Camera
Landscape composition: Beyond landscape
![Landscape composition: Beyond landscape Landscape composition: Beyond landscape](https://1.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS940x788~articles/2107998237/j_Omo_Valley_16-11-2013_17.jpeg)
So far in my landscape photography series, I’ve talked about compositional elements, their weights and how to use their properties to balance the composition by imagining a balance of torques around the middle axis of an image. I also discussed balancing of negative space, the perception of subject direction and the often-overlooked importance I reserve to the separation of elements. I then discussed the perception of depth and how to use sky in a landscape image, and finally how to connect the elements in a way which makes sense. I suggested one idea to guide the photographer when composing in the field, and showed how widely known photographic techniques are in fact private cases of the framework I explored in the articles.
My good friend Ian Plant always says “If you can shoot landscape, you can shoot anything”. I tend to agree, because in my view, composition takes the highest importance in landscape photograhy when compared to other genres. If you don’t have a good composition when shooting landscape, you have achieved nothing. I would claim that this isn’t necessarily true in street photography, for example, where what’s happening in the frame is most important, even more than composition.
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As an addendum to the series, I’d like to show in this final article that the ideas I presented can be extended beyond landscape photography. This makes a lot of sense since, with the exception of the article about sky, nothing I wrote talks about landscape elements exclusively. I could have called this series ‘About Composition’ just as well. I only chose landscape because I’m most knowledgeable and experienced in this area, so to give the series the last stroke of validity and to persuade you of its merit, let’s look at a couple of photographic fields and discuss what principles apply to them, especially. I have added a lot of examples – I urge you to examine the images and think to yourself how what you’ve learned in this series reflects in what you see.
Composition in Wildlife Photography
Wildlife may be the closest genre to landscape, in essence, and in the considerations one takes to produce a shot. The animal you are shooting is situated in nature, where everything else is basically landscape, and thus the ideas governing landscape composition are very much valid here. I would say that when it comes to animal subjects, the prominence of the mass associated with that subject is almost always very large. An animal is almost always the center of importance in a wildlife shot, even if it isn’t very large in the frame, and thus requires everything that a landscape subject of large prominence would require, and more: a large amount of negative space, for starters, and then a special consideration of subject direction (since we actually have a clear direction in which the animal is looking). Separation is also critical – the animal should not overlap other elements in a disturbing way.
I would claim that framing is an idea that’s utilized in wildlife photography much more often than in landscape (and produces a stronger effect), since animals tend to position themselves in natural frames. The clever photographer also knows how to position himself to use existing natural elements to frame a subject by juxtaposing these elements with the animal.
In wildlife photography, if the animal (or animals) serving as the main subject is interesting enough, it can, admittedly, dampen the need of a proper composition, but the best wildlife images are those which show the animal in its natural surroundings and include interesting elements from its habitat. Better yet, if the animal is interacting with its surroundings.
Street and Portrait Photography
I’m not much of a people photographer, but I have done a bit of it during my travels. I think that while the photographic ideas and principles here are further away from landscape photography, the framework of thought still very much applies. For me personally, the compositional ideas I presented in this series are very much present when shooting people.
Thank you for staying with me throughout this long series. I hope it’s been helpful, and I especially hope that it made you think about composition in a different way and take a moment before you click the shutter to make sure the subjects are in place and nicely separated!
Erez Marom is a professional nature photographer, photography guide and traveller based in Israel. You can follow Erez’s work on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to his mailing list for updates and to his YouTube channel.
If you’d like to experience and shoot some of the world’s most fascinating landscapes with Erez as your guide, take a look at his unique photography workshops in Svalbard, Greenland, Madagascar, the Lofoten Islands, Namibia and Vietnam.
Erez also offers video tutorials discussing his images and explaining how he achieved them.
More in The Landscape Composition Series:
Selected Articles by Erez Marom:
Camera
Pentax K-1 and K-1 II firmware updates include astrophotography features (depending on where you live)
![Pentax K-1 and K-1 II firmware updates include astrophotography features (depending on where you live) Pentax K-1 and K-1 II firmware updates include astrophotography features (depending on where you live)](https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/0154890027/Pentax-K1-II.jpeg)
Yesterday, Ricoh quietly released firmware 2.50 for its Pentax K-1 and K-1 II DSLRs. However, the features you can expect to gain from this update may depend on your geography.
Ricoh’s English-language firmware pages for the K-1 and K-1 II state that firmware 2.50 delivers “Improved stability for general performance.”
However, astute Pentax users noted that Ricoh’s Japanese-language firmware pages (translation) indicate that the update also includes a limited feature called “Astronomical Photo Assist,” a collection of three new features designed for astrophotography: Star AF, remote control focus fine adjustment, and astronomical image processing.
Star AF is intended to automate focusing on stars when using autofocus lenses. Rather than manually focusing on a bright star and changing your composition, it promises to let you compose your shot and let the camera focus.
Remote control fine adjustment allows users to adjust focus without touching the lens and requires Pentax’s optional O-RC1 remote. Astronomical image processing will enable users to make in-camera adjustments to astrophotography images, including shading correction, fogging correction, background darkness, star brightness, celestial clarity, and fringe correction.
According to Ricoh, Astronomical Photo Assist is a premium feature that must be purchased and costs ¥11,000 for an activation key (about $70 at current exchange rates).
Although these astrophotography features appear to be Japan-only for now, a Ricoh representative tells us, “Ricoh Imaging Americas confirmed that the premium firmware features for the PENTAX K-1 and PENTAX K-1 Mark II will eventually be available to US customers.”
Firmware update 2.50 for both the K-1 and K-1 II is available for download from Ricoh’s website.
Camera
On this day 2017: Nikon launches D850
![On this day 2017: Nikon launches D850 On this day 2017: Nikon launches D850](https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/3742168247/Nikon_D850_lead.jpeg)
As part of our twenty fifth anniversary, we’re looking back at some of the most significant cameras launched and reviewed during that period. Today’s pick was launched seven years ago today* and yet we’re only quite recently stepping out of its shadow.
The Nikon D850 is likely to be remembered as the high watermark of DSLR technology. We may yet still see impressive developments from Ricoh in the future (we’d love to see a significantly upgraded Pentax K-1 III), but the D850 was perhaps the green flash as the sun set on the DSLR as the dominant technology in the market.
Click here to read our Nikon D850 review
Why do we think it was such a big deal? Because it got just about everything right. Its 45MP sensor brought dual conversion gain to high pixel count sensors, meaning excellent dynamic range at base ISO and lower noise at high ISOs. Its autofocus system was one of the best we’ve ever seen on a DSLR: easy to use and highly dependable, with a good level of coverage. And then there was a body and user interface honed by years of iterative refinement, that made it easy to get the most out of the camera.
None of this is meant as a slight towards the other late-period DSLRs but the likes of Canon’s EOS 5DS and 5DSR didn’t present quite such a complete package of AF tracking, daylight DR and low-light quality as the Nikon did. With its ability to shoot at up to 9fps (if you used the optional battery grip), the D850 started to chip away at the idea that high megapixel cameras were specialized landscape and studio tools that would struggle with movement or less-than-perfect lighting. And that’s without even considering its 4K video capabilities.
In the seven years since the D850 was launched, mirrorless cameras have eclipsed most areas in which DSLRs once held the advantage. For example, the Z8 can shoot faster, autofocus more with more accuracy and precision, across a wider area of the frame and do so while shooting at much faster rates.
But, even though it outshines the D850 in most regards, the Z8 is still based around what we believe is a (significant) evolution of the same sensor, and its reputation still looms large enough for Nikon to explicitly market the Z8 as its “true successor.”
Nikon D850 sample gallery
*Actually seven years ago yesterday: we had to delay this article for a day to focus on the publishing the Z6III studio scene: the latest cameras taking precedence over our anniversary content.
Camera
Nikon Z6III added to studio scene, making image quality clear
![Nikon Z6III added to studio scene, making image quality clear Nikon Z6III added to studio scene, making image quality clear](https://2.img-dpreview.com/files/p/E~TS590x0~articles/9570948051/Nikon_z6iii_sensor_main.jpeg)
Photo: Richard Butler |
We’ve just received a production Nikon Z6III and took it into our studio immediately to get a sense for how the sensor really performs.
Dynamic range tests have already been conducted, but these only give a limited insight into the image quality as a whole. As expected, our Exposure Latitude test – which mimics the effect of reducing exposure to capture a bright sunrise or sunset, then making use of the deep shadows – shows a difference if you use the very deepest shadows, just as the numerical DR tests imply.
Likewise, our ISO Invariance test shows there’s more of a benefit to be had from applying more amplification by raising the ISO setting to overcome the read noise, than there was in the Z6 II. This means there’s a bigger improvement when you move up to the higher gain step of the dual conversion gain sensor but, as with the Z6 II, little more to be gained beyond that.
These are pushing at the extreme of the sensor’s performance though. For most everyday photography, you don’t use the deepest shadows of the Raw files, so differences in read noise between sensors don’t play much of a role. In most of the tones of an image, sensor size plays a huge role, along with any (pretty rare) differences in light capturing efficiency.
As expected, the standard exposures look identical to those of the Z6 II. There are similar (or better) levels of detail at low ISO, in both JPEG and Raw. At higher ISO, the Z6III still looks essentially the same as the Z6II. Its fractionally higher level of read noise finally comes back to have an impact at very, very high ISO settings.
Overall, then, there is a read noise price to be paid for the camera’s faster sensor, in a way that slightly blunts the ultimate flexibility of the Raw files at low ISO and that results in fractionally more noise at ultra-high ISOs. But we suspect most people will more than happily pay this small price in return for a big boost in performance.
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