Russ | Russ Bishop Photography | Nature Photo Blog

April 5, 2024April 5, 2024

Landscape Tip: What’s Your Angle?

Landscape Tip: What’s Your Angle? Captivating landscape photography typically includes one or more elements that make it stand out from the crowd. Magical light, richly saturated colors, and dramatic vistas can all make for great images, but sometimes we’re not rewarded with these sure-fire conditions even after the long hike or braving the inclement weather.

Fortunately there are other ways to create visually dynamic imagery when mother nature is not cooperating – namely your lens and your eyes. Perspective is a powerful tool that is limited only by your choice of focal length and framing.

A wide-angle lens with both excellent depth of field and a wide field of view can be used to emphasize a foreground element such as a plant or rock within the context of its larger mountain or desert environment. In most cases this also creates visual tension within the frame by directing the viewer’s eye from near to far elements, which in turn adds drama to the composition.

So the next time the elements aren’t working in your favor try adding a little visual spice to the scene with this simple technique. A subtle change in perspective through lens selection or camera position can entice your viewers to linger within the frame and might just turn a good image into a great one.

March 22, 2024March 25, 2024

World Water Day

March 22nd is World Water Day – a time to celebrate the spring season and our most precious natural resource. It’s easy to take for granted when we’ve had a wet winter and a bottle or tap is always within arms reach, but we share the planet with nearly 1 billion people who don’t have access to safe clean drinking water or sanitation. That’s a hard fact to swallow when you consider that most of the earth’s surface is water.

The United Nations first began the celebration back in 1993 and it’s grown significantly over the years as a platform for education and public support. Each year, one of the many UN agencies involved in water issues spearheads a campaign to promote and coordinate international activities. The theme of World Water Day 2024 is ‘Water for Peace’, and focuses on fostering harmony, generating prosperity and building resilience to shared challenges.

On the world front, there are many ways to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and at home simple conservation can have a profound effect. I’m proud to be involved with Photographers for Good and the Plus One Collection, which has use its resources to support The Samburu Project building wells in Kenya. I can think of no greater reward than inspiring others to enjoy the beauty of nature, while helping to provide life’s most basic necessity to those in need.

Here in the west this years winter storms have helped to offset years of drought, but whatever the conditions at home we should always remember that water is a precious commodity essential for life. So enjoy that drink and spread the word throughout the year (and don’t forget to turn off the tap).

March 1, 2024March 1, 2024

Finding Balance

Finding balance. The notion of coming together to create symmetry spans the worlds of economics, mathematics, computing, and natural science. Systems that work together to form a more unified whole are greater than the sum of their parts. They are efficient and economical, and equally important on the human side they create a sense of harmony and well-being.

It is a natural human desire to find equilibrium in our lives, and for many the definition of success is living a balanced life. Landscape photography is a wonderful medium in this sense as it provides us with an outlet for creating visual harmony. What we express through our lens is an extension of our personality and our vision of the world around us.

Webster defines balance as “an aesthetically pleasing integration of elements” and, while the evolution of our photographic vision is an ongoing journey, learning to find balance in your compositions does become second nature with practice.

The juxtaposition of color and form within the frame is often the key, and learning to recognize and integrate them into your photography will translate into more dynamic and satisfying images that hopefully reflect that balance we all strive to find in life.