Well that was one of the busiest weeks I’ve had for a while.
Monday I began study towards my photography diploma with Southern Institute of Technology.
This image was one of 4 submitted this week in different catagories. This was my submission for the landscape category.
Following is the justification text of what my workings were behind the photo.
This is the incredible view from the northern side of Mount John, where I work.
The region is divinely picturesque but this is one view I’m particularly fond of.
I love the colour contrast between the golden grasses and the blue/ turquoise of the lake and sky.
I framed this view between a rock and the neighboring bush to give the illusion that it was a peep-hole into paradise. There’s definitely some truth to this!
Settings:
Shutter: 1/1000
ISO: 100
Aperture F8.0
Focal length 70mm
Gear:
#Sony A7ii
Sony #Zeiss 24-70 f4
Reason for settings:
As with any landscape I wanted to retain as much detail as possible so set ISO to 100.
I zoomed in to 70mm on my 24-70mm lens to bring the Mountains and lake closer.
This longer focal length also helped throw the foreground out of focus.
I wanted to keep all of the image in focus except the rock and bush I used for framing in the foreground.
I played with aperture priority and settled on F/8.0 to achieve the look I wanted
Challenges I faced:
I tried not to lose too much shadow detail in the foreground, but didn’t want to overexpose the bright white of the mountains.
I figure I’m more likely to be able to recover detail from the shadows than clipped highlights, so I exposed to preserve the highlights.
I tried to stick to the rule of thirds for this composition. It was a bit tricky in this scene and I’m sure there’s probably a more suitable rule of composition I could have used, but I’m happy with the final look.
I just had to move around until the composition looked well balanced.
