Habt Ihr schon mit unseren Presets gearbeitet? Wir sind sehr neugierig und freuen uns, Eure Ergebnisse zu sehen! Markiert sie gern in den sozialen Medien mit #kwerfeldeinxfriends oder schickt sie uns direkt per E-Mail. Wir sind gespannt! Und nun viel Spaß mit den browserfruits.

Linktipps

• Fotos von Fans mit ihren Idolen sind wohl ziemlich langweilig. In Serie ist es jedoch erstaunlich spannend und wirkt wie eine kleine Studie. → ansehen

• Die nominierten Bilder des World Press Photo Awards stehen fest. → ansehen

• Der einzige Weg, aus ihrer missbräuchlichen Ehe zu kommen, war für diese afghanischen Frauen der Mord an ihren Ehemännern. Hinter Gittern finden sie Freiheit. Die New York Times zeigt ein strakes Fotoessay von Kiana Hayeri. → ansehen

• Das neue Buch „Midcentury Memories“ zeigt Amateurfotos aus den 50er und 60er Jahren. Das Monopolmagazin stellt es kurz vor und erklärt die Besonderheit der farbenfrohen Privatbilder. → ansehen

• Nach einer schweren Kriegsverletzung wurden Karl Heinz Mai beide Beine amputiert. Er wurde „Reporter auf drei Rädern“ und fotografierte die Ruinen und den Neuanfang Leipzigs. → ansehen

• Von jemandem gegen dessen Willen Bilder zu machen, ist ein Akt von Gewalt. Eine spannende Kolumne von Tillmann Prüfer hat die Zeit. → ansehen

• Die Rate der Menschen, die mit Albinismus innerhalb der Guna-Bevölkerung in Panama leben, gehört zu den höchsten der Welt. Der Fotograf Bienvenido Velasco Blanco besuchte vor Ort Menschen, die von Albinismus betroffen sind. → ansehen

• Im Magazin Jetzt berichten Menschen verschiedener Berufszweige, wie viel sie verdienen. Mit dabei auch Auftragsfotografin Caren. → ansehen

• Benedek Lampert fotografiert Spielzeugautos in real wirkenden Szenen. → ansehen

• My Modern Met zeigt die beeindruckenden Gewinnerfotos des Wettbewerbs „Underwater Photographer of the Year“. → ansehen

Buchempfehlungen

„Das Mädchen mit der Leica“ : Ein Roman über die Fotojournalistin Gerda Taro. Aus den Splittern der Erinnerung dreier alter Freund*innen setzt die Autorin ein Bild zusammen und erzählt das Leben der Fotografin, die während ihrer Arbeit im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg starb. Das Buch erscheint im Verlag Berlin und kostet 22 €.

„Sofort Bilder“ : Als fotographische „Notizen“ oder „Sofort Bilder“ bezeichnet Wim Wenders (geb. 1945) seine Polaroids aus den 1970er und 80er Jahren. Portraits von Freund*innen, Schauspieler*innen, Impressionen von USA-Reisen, Dreharbeiten und der Kinolandschaft der deutschen Provinz verwebt Wenders hier mit eigenen Erzählungen. 2017 erschienen, wird das Buch nun etwas kleiner und zum Preis von 19,80 € kostengünstiger neu aufgelegt.

Ausstellungen

1990. Fotografische Positionen aus einem Jahr, über ein Jahr
Zeit: 29. Februar – 17. Mai 2020
Ort: Dieselkraftwerk Uferstraße, Am Amtsteich 15, 03046 Cottbus

All Art is Photography
Zeit: 29. Februar – 26. April 2020
Ort: Kunstverein Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Bismarckstr. 44-48, 67059 Ludwigshafen

Biennale für aktuelle Fotografie – Walker Evans Revisited
Zeit: 29. Februar – 26. April 2020
Ort: Kunsthalle Mannheim, Friedrichsplatz 4, 68165 Mannheim

Drüben auf Instagram

@claudiagoedke – Claudia Gödke ist Fotografin aus Berlin und spezialisiert auf Food, Stilllife und Interior.

Videos

Camille Seaman fotografiert Eisberge und berichtet in ihrem Ted-Talk über die komplexe Schönheit dieser massiven, alten Eisbrocken.

Mathieu Stern entwickelt ein 120 Jahre altes Negativ aus einer Zeitkapsel.

Das Titelbild stammt von Annie Spratt. Vielen Dank!

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Power users of Instagram can let out a cheer of victory as the service has finally bowed to long-held user requests for a more efficient way to cull who you follow without having to do it one by one.

As many people are pointing out, this is especially useful in helping you eliminate bots from your list of people you follow. How does this work?

There are a couple of lists that Instagram generates for you to review including people you rarely interact with on the platform as well as those “most shown in feed,” aka, people who post endlessly.

All of this is about optimizing the user experience and making sure you get the content that is most valuable to you.

But there’s also the undercurrent of managing all of the fake accounts on your list.

One caveat is that some people you don’t really interact with might not use Instagram that much.

This could include family and friends.

Prior to this, you would have to do a little bit of research to figure out what accounts to unfollow.

Interestingly, these features come as Instagram’s hidden likes count change is meant to incentivize people to post more to the service.

It would seem that Instagram’s new emphasis is on activity of almost any type as the curating your newsfeed and giving you reasons to post more are bound to achieve that ultimately.

Do you use Instagram? What do you think of this new feature?

What about all of the other new features the platform has introduced over the past several months?

Let us know your thoughts on this news story in the comments section below if you like.

Also, there are a bunch of other photography news articles on Light Stalking for you to check out. You can do that by clicking here.

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Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Co-authored by Dahlia Ambrose

Most recent cameras, whether DSLRs or mirrorless, come with a feature called white balance that can be set manually depending on the light conditions that one is shooting. Some compact cameras may have that feature too if they have a manual mode for shooting photographs. White balance is important because we don't want a warm, cheerful scene to look cold and bleak. Nor do we want a cold scene to look artificially tinted with warm colours.

In this article, we'll cover how to properly set a custom white balance manually in your digital camera.  Before we begin, let's look at what white balance is in photography and why you need it set it up correctly. 

Here Is A Brief, Easy To Digest Explanation.  

White balance is how warm or how cool the colours look in your photographs. Usually, the camera reproduces colours the same way they look in real life. 

For example, even on a bright day, the light is a bit blue when your subject is in the shade. Our eyes don't register this because our brain is very good at dealing with colour casts, processing the information and making it look white to us. But our camera will pick up on this colour cast. 

Similarly, indoors under fluorescent or incandescent lights, we don't see much difference in white colour, but the camera sees it. This is what is called the colour temperature and balancing these colours to make the white look natural is adjusting white balance.

Note: Balancing the white colour means, adding warmer tones to cooler light and adding cooler tones to warmer light to make the white look natural.

Light sources emit colour in different temperature ranges, and it is measured in units of Kelvin.  For example, the direct light from the sun has a different temperature than light in the shade. Similarly, light from a fluorescent lamp will have a different temperature compared to tungsten or incandescent lights, and so on. So, natural light is cooler, while tungsten and candlelight are warmer. Fluorescent light can give a green colour cast. 

Note: Warmer lights have low Kelvin values, whereas cooler lights have higher Kelvin values. 

Here Is A Direct Example To Explain Kelvin:

Street lights typically emit an orange colour to them, when you take photographs with your digital camera in auto mode, the orange gets exaggerated, and the result isn't so pleasing. This is typically considered warm lighting.

On the other end of the spectrum is cool lighting and favours the blue/white Kelvin spectrum.  The new Lexus, BMW, Mercedes headlights all have this white/blue light to them.

In both examples, light is the final result, but the colour is different.  

Similar to the above examples, indoor incandescent bulbs cast an orange colour while candles cast an orangish-red glow. Likewise, when the sun is not up in the sky, the blue sky looks very blue and photographs taken in the shade look blue too. 

The reason for this is, different light sources emit different amounts of red, blue, green colours and the scattering of different wavelengths of light is the reason for the colours – for example, the reason why the sky is blue is due to the diffusion of blue light off air molecules more than any other wavelengths of light.

In days gone past when film ruled, it was much more lenient towards these particular colour shifts, and two main types of colour film existed, regular and tungsten.  While you could use gels in extreme cases, these two film types satisfied the needs of most everyone; digital sensors, however completely changed the game.

So, What Does Setting White Balance Do, And Why Should You Do It?

Setting white balance helps the camera to establish what is white in the scene and then set the colours more accurately for the photos taken in that scene, under that lighting situation. Setting white balance is very important when shooting in tricky light conditions, such as a mixed lighting scenario. Your shot might have artificial light indoors combined with natural light from a door or windows. Setting your white balance in this scenario will ensure you get accurate colours in your images. 

Cameras come with inbuilt white balance presets that are good to go most of the time, for a single type of light in a scene, but in situations where there are multiple light sources, the camera gets confused, and that is when you need to set the custom white balance. 

Moreover, if you are shooting jpegs for some reason, custom white balance is the way to go as fixing white balance when post-processing is not always possible with jpegs. Even if you are shooting RAW, it is best practice to get the white balance correct in camera.

Almost all digital cameras come with a handful of presets for white balance, each usually has an indicator to get you in the round-about territory of where you should be, plus auto which isn't great all the time. 

Here are the most common camera presets for white balance:

• AWB – Auto White Balance, where the camera sets the white balance based on the light in the scene. Most of the time, it is accurate, but there are times when the camera gets confused. So using auto white balance should be limited to situations when you do not have enough time to set the auto white balance for specific shots or lighting conditions. Examples include event and wedding photography where you cannot spend time adjusting the white balance for all the different lighting conditions as it will lead to the photographer missing the most critical moments of the event or wedding.
• Daylight – the camera usually adds warm tones when this preset is selected. So it is best to use this preset when the sun is bright enough as otherwise, it can cast a blue colour in your photographs. 
• Cloudy – the camera adds slight warm tones to the images when the sky is completely covered with clouds because the light on overcast days is a bit cooler. There are times when shooting sunset or sunrise may not reproduce the vibrant colours in your pictures, similar to what you see at the location. You can use this preset, so it adds warm reddish tones to your photographs.
• Shade – the camera adds warm tones to the images as otherwise, photographs shot in the shade using auto white balance may end up having blue tones. Also, if you are looking for warmer colours in daylight, you can use this white balance preset.
• Tungsten – the camera adds cool tones to the images as the tungsten light usually adds warm tones. So using this preset adds cool tones to bring down the bright yellow or orange colour casts these lights create in a scene.
• Fluorescent – the camera adds warm reddish tones to the photographs since these lights emit cool light.
• Flash – the camera adds warm tones to the image as the light from a flash is cool. Use this preset only if the flash is your only source of light. If not, you will need to use custom white balance settings.

Here are some sample images shot under various white balance settings to get an understanding of how different white balance values affect colours in the image:

Before going on to custom white balance, you could always try the different presets to see if these work for the light conditions that you are shooting in. 

If one preset does not work for a particular light condition, depending on whether you are looking for warmer or cooler tones, you can use the white balance preset above or below to adjust the colours. The preset modes are great when you are 100% sure of your lighting, but how often can that be?  

Setting your preset to Sun mode or daylight, for example, doesn't account for the light change from the early morning, high noon and late afternoon.  Likewise, most homes have multiple different temperature bulbs, that makes it near impossible to use a preset to get an accurate white balance. Especially with portraits and when shooting people under other light conditions, we want the skin tones to appear natural unless you are going for a creative look or feel in the image. 

The goal for white balance is to achieve a neutral and accurate portrayal of what the naked eye sees and to represent that in your photography. Most of the time, auto white balance or one of the presets works fine, but there will be times when the camera gets confused by the light conditions, and you will need to instruct it to see what is white in the scene. 

Setting a manual white balance, often called a custom white balance is way easier than most people could ever hope it to be.  

You'll want to shoot using custom white balance in any situation that you cannot control the light sources you are using. This will also be helpful in scenarios where there is more than one light source, and you have to use them both while photographing.

• Custom White Balance – the photographer sets the white balance depending on the light in the scene. You tell the camera what is white in the scene so the camera can adjust all the colours in the scene and reproduce the correct colours.

How Do You Set Custom White Balance?

Setting up custom white balance involves taking a photo of something white or mid-grey in the same light where you will be shooting your subject. You then select the camera's custom white balance mode and set it to use the photo of the white or mid-grey thing as reference. Follow the steps below on how to set this up, and this applies for any image.

Note: Refer to the camera's manual if you need help with getting into the white balance menu for your specific camera. Also, most cameras will have a WB button at the top or back of the camera, if not there, then at least white balance menu in the shooting menu.

This is what you see when you press the WB button on a Nikon. Rotate the front or back wheel for custom white balance presets or inbuilt camera's white balance presets.

• Take a photograph of something white in the same location under the same light you intend to shoot. Make sure it is shot at the right exposure, and it covers a large area of the frame or completely. This could be a wall or ceiling, fabric, paper, card or anything white or grey, and it will be used as the reference photo to set white balance manually.
• Then go to your camera's shooting menu, choose white balance settings and select custom white balance or, press the WB button on your camera and turn the dial until the custom white balance icon is displayed. 
• Select the image you just photographed (something white or grey under the shooting light) by pressing the set button. The “Set” button is usually the “OK” button; if not, you will be guided on the screen.
• Set your camera's White Balance setting to Custom.
• Now the white balance for the light you will be shooting under is set for your camera and you should get good results for that lighting situation. All the images shot in this lighting scenario in this location should turn out neutral with natural colours and should not have a colour cast. If anything in the scene changes, for example, a background, more light sources or colour of light, you will then need to set the white balance again following the steps above.
• If you move to a different lighting scenario, repeat the same steps above.

Set Custom White Balance – Canon

1. Choose custom white balance

2. Select the image with the white or grey area

3. Choose OK to use white balance data from this image

4. Click set again

There's no magic; it's that easy! 

There is one secret, though. You want your white or grey area to be where your focal point is.  That is to say, the model above is holding it directly over their face; that's what is important.  If you, the photographer, are standing 15 yards away and hold the grey card in one hand, camera in the other and shoot it, the light falling on the grey card for which you make your custom white balance setting could differ from what falls on your subject.  You must get the grey card into the frame with the subject!

Note: The bonus to doing a custom white balance, resulting in more neutral and natural colours is the total decrease in post-production work you'll have adjusting for improper white balance settings.

What If I Don't Have A Neutral Scene?

If you do not have a grey card or anything white or neutral in the scene, you can go the trial and error route. Use the Kelvin scale and depending on the light used, use manual values to increase or decrease the values in the Kelvin scale to set the white balance manually. Take test shots to get the most accurate white balance values. You can also use this as a way to creatively use white balance to add mood to your images. 

Choosing Kelvin values for setting white balance:

For Nikon: 

In the Shooting Menu -> Choose White Balance -> Choose colour temp. 

Adjust the temperature according to your lighting situation

For Canon: 

In the shooting menu, choose Kelvin scale adjustment

Here is a rough idea of the values to look out for:

And here is a handy table to use as a guide:

We hope that this overview of white balance and how to set custom white balance has been helpful. If you want to know more about white balance, take a look at these articles:

Further Reading:

Further Learning:

While this tutorial on how to set custom white balance will help you get it right in camera, our images will always need editing. Editing is a huge part of photography, and if you are interested in learning more about it, then take a look at Kent DuFault's Ultimate Guide To Fundamental Editing.   

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Das Bild des Tages von: Gabi

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Noch während ich all Eure Ergebnisse zum Wochenthema Rot ansehe, überlege ich, ob die Beiträge bei anderen Farben wohl anders ausgefallen wären. Gäbe es bei Blau, Grün oder Orange vielleicht weniger Straßenszenen und Küchendekorationen? Dafür mehr Natur oder Portraits?

Vielleicht müssen wir das im Laufe des Jahres ganz einfach mal ausprobieren. Bis dahin gibt’s aber erstmal eine kleine Auswahl aller Einreichungen zum Thema Rot. Und wie gewohnt findet Ihr die neuen Themen jeden Montag im Magazin. Viel Spaß!

© Marie-Luise Schmidt

Ich mag die Farbe Rot sehr, vielleicht weil ich ein Feuerzeichen bin. In meiner Küche finden sich einige rote Utensilien und Lebensmittel, mit denen ich den halben Vormittag verbracht habe, um das Bild zu fotografieren. Ein willkommener Kontrast zu meiner sonstigen dokumentarischen Arbeitsweise.

© Klaus Wazlak

© Heiko Gappa

© Markus Kühne

© Wolfgang Biller

© Claudia Rempel

© Carola Bührmann

© Marc Oliver Gutzeit

© peter_f_gerhard

© Andrea Epstein

© Micaela Lucas

© Doro

© Heim Wilhelm

© Werner Pechmann

© Sven Geiersbach

© Francis Dercourt

© Hans Severin

© fotolabyrinth

© Jürgen Libertus

© Mathias Müller

© sabri_na_nu

© youcantuntilyoucanit

Genug rot gesehen? Auch wenn das hier kein Wettbewerb werden soll, schreibt gern in die Kommentare, welches Bild Euch am meisten überrascht hat oder Euch am besten gefällt.

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Don’t take pictures on train tracks. Not only is it incredibly dangerous, but it’s also illegal in some places.

One family in Pennsylvania nearly learned this lesson the hard way as they were taking pictures of themselves on an active track and, unbeknownst to them, a fast moving train was right on its way.

Why they decided to take pictures on the train tracks isn’t known but you can clearly see a photographer and the family, which included several young kids, all over the train tracks in what has to be one of the most dangerous things you can do while taking pictures.

You even hear someone scream that there’s a train coming and they barely make it in time. What’s most upsetting is that the confusion caused by the arrival of the train looks like the perfect setup for a disaster.

People are running in all directions and one person even walked back across the train tracks when the train was not very far away. It’s somewhat baffling to be sure.

And it’s gone viral in the photography world as well as the railroad watchers circuit. Captured by Virtual Railfan, Inc., the video is pretty darn crazy.

As many outlets have point out, and as many of you know already, train tracks are incredibly dangerous and result in death more often than you might believe.

We covered a story here about a story in Oregon where a senior photoshoot on train tracks resulted in the death of one person. You can check that story out by clicking here.

You can watch the whole scene unfold by clicking right here.

What are your thoughts on this story?

Do you have any other advice about dangerous photoshoot locations you’d like to share?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below if you like.

Also, don’t forget to check out my other photography news articles on Light Stalking by clicking this link right here.

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One weatherman in the US state of North Carolina was simply trying to deliver the weather but he gave viewers on Facebook so much more.

That’s because he forgot to turn off the “Mystery Mask” feature which puts random masks on the faces of people featured in the video stream.

So now WLOS ABC 13 weatherman Justin Hinton is a viral sensation and all thanks to something he probably didn’t even think to turn off.

WLOS ABC 13 took it all in stride, commenting “When you’re trying to do a serious Facebook Live about the weather and you accidentally tap the Mystery Mask filter. Poor Justin Hinton.”

And the reporter himself even made light of the situation, tweeting, “The feeling when you realize everyone at work was watching your FB live and you had no idea a random filter generator was turned on.”

It’s a story most of us can relate to in one way or the other.

He went on to explain what happened with the Facebook broadcast, writing:

“Right before going live on Facebook on the WLOS ABC 13 station account to talk about snow, I somehow activated a filter generator. The photog I was working with said something about the screen having weird faces. He didn’t elaborate, so I said it would probably go away. Needless to say, it did not go away. I didn’t realize it until I stepped off-camera and saw the comments where people were talking about the faces. My bosses, coworkers, friends, PIOs and more called/texted saying how funny it was, so here you go. If you can’t laugh at yourself, what’s the point of laughter? I hope you enjoyed the snow day, and remember to smile and laugh!”

You can check out the video for yourself by clicking here.

What do you think of this news story? Have you ever left something in a photo by accident to comic effect? Let us know your story and thoughts in the comments section below.

And please don’t forget to check out some of the other awesome photography news articles on Light Stalking by clicking right here.

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Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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So today we are going to venture into something a bit different with a brief history of landscape photography.

If you’re into landscapes, then sooner or later, the history of landscape photography is something that is going to take your interest as the evolution of the craft becomes relevant to your own style.

Landscapes have fascinated humanity since way before photography and the painting tradition is good evidence of that. In earlier times, photography was pretty limited in terms of technology, so landscapes were the perfect subject for the new discipline in the nineteenth century since it was almost static. Let’s jump in and see how it all evolved.

The Birth of Landscape Photography

When understanding the history of landscape photography, it is hard to trace the exact origin of landscape photography since the very first photograph that we have knowledge of was taken in an urban landscape during 1826 or 1827 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce. Then in 1835 the English scientist Henry Fox Talbot came into play with various photography innovations.

Landscape photography was delivering something that only painting was capable of doing until that time – rendering reality in a two-dimensional format.

A lot of landscape images and portraits were taken during the Victorian era of photography, but it was in 1904 when Edward Steichen produced a photograph known as Moonlight: The Pond that landscape photography gained certain recognition in the art world.

The First Pioneers of Landscape Photography

It is almost impossible to talk about the history of landscape photography without instantly thinking about certain photographers, these are the pioneers of Landscape photography. Their images aimed to render reality in the purest possible way, and since photography’s footprint was still little, they had plenty of landscapes to photograph, especially in the U.S.

The American West was from where some of the most inspirational photographs in history were made especially the Yellowstone region.

Carleton Watkins (1829–1916)

Carleton Watkins is a true pioneer of landscape photography. He is an American photographer who is best known for his amazing photographs of the Yosemite Valley.  To capture the extraordinary detail of the breathtaking landscape, Watkins famously packed up his mammoth-plate camera, which used 18X22 inch glass plates, tripods, and tents on mules and trekked through the Valley, returning with 30 mammoth-plate negatives that went on to kick off the National Park movement in the US.

Watkins was also hired by the California State Geological Survey as their official photographer where his team made a large number of photographs that held information about California. The images of Yosemite produced by Watkins were among the first images to be seen of the Yosemite Valley in the Eastern US, caused a stir in the US Congress and these amazing images were, as such, fundamental in convincing the congress and ensuring that Yosemite was preserved as a National Park.

William Henry Jackson (1843 – 1942)

William Henry Jackson is famous for his images from the American West and he was a painter, geological survey photographer and explorer. When Jackson served in the Union Army, he spent most of his free time doing drawings. In 1866, Jackson travelled to the West and along with his brother Edward Jackson, settled down in Omaha and got into the photography business.

Jackson worked for Union Pacific in 1869 where his job was to document sceneries along various railroad routes which were to be used for promotional purpose. Ferdinand Hayden discovered Jackson's work and asked Jackson to join one of their expeditions to Yellowstone river region.

The next year, Jackson was invited to join the US Government survey of the Yellowstone river and rocky mountains that was led by Ferdinand Hayden. He was also a member of the Hayden Geological survey of 1871 and he along with other members of the expedition documenting the Yellowstone region played an important role in convincing the congress to establish the Yellowstone National Park in March 1872, which was the first national park in the US.

One of Jackson's most important photo is the “Mountain of the Holy Cross” in Colorado.

Peter Henry Emerson (1856 – 1936)

Peter Henry Emerson was a British writer and photographer who argued about the purpose and meaning of photography. He argued that photography was a form of art and not something that was done for scientific or technical reasons. Inspired by the naturalistic French paintings, Emerson started to photograph country life as naturalistic photography. He got his first album of photographs published in 1856 called the “Life and Landscape on the Norfolk Broads.”

Emerson further went on to photograph the landscapes and rural lives in the East Anglian fenlands and published further books of his photography. “Marsh Leaves” published in 1895 was considered to be his best work.

Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984)

Ansel Adams is without a doubt the almighty master of landscape photography and in any history of landscape photography, he is king.

He dedicated his life to photography and understood the importance of being passionate during the whole photographic process. He was an extremely avid explorer, and several national parks in the United States arguably owe their existence to his activism realized through his photographic work.

Ansel Adams is known for planning his images with extreme care and passion, and he also mastered the act of using a camera, developing the negative and printing the final image.

His photographs are mind blowing thanks to the level of definition. His landscape photographs of the Yosemite National Park have been his most iconic and well-known body of work.

If you aren't familiar with Ansel Adams work, you can see some of his images here, but the experience of seeing one of his prints live is just out of this world.

Imogen Cunningham (1883 – 1976)

Imogen Cunningham was not just an amazingly talented landscape photographer, she was also very good with portraiture and was a very close friend of Ansel Adams. She was a member of the famous photography cohort, the f/64 Group. This group aimed to achieve perfection in every single photograph they made, from still-lifes to huge landscapes, and the cameras they used were able to get those extra light stops beyond f/22.

She worked with several subjects, but her landscapes are quite a delight to see.

Edward Weston (1886 – 1958)

Edward Weston was known for working with various subjects and was one of the most innovative and influential photographers of the twentieth century. The most remarkable thing in his work was the consistency he had across various subjects. From landscapes to still-life, there was an absolutely impressive level of detail and light handling.

He was another member of the f/64 group, and you can see many of his works here.

The Second Pioneers of Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is not just about members of the f/64 Group, even when they did basically everything possible with landscape photography. There are a few great landscape photographers that have redefined what means to create a landscape, and we think is important to mention them as well.

Michael Kenna (1953 – )

Michael Kenna has redefined what landscape photography means by aiming his attention (and camera) towards the simple and isolated elements that reside within a landscape. He has a close relationship with Japanese culture, and his unusual approach to landscapes result in subtle and zen compositions enhanced by his exposing decisions that can take up to 10 hours. His work can be seen on his personal website.

Hiroshi Sugimoto (1948 – )

Hiroshi Sugimoto is one of the finest photographers alive today, and if Kenna's landscapes are minimal, Sugimoto's are even simpler yet compelling in their own way. He has worked with a lot of subjects, but his seascapes are definitely something that needs to be seen. Long exposures are a must in landscape photography, but Sugimoto takes it to the next level.

Luigi Ghirri (1943 – 1992)

Luigi Ghirri was an Italian photographer famous for being a pioneer, not only in landscape photography but also in the format he used, because he was a color shooter, which was a brave move back in the days when black and white photography was just starting to get some recognition from the art world. His use of color evokes subtle emotions and human engagement with their surroundings.

How Landscape Photography Gear Has Evolved

Landscape photography is indeed one of the oldest genres in photography, so any discussion on the history of landscape photography should include a look at the cameras themselves. Indeed, it is no surprise that landscape photography has had a strong relationship with the evolution of the photographic tools as well.

The first cameras used for landscapes were simple wooden boxes with a photosensitive material coating a plate. After some photographic innovation, view cameras became possible. These cameras are also known as large format cameras and are precision devices built to capture reality in a way no other camera can. Many landscape photographers still use these types of cameras.

Later, things got smaller and lighter, and medium format cameras appeared. After a while, 35mm film cameras also came into the game, and along with medium format and large format, they have all kept a warm relationship with landscape photography.

In recent years, digital cameras have become the standard, and full-frame DSLR cameras have become the favorite of many landscape photographers. More recently, medium format has become more accessible in the market, and it will offer a vast world of opportunities to landscape photographers who are looking for even more detail and perfection in their images.

As the digital photography era progresses, the accessibility of amazing technology increases. These days, the most common landscape camera is a smartphone (by far). And while the technology isn’t there quite yet, it isn’t difficult to envision a time when almost everybody has a camera in their pocket that the landscape photography greats could only dream of. Then, of course, they will all need to learn how to use them well to create our own history of landscape photography.

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Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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