Composition
Unless circumstances dictate otherwise, you want to avoid walking up to an unfamiliar scene and try photographing it stone-cold moments before the critical light. Even when you have to react to an unexpected spontaneous scene, any advanced compositional work will help improve your reflexes. That is why during my scouting, I try to establish the precise composition then and not later.
“Cooking Up” a Composition
The engineer in me always wants to boil things down to the “short and sweet,” so I like to view composition simply as the process of assembling pieces. In the context of photography, the pieces can be the subject, lighting, perspective, and so forth. Defining a good composition is often done in terms of rules and guidelines. Using a cooking analogy, guidelines define ingredients, but it is up to the photographer to create the recipe.
As important as composition is, it is only part of what is necessary to produce a great photograph. Remember Edison’s famous motto: success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration. Success still depends on preplanning, legwork, and technical skills. Then there is the software post-processing that requires a different skill set and, often, additional creativeness to complete the final image.
Slow Down
I feel the one most important step in creating a composition is simply to be methodical. My transition from 35mm to large format several years ago was a personal renaissance. Previously I was a mediocre amateur, then large format taught me how to be a photographer. I don’t mean to imply that I’m a great photographer now, just a lot better than I was before. Large format is a slow all-manual process and at several dollars a click, I had to be sure I was taking a perfect shot every time. This forced me to slow down to carefully concentrate on every shot — each image had to be crafted. Over time I began to see the improvement. When I shot 35mm or medium format, it was easy to take pictures and that tended to make me a bit shutter-happy, except you don’t achieve quality through quantity.
Seeing the Picture
When I scout for a shot, my greatest failing is best described by a famous Sherlock Holmes quote: You see, but you do not observe (A Scandal in Bohemia). I can be standing before an awe-inspiring scene, yet my mind draws a blank on how to capture it in an interesting and artistic way. On the flip side, I can be standing before an ordinary landscape struggling to visualize any photographic potential. My instinct tells me there may be a great shot lurking, yet I just don’t see it.
The dilemma is what to do differently to start observing rather than just seeing. I don’t think there is a pat answer other than be patient and invest the time to absorb the scene and study its every aspect. Having a specific purpose in mind, or theme, will help sharpen your focus. Building experience is also crucial and will make the process easier. Most times I’ll work through the challenges and eventually craft a composition befitting the scene. I may also bungle the shot. Accepting failure instead of being frustrated by it helps build the experience that contributes toward success the next time around.
Working the Scene
Part of the “observing” exercise mentioned above is working the scene to determine the best viewpoint. An ideal viewpoint to me is one that depicts a scene differently from the way most people ordinarily see it. The first step is to move around, typically off the beaten path. I try to judge if a higher elevation or lower ground level is better. I look for a visual embellishment, most often a foreground subject to add impact and depth to the scene. If there are no interesting foreground subjects, I’ll look for something that frames the scene or an interesting juxtaposition of elements. I also assess the best perspective: do I compress the scene with a telephoto lens or create expansive depth with a wide-angle close-up shot. If the scene is a wide vista, I may dissect the scene to find narrower views that stand on their own, or I may decide on a panoramic shot. Finally, I may draw on compositional cues from photos of that scene that I found in my research.
While finding the perfect assembly of elements, I need to pay special attention to the light. Since I usually scout during daylight, I need to anticipate what the morning or evening golden light will be like (this is where TPE 3D comes in handy). There are many lighting scenarios to consider that I’ll discuss shortly, but initially there are two fundamental considerations: fitting the scene to the light, or the light to the scene. For example, if I’m anticipating a dramatic sunrise sky that will be the star attraction of the photo, then I need to find a photogenic viewpoint towards that light that best complements it. Alternately, I may be composing a classic scenic viewpoint and have little leeway in changing the shot direction. Then I need to decide the lighting condition that best fits the scene and time the shot accordingly.
If after working a scene you feel frustrated at failing to create a satisfying composition, don’t worry you’re not alone. I confess that sometimes, despite all the meticulous searching, I fail to create a composition that jingle my bells. To make myself feel better, I dismiss it to writer’s block. The best cure is leave and scout elsewhere and return later after the mind clears. Often when I return, my mind suddenly opens up to all sorts of potential shots that, for whatever reason, were elusive the first time.
“Me-Too” Shots
When at an iconic location for the first time, I may struggle and fail to create a composition that is different from the thousands taken beforehand. Nonetheless, I am as thrilled to create a well-executed “me too” photograph as with any other photographs. Because a scene has been over shot doesn’t invalidate that it’s still a great scene. As studious landscape photographers, we likely study more iconic photographs than the average public. It has been my experience that what we photographers think is a me-too photograph may be the first time a casual observer has seen it; and the me-too aspect doesn’t in anyway diminish that viewer’s appreciation of the picture.
Referring back to my previous comparison of composition to cooking, I’ll now explore some of the basic elements (or “ingredients”) to consider in your composition “recipe”.
Foreground Subjects
I’m rather compulsive at having some kind of foreground subject in the frame. This provides scale and sense of depth to the image, which collectively adds visual impact. When there is no prominent foreground subject around, I’ll look for rock patterns, gnarled driftwood, or any kind of brush. Whatever the foreground subject is, it has to be prominent in the frame and, ideally, relatively isolated and clear of distractions. An interesting piece of driftwood as a foreground subject needs to loom large and somewhat isolated in the frame or it may look like ordinary ground debris.

Poorly Isolated Foreground: I tried to use the tree as both foreground subject and framing element. The problem is the distracting (and obstructing) brush on the left and the competing rear tree on the right.
Be creative
When you can’t find a decent foreground subject, sometimes you just have to be creative and look for the unconventional. Once, I had just arrived at Mt. Tom (near Bishop, CA) just as a clearing storm was revealing a glorious sunrise. Panicked for time, I raced up and down a road along a barbed wire fence (that I couldn’t trespass over) looking for almost anything as a foreground subject. Finding nothing, I decided the fence had to be it, but I had to find some part of the fence with appeal (which is not easy to do with a barbed wire fence). So, I figured the most likely candidate would be some sort of gate, if there was one. LuckIy, I managed to find the grass-encroached gate seen in the image below. Not what I was originally looking for, but as they say: “any port in a storm.” It actually works, but the barbed wire does send negative vibes to some.

Mount Tom, Eastern Sierra: Being restricted to the roadside, all I found was this gnarled gate for a foreground subject.
Choosing a Focal Length
Focal length has an enormous impact on the structure and dynamics of a composition. It requires careful consideration to make sure that essential elements in the foreground, mid-ground, and background are properly proportioned to create the viewpoint and perspective that best compliments the scene.
Perspective
Perspective is the visual trick to create the illusion of a third-dimension for a sense of depth. By altering the relative sizes of foreground and background objects, we either emphasize or deemphasize the illusion of depth. Which direction to take is highly dependent on subject matter and your artistic intent.
Changing perspective is accomplished by moving the camera, not changing focal length. If a photo taken with a telephoto lens is compared to a wide-angle shot taken in the same spot and enlarged to match the same image area, you see the same perspective. For some this can be confusing since a wide-angle close-up of a looming flower against a distant backdrop always has a greater perspective. When you step back and make the flower the same size with a telephoto lens, the perspective is noticeably compressed. Except that’s the point, the perspective changed because the camera was moved further away from the flower. But with that technicality aside, the focal length is still a major tool in controlling the perspective of the “total” image, either by exaggerating it (up-close at a wide-angle) or compressing it (far-back with a telephoto).
Short focal length (wide-angle)
While some think that a wide-angle lens is to gulp in a large chunk of scenery, that’s not its main advantage. Instead, it excels at emphasizing the foreground by exaggerating perspective for a third-dimensional effect. To emphasize the foreground and increase perspective, you move in closer with an increasingly wider focal length. A wide-angle lens allows focusing close to the foreground while retaining sufficient depth-of-field to carry the eye to the horizon in relative sharpness.
The drawbacks with a short focal length are picking up more than you want, such as a dull sky or distracting imagery, and greatly diminishing the background scale. You can deal somewhat with a dull sky by elevating yourself and pointing down, or move in closer to crop out more of the sky. As for a diminished background, that’s the compromise you have to make based on subject priority.
To benefit from wide-angle shots, you’ll need a focal length of at least 28mm (18mm for APS-C) and preferably closer to 24mm (15mm for APS-C). Super wide-angle zooms (down to 16mm for full-frame) greatly expand your options and are an excellent investment; but if money is tight, a standard zoom that gets close to 24mm should cover most situations.
Mid-range focal length
If distant mountains or some other prominent background feature is also an important element besides the foreground, then I favor a mid-focal length in the 35mm to 60mm range (full-frame). This range is a good compromise that avoids shrinking and deemphasizing the background while still maintaining reasonable perspective.

Mono Lake, California: A 45mm focal length (full-frame equivalent) still maintains good perspective while preventing the background mountains from shrinking and losing the impact of the rising sunlight.
Long focal length (telephoto)
If the foreground subject is either too busy or nonexistent, I may shoot over 70mm and use the middle-to-background as the main theme. If the middle ground is uninteresting, I may go further to 200mm to extract an interesting mini-scene from the background. Since a longer focal length flattens perspective, it can add a unique appeal to the image, like compressing distant mountain ranges in misty-morning sunlight. Shooting long is also a way to isolate a scene from a boring or overcast sky.
There are also times I’m perched on an overlook viewing a distant land feature. Unless I can trek to the site, the telephoto lens is the only means to draw the subject into the frame. In these situations, longer focal lengths may be required. If you find this a common shooting condition, consider a 70-300mm or 100-400mm zoom (full-frame) rather than the more popular 70-200mm. They are also better suited for serious wildlife photography, but you need to factor the added weight and cost.
Shooting long does have its problems. First, even at very small apertures, you are working with limited depth-of-field. If you are trying to capture anything with considerable fore-to-background distance, you may not maintain sufficient sharpness throughout that distance. In addition, the magnified distant detail may be perceived soft due to the increased amount of intervening haze that lowers contrast (but not actual sharpness). Finally, there’s camera shake that can easily occur even if you think you’re being cautious. In any case, check your LCD preview at maximum magnification to make sure you have acceptable sharpness throughout the area of interest.
Middle ground
In a general sense, you shoot wide for foreground and long for background. But what about the middle ground? I generally deal with that more with camera height and orientation than focal length. If I want to shrink an uninteresting mid-ground, I’ll lower the camera’s position. That may increase the sky coverage, which can be good if it’s magic light or bad if the sky is boring. In any case, I’ll juggle between camera height and zoom level to find a compromise. If instead the mid-ground is photogenic, such as a river winding through the scene, I’ll look for higher ground or a bridge so I can point down to increase the mid-ground coverage. I may also switch to a vertical camera position to further increase the mid-ground coverage.

Zion NP: This iconic scene illustrates the advantage of height (taken from a bridge) and vertical format to increase mid-ground coverage of the river.
Portrait or Landscape Orientation
I find choosing between a vertical (portrait) or horizontal (landscape) camera position is usually intuitive. A switch from horizontal to vertical is often to simply fit the subject within the frame, or instead to eliminate distractions and simplify the composition.
Many times you find pleasing compositions that work both ways — so shoot both. My personal tastes lean toward horizontal over vertical; and from a practical point, the horizontal orientation is more adaptable to slideshows and calendars. Interestingly, Outdoor Photographer magazine commented they’re seeing an increasing trend away from portrait-oriented images being submitted to their magazine.
When I do shoot vertical, it is usually to capture a large fore-to-background expanse without having to zoom out. Trying to achieve the same coverage in the horizontal position requires zooming out and possibly introducing unwanted “guests” into the frame. However, the vertical position includes more mid-ground, which needs to have photogenic appeal or it may detract from the composition.

Portrait Format: This orientation allows increasing the emphasis on the foreground flowers (by moving in closer) while including enough background to provide a sense of place.

Landscape Format: This orientation changes the composition by adding more background interest (it is also the better of the two orientations in my opinion).
Panoramas
Sometimes when standing before a breathless vista, such as the Grand Canyon, it’s difficult to convey the grandeur with a single frame. The solution is the panoramic shot.
Bookends
When I compose a panoramic shot, I try to anchor each end of the frame with something that defines a beginning and end of the panoramic sweep. The reason is to prevent the ends of the scene from looking like they were arbitrarily lopped off. It can be a distinct subject or grouping of subjects, or something subtler such as the following photo that used the natural symmetry of the terrain. Also, don’t frame too tightly since you may loose some border area during the software stitching process.

Zion NP: I “bookended” this panorama using the landscape’s natural symmetry.
Foreground
I avoid including close foreground objects to limit the downward tilt of the camera. Tilting the camera down (or up) makes the camera pan in an arc rather than a straight line. In addition, unless you’re using a panoramic tripod head, you’ll have parallax problems. In either cases, this may cause complications with the stitching software. If you need foreground coverage, try to compose the shot low as possible to minimize the tilt or, preferably, move back and compose with a longer lens.
The Ingredient of Light
The quality of light within your composition is what turns your beef-hash recipe into haute cuisine. Sweeping views of dramatically lit landscapes are often the most sought after images.
That said, despite the importance of lighting, not all landscape photos hang solely on dramatic lighting. Flowers, autumn colors, and waterfalls are examples where you score your best shots with overcast skies or in shade. The soft lighting allows you to capture the entire tonal range and retain all the subtle detail within the shadows and highlights.
Magic Light
Not intending to cause confusion, I make a personal distinction between the term magic light versus other similar terms such as sweet light or golden hour. I reserve the term magic light for skies of boiling colors and drama. I use the other terms to describe the soft, warm lighting around and during sunrises and sunsets under clear skies.
The best opportunities for magic light are during weak weather fronts or before or after a passing major weather front. The greatest intensity is generally in the direction of the rising or setting sun and may extend to the opposite horizon depending on atmospheric conditions. Magic light turns a routine image into a great image. You can stand at Yosemite’s iconic Tunnel View and shoot the same “me-to” image of the valley that thousands before have done. But, add magic light and your me-to shot may become a “me-only."
Unfortunately, such inspiring light shows are often illusive. Given that reality, you should scout the scene beforehand and develop a multi-prong strategy that can cope with unexpected conditions at the time the shot is taken. I’ll get into this last point more in Dealing with Boring Light.
La Dolce Luce
Sweet light (aka golden hour or golden light) is more dependable. Generally, as long as the sun isn’t blocked, you almost always receive some degree of sweet light, though the intensity can vary depending on atmospheric conditions. While magic light is more desirable, it’s not necessarily the end-all to creating an outstanding photo. It is still possible to use the golden light, sans the drama, to achieve a great shot — it’s all in how you craft the composition.
Alpine glow
There are a few variants to sweet light. Most common is alpine glow or alpenglow. This is the red-glowing band of light observed on the horizon opposite the sun when it is just below the horizon. Alpine glow is commonly observed when mountains are illuminated by a soft pinkish cast, or purplish cast if the sun is lower. The sky also picks up the color through backscattering. In some situations, this can be a more favorable lighting condition than when the sun breaks above the horizon and illuminates the mountains directly, especially in cloudless conditions.
Morning and evening light
Morning and evening are the primo times for photographing landscapes since the lighting is warm and oblique, and (hopefully) complemented by magic light. During these times, you have four basic options to pick for your composition. First, you have two completely different situations when the sun is just above the horizon versus below (twilight). Secondly, there is the shot direction, often towards the sun’s position to achieve the most dramatic effect, but just as often in the opposite direction or anywhere in between. I will shortly cover these scenarios in the next section.
Preplan the light
As part of your preplanning, research the sun’s position during mornings and evenings relative to your intended shooting area. If you desire to capture a magic light sunrise or sunset, then you need to determine if the sun is setting or rising in the general direction of your intended shot. By using The Photographer’s Ephemeris, you can plot the sun’s position to help determine the best shooting location.
For an example, on a past trip to the Grand Canyon National Park in November, I was hoping to capture some magic light scenes with the canyon as a foreground. I chose November to avoid the crowds, but I also knew that the sun’s lower latitude prevented shooting directly towards the sun’s position with the canyon still in view. Using TPE to do my footwork, I determined that Yavapai Point allowed me to shoot closest to the sun’s position in the morning. Sunset was out of the question since the sun was too far south to line it up with any canyon views (unless you shoot from the North Rim). Since the morning sun would rise close to the frame’s edge, my plan was to capture the shot just before sunrise to avoid the odd placement of a visible sun next to the edge. This by no means was ideal, but by preplanning I knew what to expect and also saved myself needless scouting.

Yavapai Point: This lookout faced closest to the rising sun during November.
Lighting is an essential (if not the most essential) element in any photo. Studio photographers have it down to an art form with their skilled manipulation of artificial and natural lighting. Fortunately, we landscape photographers can just sit back and wait for Mother Nature to exquisitely illuminate the scene for us (assuming she’s in the mood to do so).
Near and during sunrise and sunset, there are some basic considerations to the nature and character of the lighting that we’ll now address. This includes when the sun is above or below the horizon and if the shot direction is either at or away from the sun’s position or somewhere in between.
When the Sun is Below the Horizon
Shooting towards the sun’s direction
With the sun just below the horizon, the sky can explode like a fireworks display. While most magic light is in the direction of the sun, it may extend around much of the horizon if there is sufficient clouds to catch the light. The light show can last for several minutes before sunrise or after sunset. I always set up at least 30-minutes before sunrise and stay that length of time after sunset. Also, you don’t know what cloud patterns and weather exist below the horizon, so don’t assume anything. Magic light can suddenly appear after you thought it wasn’t going to happen, and reappear after you thought it was over. So always stick it out, or as Yogi Berra would say: it ain’t over ‘til it’s over.
If the sky is cloudless and there is little or no dramatic light, you usually still pick up a golden glow at the horizon that transitions upward through hues of mauve and blue. The intensity can vary from faint to bold and may extend from the horizon to throughout much of the overhead sky (including the opposite horizon); all, of course, depending on atmospheric conditions. Though featureless, it still provides a good backdrop for some compositions that may actually not need, or even want, a dramatic skyline (more on that shortly).
Regardless of the light’s character, the contrast between the sky and foreground is often very high. In film days, you were often restricted to composing only a silhouetted foreground against an exposed sky. Now you can opt to expose the scene’s entire dynamic range using Photoshop, HDR, and graduated neutral-density filters (all to be covered in later chapters). My usual compositional approach is to expose the sky a little towards a midtone to deepen and saturate the brilliant colors while keeping the foreground slightly underexposed to capture all the detail but still convey a natural darkness.

Sand Harbor, Nevada: An after-sunset shot aimed towards the sun’s position.
Shooting the opposite direction
When shooting in a mountain region with the sun positioned behind you, you can capture the alpine glow and then continue shooting throughout the sunrise. It is also the direction to capture a rising or setting full moon. I prefer when the moon is near the horizon just as the sun is transitioning the opposite horizon. You may capture remnants of a golden sky or magic light that makes a better backdrop for the moon as well as giving it a golden glow. I’ll discuss this more in a later chapter on Shoot for the Moon.
When the sun is well below the horizon, the lighting is more diffused and the entire landscape takes on a color cast that ranges from cold (blue or purplish) to warm, depending on atmospheric conditions and the sun’s position. This provides the option to shoot in any direction to capture landscape features under surreal lighting. On occasion, late after sunset or early before sunrise in the Southwest, I have witnessed this ethereal lighting effect to range from awe inspiring to downright eerie.
When the Sun is Above the Horizon
Shooting towards the sun’s direction
When the sun is at or above the horizon, it creates a different set of lighting dynamics that offer new creative opportunities. By shooting eastwardly, you can capture the sun’s golden orb just as it crests the horizon while possibly backdropped by a golden sky. Any backlit clouds, fog, or haze will further dramatize the light.
There are two ways to handle the sun: as a starburst in a wide-angle shot, or a larger orb in a telephoto shot. One twist with a wide-angle shot is to focus on the rim lighting and starburst effect created when the sun is partially blocked by some object. (Note: use a small aperture to achieve the starburst effect.) Even without a starburst, just rim lighting alone can be dramatic with the right subject; for example, my favorite is desert cacti.
For a larger sun image, you need to compose with a longer focal length in mind, at least 90mm (about 60mm for APS-C) or longer. Caution that telephoto lenses and the sun can be a dangerous mix. Plan the composition when the sun is nearest the horizon and there’s enough atmospheric haze to allow looking at the sun without discomfort. Besides, you want a golden orb, not a large white blob in the photo.
Shooting in the opposite direction
I commonly shoot opposite the rising sun’s direction to use its warm and oblique lighting to illuminate distant and elevated subjects such as mountains or desert mesas. The best time is when the sun is at or slightly above the horizon. I especially favor the edge lighting along the top peaks of a mountain range; and if I’m lucky, capturing its reflection in a foreground lake or river. The shot works best when there are clouds to reflect the warm light and give the sky character.

Manzanar Ruins, Eastern Sierra: As the sun rises behind me, it dramatically illuminates the distant mountains and clouds.
When the sunrise is directly behind you, there are a few drawbacks. This is the direction where a cloudless sky is at its worst. Because of the light’s direction, a polarizer is useless at eking out any detail. Another problem is that the minimal side lighting robs the terrain of texture and form. I often shoot in the California Eastern Sierra and many of my sunrise shots faced west. When the mornings were clear and cloudless, many of my photos were disappointments. My problem was the compositions were classical in nature and their success hinged on dramatic lighting. Now, a little wiser, I try to plan backup compositions that depend less on dramatic lighting. In the next topic, Dealing with Boring Light, I’ll list some approaches I use to work around uncooperative lighting conditions.
Shooting off-angled to the sun
Sometimes, I prefer to shoot more normal (perpendicular) to the sun’s position to emphasize texture and form. It’s also when a polarizer helps bring out both color and detail in the sky. I do have to be cautious that too much sidelight may create troublesome contrast problems when using a neutral-density graduated filter (I’ll illustrate this later when I cover graduated filters). Otherwise, this is the premium angle to capture bold forms and textures as the sun’s low and warm lighting rakes across the landscape. At this angle, the lighting across the landscape can be as dramatic as a magic light sky and is one way to work around cloudless conditions.

Lake Tahoe, Nevada: Side lighting improves texture and allows a polarizer to enhance the sky.
You arrive at a scenic spot to photograph a sunrise only to find the sky is cloudless and colorless or, worse yet, overcast. Such a sky can easily sink what otherwise could have been a dramatic scene. You can’t come back another time, so you take the shot and go home disappointed.
That was often the story of my life. Now, I make it a practice while scouting a scene to look for any contingency shots that don’t rely on dramatic lighting. This helps me break from only composing scenes in a classical style and to reimagine the scene from a different perspective. And even if the light turns out good, I may capture additional shots that I otherwise wouldn’t have thought to take.
While there are many alternate approaches, I’ve listed a few that I mull through when scouting a scene.
Crop It Out
While there are exceptions, the easiest way to deal with a bald or overcast sky is to crop it out as much possible, if not totally. This may cause me to abandon a traditional, wider-angle shot and instead zoom in on interior detail.

Grand Canyon NP: Faced with a bald sky, I omitted it entirely and focused only on the foreground and canyon interior.
Use a telephoto
This is going one step further to cropping out the sky and is essentially creating an entirely different composition. I now switch to a telephoto zoom to extract a mini-scene out of the broader landscape. What makes a good mini-scene can vary all over the map. Since our wide-angle eyesight may not readily pick up interesting distant details, I use the telephoto zoom to help “hunt” for candidates. Remember that you’re dealing with limited depth-of-field. Instead of classical foreground to distant background compositions, you now only deal with the background along with a flatter perspective.
Block the Sky
Instead of cropping out a bald sky, block the sky with parts of an overhanging tree branch or any other creative framing subject nearby. Keep in mind this makes you vulnerable to the wind or makes the image too busy and more distracting than the bland sky itself (see photo below).

Too Busy: Using tree branches to block an overcast sky made an already busy composition even more busy. A solution is more elevation to point down and block the sky and to expand more of the mid-ground vines.
Polarizer and Graduated ND Filter
If the sun’s lighting is off-angled to the scene, I use a polarizer to extract a darker and bluer sky along with any other lurking detail. If a polarizer doesn’t help, consider a graduated neutral-density filter (a Chapter-9 subject) to underexpose the sky sufficiently to bring out its color. This also works even if the lighting is not off-angled as demonstrated in the image below. A last resort is to improve the sky’s appearance later in post-processing.

Lone Pine, California: The sun is behind me, so a polarizer doesn’t help. Using a 3-stop graduated ND filter yielded a deep-blue sky.
Diversion Tactic
Fundamentally, this means to divert the eye’s attention away from a bald sky or any other less-flattering light in the image. For example, include a bold foreground subject that seizes the eye’s attention. This usually means getting in close with a wide-angle lens. Additionally, exploit any significant landscape feature such as a mirrored lake reflection.

Joshua Tree NP: Warm predawn lighting, a mirror reflection, and somewhat strong foreground help distract from the featureless sky.
Bask in the Glow
The bathing soft-colored illumination during the early phase of civil twilight can vary from cold to warm, and at times to very warm. Unless socked in, this lighting is usually predictable, but the intensity and character varies by region and atmospheric conditions. It is the transformation of the landscape by this ethereal glow that is now the main light interest and the sky becomes incidental. Since this lighting opportunity appears well before sunrise, make it a practice to always arrive early, or you’ll be the bird that missed the worm. Likewise in the evening, stay well after sunset in case there’s an unexpected encore.

Zion NP: The warm, predawn light washes the scene and dominates over the bland sky.
Dead Space
Instead of cropping out a dull sky, use a large expanse of sky as dead space to isolate a single subject. This works well if the sky has some color and is also (ironically) cloudless. Whenever you have a clear view of the horizon at sunrise or sunset, you normally have some amount of golden light that varies by proximity to the sun. In the lighthouse photo below, rather than include a foreground, the scene is reduced to mainly a golden background with the lighthouse tower as a single subject.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, California: Instead of including a foreground subject (see inset), I used the sky as dead space to set off the lighthouse tower.
O’ Sole Mio and Bella Luna
A good stand-in for a lackluster sky is simply to include the sun when it’s situated just above the horizon. Or instead of the sun, include the moon. In both cases you’ll need The Photographer’s Ephemeris to keep tabs on the sun and moon positions. You either use a longer lens to enlarge the sun or, instead, capture a starburst effect with a wider shot. To establish the composition, you need to decide on the sun or moon size to determine what focal length to compose the scene with. If you want the sun or moon to have a larger presence, you’ll need at least 90mm (about 60mm for APS-C) and likely more. Later in Chapter-9, I devote a section on photographing the moon that includes a discussion on image size and focal length.

Joshua Tree NP: When capturing this starburst during sunrise, I was lucky to have a golden backdrop from an otherwise featureless sky.

Mono Lake, California: No boiling light, but instead a golden moon and the sun’s afterglow reflected in the lake.
Rim Lighting
This is another diversion tactic by placing the sun behind a foreground subject to generate a bright rim of light around the subject’s edges. All you need is a clear, low sun and the composition now focuses only on the warm backlit subject and doesn’t depend on the sky. It’s not necessary to include the sun, though you can if you want to. Popular subjects are flowers and plants. You can shoot close up (even macro) or wider for subjects such as, for example, a cacti forest that makes a great subject for this type of lighting.

Joshua Tree NP: The lighting attraction is now the back-light glow around the cacti.
Horizon Glow
As I previously mentioned, even with the absence of clouds, if you have a clear view of the horizon, you generally see some golden glow well before sunrise and after sunset due to atmospheric haze. You can use this to create an abstract of any prominent foreground feature, such as the pier and dock house in the photo below. In this example, I darkened the upper sky in post-processing to add more drama.

Sugar Pine State Park, Nevada: The dock house and pier create a graphic image that is well served by a monotone sky. The upper sky was darkened in post-processing for added drama.
Photoshop to the Rescue?
You can later try to pump up a bland image in post-processing. More often than not, though, trying to rescue an image with juiced-up saturation and contrast makes it look worse than better. There are a few tricks you can try, such as cropping or vignetting (see next topic). But, maybe a better approach is to turn off the color mindset and think black-and-white. What a drab image lacks in color may instead abound with tonality that’s perfect for black-and-white. The Sand Harbor image below, taken after sunset, suffers from a blank sky and anemic horizon glow. In Photoshop, I converted the image to black-and-white and then used Nik’s Silver Efex Pro 2.

Sand Harbor, Nevada: Bland colors but rich tones.
Think Tones, Not Color: After converting to black-and-white, the image becomes more appealing.
Manipulate the Light
One Photoshop rescue you can try is manipulating the light. Just as Ansel Adams heavily manipulated a scene’s lighting in his darkroom, you can do the same in Photoshop. Sometimes, heavy vignetting can change the complete character of an image, transforming it from bland to intriguing. In the next image, the sunset lighting was a complete dud and I was forced to swing the camera around to include the setting sun for some sort of image appeal. This upset the composition by truncating a good portion of the foreground canyons. The resulting image was so-so, but after applying heavy vignetting centered on the canyons and sun, the image took on a more interesting lunar-scape appearance.

Canyonlands NP: To include the sun, I had to compromise the composition by excluding half of the canyon views.

After Vignetting: Using Camera Raw’s Radial Filter, I heavily vignetted around the lower-left to upper-right area of the image. Still not a perfect composition, but the lunar-scape appearance is an improvement.
When the Sun Takes a Vacation
Solid Overcast
While overcast may put the kibosh on the morning and evening prime times, it opens up new shooting opportunities for the entire day. I sometimes hope for overcast skies depending on my shooting assignment. Not every photo outing has to consist entirely of chasing the magic light.
I use the overcast to take shots that would be harsh and unattractive in direct sunlight. When in the mountains or forests, I like to photograph rivers or waterfalls under diffused lighting to capture the subtle detail and mood without the glaring contrast. It’s also primo lighting for flowers and other interesting foliage, such as in redwood forests or autumn colors. The challenge with overcast lighting is to exclude as much sky as possible to avoid large areas of blown highlights.

Zion NP: Stormy overcast was perfect daytime lighting for this shot.
Singing in the rain?
Storms bring either the best dramatic lighting or create a complete washout. Regardless the weather uncertainty, never assume anything. If you have a scheduled morning shoot and you wake up to pouring rain, travel to the site anyway — the weather may be better there. Plus, if the right conditions prevail, you may be rewarded with spectacular lighting if the sun pokes through the cloud layers, even for only seconds. If and when it does, the light show can be dazzling. Even if the chances are small, you’ll forever kick yourself if you missed a once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Zion NP: During a passing storm just before sunrise, hope for any light looked grim.

Peek-a-Boo! The sun suddenly poked through for about a minute.
Scenes with lakes, ponds, rivers, or the ocean are greatly sought after landscape subjects. It’s important, though, to properly frame them within the scene, which many times isn’t so easy. The following are a few considerations to help avoid a soggy image.
Lakes
I find composing a lake scene can be tricky at times. I like to surround the lake with land, trees, mountains, or whatever. I try to avoid a blue band of water stretching across the bottom of the frame. If the lake does span across the frame, I include foreground elements at the bottom of the frame. I look for rocks or brush along the lakeshore, or better yet, protruding vegetation or rocks beyond the water’s edge. Failing that, I’ll try a polarizer to bring out rock patterns beneath the water’s surface. If all that fails, I’ll work with the lake’s reflection; and if there isn’t one, then I’ll likely pass on the shot.

Twin Lakes, California: The lake spans across the frame, so I used foreground rocks (with the aid of a polarizer) and the lake’s reflection to frame it.
Ripples
When scouting for lake shots during the day, chances are the wind is up enough to obliterate reflections. Sunrise shots are your best chance to capture glassy reflections, though it may still be frustrating. I often see lakes go from a glassy reflection to ripples just moments before sunrise. All you can do is hope it settles out when the light is still good. If not, try a few shots at a faster shutter speed. The faster speed freezes the rippling and extracts more detail from the reflection than what your eyes see.
If the wind is really up and the lake surface resembles a stormy sea, use this to your advantage. Assuming you can exclude (or don’t mind) any swirling vegetation, shoot the scene using an ND filter to produce a very-long exposure time. This should result in a fog-like lake surface that adds an ethereal mood to the image. If you don’t have an ND filter, try the frame-averaging technique that I’ll later describe in Chapter-9 (under the topic of Noise Averaging).
Rivers and Streams
Rivers
The classic rule of composition is to capture a river as an s-curve pattern through the frame (the same is true for any kind of road or pathway). I try to find an elevated position or bridge crossing so the downward angle fills the frame more with the river. As I position the river in the frame, I try to make the river start from the bottom and terminate into the frame’s interior rather than having it exit to either side of the frame. Also, I maneuver and/or adjust the zoom to try and keep the river completely intact as it winds through the frame.
Creeks and streams
Many creeks and streams are embedded amid forests or glens and are more adaptable for shooting during overcast days or in shade. I usually move close to the water’s edge and look for a high vantage point so that the look-down angle includes more of the creek or stream in the frame. I also try to include an interesting foreground element. For a final touch, I’ll use a long shutter time to add a frothy effect to the flowing water.
Another point is to avoid a messy scene. Watch for any scattered natural debris that clutters the image. For example, broken branches, wild growth, weed-like plants, or rotting vegetation stuck in the nooks and crannies of the stream.

Lee Vining Creek, California: This creek was shaded by the nearby mountains. The dead tree trunks made an interesting, though busy, foreground subject.
Waterfalls
Waterfalls are generally best shot on overcast days. When the sun is shinning, the contrast is usually beyond control; and even with high-dynamic range techniques, the image is often harsh.

Middle McCloud Falls, California: This was taken during intermittent rain, which helped saturate the autumn colors.
When I compose waterfalls, I try to envelop all the falling water within the frame and avoid any falling water from entering or exiting the frame. I try to include additional foreground interest besides just the escaping river water. This means shooting at the base of the falls (rather from an overlook) where there are likely more foreground opportunities. As for the foamy look from long exposures, I leave that to personal tastes. Although I like the foamy effect for small streams or cascades, I prefer to shoot larger waterfalls more naturally with shutter speeds in the half-second range. The exception is when I have trouble with a wimpy waterfall that doesn’t stand out. In that case, I use the longest shutter speed possible to blur the water enough so it stands out more.

Hedge Creek Falls, California: Shot in October, the falls were at their weakest. A long exposure helped, but it needed to be even longer.
Remember that most of nature is not a manicured garden. An important objective in a landscape composition is to achieve order out of what is usually nature’s disorder. The following are a few suggestions toward that objective, But to better master the subject, I suggest you read The Making of Landscape Photographs and Seeing Landscapes, both by Charlie Waite.
Rule-of-Thirds: The most touted of all guidelines, and for good reason. Imagine a tic-tac-toe board divided into even third’s both vertically and horizontally that is overlaid on the image. You then position key elements of the image in alignment with any one line or line intersection. There will be exceptions, but most times this rule applies for most scenes.
Lines: Use lines to draw the viewer’s eye to the central subject. In landscape photography, fences and straight roads are commonly used. Alternately, use s-curved lines for a more bucolic mood, such as rivers or twisting roads.
Texture: A gnarly bristlecone pine tree or weather-beaten driftwood creates a sense of tactility.
Framing: Use trees, windows, archways, or whatever, to frame a subject. This helps to add depth and isolate the main subject so that the eye is drawn towards it.
Simplicity: Michelangelo said to carve an elephant was to take away everything that wasn’t an elephant. The same applies to photography.
Follow the Light: There are exceptions, but usually the main subject should be the brightest. That’s why vignetting the image (usually in post-processing) can enhance the appearance.
Balance: Arrange and balance dominate shapes, colors, or areas of light to complement each other (rather than compete) so to provide an “even keel” to the image.

Off Balance: (Left) Image is off-balanced by right-sided foreground bush and mesas. (Right) Recomposing bush to left provides balance.