Use the Vertical to Accent the Horizontal...

The ever constant Oklahoma wind flowed across the prairie like invisible waves...waves made apparent by the undulations of the tall grasses as they rolled in time with the tune of the wind.  I love first light on the prairie...it's a magical time that takes much longer than it might seem to materialize...and at the same time lasts but a fleeting moment and is gone before you realize its gone.  Photographing the prairie I've discovered, is far more difficult to accomplish than one might think.  How do you capture it's grandeur...the big sky and openness in a single shot?

The prairie by its nature is relatively flat and rolls across the landscape in undulating patterns that create, under the right conditions, shadows and textures...but those shadows and textures are for the most part isolated low to the ground and tend to blend with each other.  What one experiences visually while standing on a high knoll during first light is far from what is easily captured in a photograph.  Visually we can detect the subtle variations in the landscape and can feel the bigness of the sky as it arches above us.  A photograph can only capture a pseudo likeness of what is there.

One technique that I use to capture the essence of the prairie is to use the vertical to accent the horizontal.  What I mean by this is that by isolating something against the sky vertically, you enhance what is trapped below the horizontal line.  There are numerous ways to do this...one of the most common is to use clouds...especially those white fluffy summer clouds.

Clouds add depth to a flat sky...they also cast shadows across the landscape and add interest to what might otherwise be a bland composition.  Combine this with breaking the horizontal line with something vertical in the foreground composition and not only do you bring depth, but you bring life to the image.

The idea of using the vertical to accent the horizontal works in all kinds of situations...not just big sky open prairies.  Whenever you have a wide field of view by adding something on the horizon to break it up, you are taking advantage of the accent flavor.  

Turning you camera to a vertical orientation is another way to use this technique.  Knowing when to use a vertical orientation vs horizontal is a matter of personal taste really, but some subjects tend to work more effectively as a photograph in the vertical.  The idea in most cases is to isolate the subject against the sky or some other background.

One note...the horizon doesn't always have to be...the horizon.  Take the prairie for instance...being characterized by a rolling landscape you can use those rolls to you advantage by isolating your subject against a background with careful selection of angle and composition...much like the image at the top of the page.  Your horizon in essence becomes one of the rolls.

Using the vertical to accent the horizontal may seem like an ordinary approach to photography...even so, by making a conscious effort to visualize how the vertical can enhance a horizontal landscape...you will add another level of learning to your ability to see photographically.

Keith

Isolate What is Important

Several years ago as my youngest son was playing little league baseball, I watched him struggle game after game to hit the ball.  I could take him to batting cages and he would knock the cover off the ball...but in a game, he'd strike out time after time or he would barely make contact with the ball and get thrown out at first.  I just couldn't quite figure out why he had the ability to hit in the batting cages...even when the balls were being thrown all over the strike zone...but he could not seem to do so in a game.  It wasn't until sometime later that I began to realize what he was doing.  When he was in the batting cage, he would focus in on what was important...the ball...but in a game, he had a tendency to focus in on the field and not the ball...and so he would never watch the ball into the bat and swing wildly hoping to make contact.

Oddly enough, I see beginning photographers do the same kind of thing...they tend to see the field, but fail to focus on what is truly important...consequently, way to often they strike out in their photographs.  Successful photography includes many aspects, finding what is important and concentrating on it is one of the most important.  I've said it, and heard it said by others many times...your job as a photographer is to find order in the midst of the chaos....in other words...isolate what is important and simplify your composition.

Occasionally I'll run across a photograph that really catches my attention.  What usually does the trick is how the photographer was able to do just that, focus in the most important part of the composition.  Often, I'll find myself looking at the wrong part of the scene and attempting to capture something that just isn't there...just isn't working for some reason.  When that happens, if I change my focus...look more tightly at my surroundings, I will just as often discover the elements that were catching my attention to begin with, and an entirely new composition materializes.

So don't be afraid to tighten your focus...narrow the field of view and see the individual elements that make up the composition...concentrate on those and you just might begin to see the world from entirely new perspective...and when that happens, your photography will grow another step in the right direction.

Keith