A Brief History

The landscape has been a subject of preference for photographers as soon as it became possible to lug the necessary equipment out into the natural setting.

Anonymous

By 1849, Maxime Du Camp had visited Egypt in the company of Gustave Flaubert and published a volume entitled Egypte, Nubie, Palestine et Syrie shortly after his return. The book consisted of prints from paper negatives known as calotypes. Soon the camera was being taken to all manner of exciting, exotic places and bringing back extraordinary views that changed the way the well-informed citizen perceived the world. There are many great landscape photographers of the 19th Century, but if the names T.H. O'Sullivan, Roger Fenton, William Henry Jackson, Francis Frith and Felice Beato are foreign to you, you owe yourself a look at their work, preferably in a well-printed hard copy history of photography or a museum with a large photography collection.

Now, there are many schools of landscape photography and lots of people who have very strong opinions about what does and does not constitute a proper landscape and who is and who isn't a real honest-to-gosh landscape photographer. In fact, we'll probably hear from someone who questions putting Beato in the list above or who chides us for leaving out the brothers Bisson, Louis Auguste and Auguste Rosalie, who hauled their equipment on a mid-century trip to the Swiss Alps along with Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie.

In the 20th Century there have been a great many landscape photographers, but the work of Ansel Adams is without doubt the best known.

Photo by Ansel Adams

Sometimes, some people take such hard views of landscape photography that they're either ridiculous or downright pig-headed. Some would banish views of water and seacoast from the term "landscape." Those, they huff, are "seascapes." Others ban any hint of the hand of humankind from the scene. Cityscapes are verboten.

We say, we know a good landscape when we see one. In fact, we prefer to have our imagination extended by interesting interpretations rather than see the same old thing over and over. For example, there are some canyons and arches that get photographed repeatedly by hordes of photographers from the exact same angle and with the exact same lighting. Enough is enough! We even enjoy urban landscapes and cityscapes-it's all part of the world in which we live.

© Chuck DeLaney NYI Dean

Since it's easy to make a landscape photograph, let's examine briefly the elements that go into a landscape photograph:



Camera, lens, and lens shade

As we've noted, you can use any camera. For serious photographers, a single lens reflex camera is preferred over a point-and-shoot because there is a great selection of lenses, and the quality of the lens optic is likely to be superior. Many very serious landscape photographers use either medium format cameras or view cameras. Since the typical landscape tends to take in an expense of terrain, a larger piece of film will give greater detail than can be captured on a 35mm piece of film.

© NYI Student Gail A. Barsh

Your choice of lens focal length will depend on the landscape subject and your position relative to it. Often, wide-angle lenses make it possible to cram a great deal of the view into your photograph. However, if you're at the Grand Canyon, you may find using a long lens to isolate an interesting portion of this massive natural wonder makes more sense.

If the sun is in your photograph or just outside the frame you've selected, there's a danger of flare. For this reason, it makes sense to use a lens hood or lens shade to prevent unwanted flare in your photograph. That doesn't mean you should avoid flare at all costs. There are times when a little flare might help make a photo, particularly if you're photographing particularly harsh tropical or desert scenery.

Tripod

For many photographers who love making landscape images, a tripod is an invaluable asset. If you want to get maximum depth of field in your image, you'll want to use a small aperture opening. If you are using slow film, say ISO 50 or 100, many landscape scenes will require that you use a slow shutter speed in order to use a small aperture opening. Used properly (that's an article unto itself!) a decent tripod will keep your camera rock steady. Nothing can ruin a landscape photo more quickly than camera shake.