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Middle management

Of course the real world is not divided neatly into ‘foreground’ and ‘background’. An image consisting solely of two disparate segments with no connection between them will often look odd, like a Photoshopped collision of two unrelated images. The bit in between is easily overlooked, but it’s what connects the foreground interest with the wider background landscape.

However, striving to ensure a strong middle-ground in every shot can make the image just too full and complex. The middle-ground can often be hinted at or suggested, while strong lines – rivers, paths, walls, even a line of people or sheep – can keep it simple but set up a clear connection.

Focus and Depth of Field

We introduced depth of field on ssss1. That’s a measure of its importance. In all of photography, there’s no technical concept that’s more vital to grasp. And by tradition, landscape photography – photography of places – aims to maximise depth of field.

This is not an arbitrary diktat. There’s sound reasoning behind it. As we’ve already suggested, when the shot has a clearly defined subject, like a portrait, it may not matter – it may even be a plus – if other elements in the frame are out of focus. But with general landscape views, everything is the subject. (Maybe the word ‘subject’ is almost as treacherous as that other word, ‘composition’.) In this kind of shot, a picture which is sharp throughout matches what we see, and looks more natural.