Two principal ways to search for a landscape shot (or is your way different?)

[Heroique]

[1] In other words, if I have a mountain that I wanted framed by two particular trees, the lens choice will determine where I put the camera...

[2] I walk the scene to find the best spot to make the photograph, then choose the lens that lets me capture what I’m after from that spot. I don’t know that I’ve ever moved the camera position to accommodate a lens...

These two quotes from a recent thread express very different ways to look for a shot, and it might be worth a poll, enriched w/ your comments, to explore the practical difference.

Is your way of getting the shot like one of these?

— Do the lenses in your bag determine where you walk for a composition (like Vaughn)?

— Or do you find the composition first, then determine if you have the lens that provides a satisfactory angle of view (like Bruce)?

Perhaps your personal approach is a hybrid form — or entirely different?

[Heroique]

Vaughn, that’s helpful to hear what goes through your mind as a shot is being born.

I too will explain a little more about my vote – I chose option #3 due to the frequent scouting I do. That is, when I’m scouting, a scene might strike me with its general appeal (#2), and I will be further drawn to it based on how my three lenses might specifically handle it (#1). For better understanding, I’ll walk up & down the scene – w/ the three lens’ specific angles of view in mind – usually w/ the help of a viewing card. This is the point when my lenses (110/150/240) start fully “controlling” or “narrowing” what I see.

If I like what a lens might do, I’ll return when I think the light will be best…

Now, when I’m out-and-about, just looking around for a shot (not scouting), I do sometimes feel an initial, unconscious impulse to walk into scenes where I think my lenses will “work” (that is, not due to the scene’s general appeal). This started happening after a lot of experience. Without my full awareness, my lenses started conditioning how I “saw the world,” and I would feel my lenses, strangely, guiding or “pulling on” me in a way, much like a divining rod. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to manage this sneaky impulse, because while it might help me find shots on some occasions, it can be a distraction on others. It can help and hinder.

Bringing different lenses on different trips helps me keep things fresh. ;^)

[Vaughn]

Sorry, Heroique, that I deleted my posts -- I was having a hard time organizing my thoughts, going back to the original poll questions, ended up with two different posts, each with edits, and all. I had hoped I deleted them before someone actually saw them. So I will try to post here again, so that others know what you were referring to.

I answered #2, but really I should have gone for the last one. I attempt to "Zen it"...by which I mean I am just There (a Be Here Now, sort of thing). I use the camera to record my experience of the light on the landscape. Thirty-plus years of LF use has helped me not to have to think too much about lenses, film, aperture, et al while I am looking for the image I want to eventually render as a print.

I encourage new photographer to use only one (non-zoom) lens until they have learn, like you mentioned, to see as the lens sees. The qualities of the lens hopefully becomes just another of the many factors that my sub-conscience works with to determine when and where I set the camera up. Occasionally, I end up moving the camera significantly, but most of the time once I set the pod up, it rarely moves more than a few feet before I am ready to expose the film.

The edges of an image defines what is inside the rest of the image. To me, the edges are as important as the center. As part of my process I do not crop, so once I determine what the image should be, the lens choice does drive the camera position. So the idea of choosing a spot to photograph from, then deciding on what lens to use seems odd to me. But perhaps this is not what Bruce was referring to when he said "I walk the scene to find the best spot to make the photograph" -- finding "the best spot" may be finding the image he wants to make.

I do not "scout". That would be 180 degrees from the way I work. As I said, my goal is the Be Here Now, not Come Back Later. But I am always looking at the light, with or without the camera, so all the visual information becomes part of my experience that goes into every image I make.

[rdenney]

I would answer "yes".

Sometimes, I'm looking for a particular relationship between near and far subject material that dictates my spot. I then have to match a lens to it. Other times, I try different lenses (even if just in my mind or using a viewing card) to look for the composition that pleases me from that spot. Usually it's the latter, but when the former is clear in my head, then I'll follow it.

If I just have one lens, then I look for the scene that will make use of it. But in so doing, I may miss many other compositions that I would rather photograph. They are apparent to me as I look around, and several times I have wished for a different lens than the one I had.

For me, the important aspect is not the two choices you have presented, but rather the principle of think first before setting up the camera. Once I get the camera set up, I become (often) too committed to my first visualization, and miss others or end up with no time to pursue them. I need to spend more time thinking before I set up.

Rick "who sometimes uses a zoom lens on a DSLR as a 'viewing card'" Denney

[Heroique]

To me, the edges are as important as the center. As part of my process I do not crop, so once I determine what the image should be, the lens choice does drive the camera position.

Other times, I try different lenses (even if just in my mind or using a viewing card) to look for the composition that pleases me from that spot.
...Rick “who sometimes uses a zoom lens on a DSLR as a ‘viewing card' ” Denney

Here’s the viewing card in action for anyone who’s curious.

Helps one determine tripod position. Helps one select the lens.

So useful in cutting your vision down to size, keeping the imagination under control, putting tighter reigns on it – before it gallops away. (I love using it for any of the options above.) I’ve always felt the viewing card has its dangers too: it can monopolize or narrow your attention w/o your awareness that it’s doing so, blinkering you to other ways of seeing a shot. In a phrase, it can eliminate the very complications and distractions that might inspire an even better shot than the one you see!

[Vaughn]

Though I have known of the viewing cards for 30 years or so, I don't bother with them. I have used my fingers occasionally for the same purpose.

I don't mind my imagination galloping, as long as I can keep the trail between the ears (the one rule for riding mules)...

Vaughn

Using the viewing card -- I am reminded of a line from An Autobiography of a Yogi; "If you wear shoes, the world is covered with shoe-leather."

[Lenny Eiger]

I see this differently. I am a lover of photohistory. When I look thru my books, it is clear that 90-98% of these folks used one lens and one camera for many years at a time. When you do that, you don't need a viewing card. When I look for something to shoot, I look at what I am looking for, I respond to those areas that are part of my personal aesthetic. I often put the camera down away form the shot and decide where I want to shoot it from, what angle, what I want to include. I don't "choose" a lens. I only carry two. One is the normal lens and the other is a longer one for those places where there is a stream I can't get across, etc. I rarely take the longer one out of the backpack. I put the tripod down where I have decided to and everything fits in. If I want a slightly wider lens, I take a step or two back, for a longer lens, pick up the tripod and move forward.

I would say its a not-so-great thing to have your lens determine your aesthetic. The first week in school they made us all tape our viewfinders so we would stop looking at life thru a little hole. I think its incumbent on us all to understand what interests us in the natural world and get clear about what we are doing photographically. (Not that this is easy.) Then the equipment is just used for recoding one's vision...

For beginners, most of the ones I have taught took shots that were too wide. They end up telling two or three stories instead of one.. The most successful technique I taught was to go ahead and take the shot, then pick up the camera and move forward and take another. Then repeat until the actual image you were looking at is on the screen.

Just my way of doing it... not for everyone.

Lenny

[36cm2]

The most successful technique I taught was to go ahead and take the shot, then pick up the camera and move forward and take another.

I have been forcing myself to do this for several months. It's wonderful advice.

[Jeffrey Sipress]

The poll is useless. And so are answers like 'putting on a longer lens to get closer'. And some don't crop? What? That is so absurd since cropping is your MOST powerful compositional tool. And camera to subject distance is vitally important, although most people still don't know why.

I generally follow the form of photographic craft that I was taught, like, and works for me. Nothing happens without a 'spark of interest'. Then study the subject and light while exploring the near/far, high/low to determine where to place the camera (the major decisions that control perspective and composition). Then determine the angle of view necessary to capture the elements you desire, while monitoring conflicts and edges, and finally select the appropriate lens for that view. Then it's all about whatever 'system' you use to determine the exposure you want and perhaps filtration. Snap the shutter and smile. Don't forget to always thank your subject before you walk off.

[Henry Larson]

I use only 3 lens 1.Rodenstock 550mm 2.Rodenstock 180mm and 3. Graflex 135mm.
I always pre-think where I am going bfore I leave home.
When I arrive at the general site and before I set up my camera, Sinar F, I use my cutout composing card to get a sense of what I want to shoot.
Then I set up the camera, choose the lens, and go through my regular proceedures for making an image.
I have foun that this way of doing has stood me in good stead for 40+ years.