk in front of my camera -- not realizing that: #1 - I've already taken the picture or #2 - It's going to take me at least 15 minutes to set everything up. So I have to assure them that "Everything is OK!".

And me too.

And the more pictures I take the less I am stressed about "lost opportunities" due to someone walking into "my" scene. What works : avoiding places where everyone else goes or going there during the times when not many come (early mornings and off-seasons are the best still)

[Corran]

Nice image Vaughn.

To be fair, I generally don't have issues with folks coming into my shot. At worst, folks are in the shot while I set up, and I expect they'll be leaving soon, so I wait till this happens. This was a bit more...deliberate, it seemed, but it is what it is. I almost walked over and asked them to move slightly behind a tufa for a few minutes but didn't.

Anyway, I also shot this sheet, whilst specifically avoiding the area they were using (that's the thing - I was at least trying to stay out of their family photo shoot!). Same setup.

[Vaughn]

Great, Bryan!

[Martin Aislabie]

Simply lovely Vaughn.

Martin

[Vaughn]

Thanks, Martin -- my first negative has the fall centered -- but fortunately I did not stop there.

[h2oman]

Thanks, Martin -- my first negative has the fall centered -- but fortunately I did not stop there.

My wife and I listened to an interesting podcast recently, about being able to see other peoples' points of view. They featured a first grade teacher who had his students draw a picture of their home. He then asked them to draw three more, all different, to try to get them to look at things differently. I was thinking "I need to do that when I photograph!"

After that, he had the students constructively critique each others' drawings as well.

[Alan Klein]

Nice image Vaughn.

To be fair, I generally don't have issues with folks coming into my shot. At worst, folks are in the shot while I set up, and I expect they'll be leaving soon, so I wait till this happens. This was a bit more...deliberate, it seemed, but it is what it is. I almost walked over and asked them to move slightly behind a tufa for a few minutes but didn't.

Anyway, I also shot this sheet, whilst specifically avoiding the area they were using (that's the thing - I was at least trying to stay out of their family photo shoot!). Same setup.

Is the sky so blue because of no center filter or a polarizer? Nice shot.

[Corran]

Thanks Alan. I probably used a pol here. The sun was set but the sky in the upper right is still illuminated I guess (civil twilight) making it brighter. If on b&w film I could probably burn it down. On a print of this I might consider dodging the darker blue sky a bit.

[Martin Aislabie]

My wife and I listened to an interesting podcast recently, about being able to see other peoples' points of view. They featured a first grade teacher who had his students draw a picture of their home. He then asked them to draw three more, all different, to try to get them to look at things differently. I was thinking "I need to do that when I photograph!"

After that, he had the students constructively critique each others' drawings as well.

FWIW, I have over the last couple of years changed my approach to landscape photography.

I have stopped just taking one photograph of a subject but to approach it more like a portrait session - spend a lot longer taking many more shots of a single chosen subject from different perspectives and different compositions using different lenses as necessary.

It means I end up with a range of shots of the subject to choose from.

YMMV

Martin