Debunking Misconceptions in Landscape Photography

Most people would agree that Photography is more an art than a science. It is more of an expression than mere calculation and observation and its ‘taxonomy’ overlaps in more ways than one can imagine. Not just in the specific fields of the art but even in the classification of its people. There are realists, purists, extremists, and so many more. Because of this overlap, many limiting misconceptions have surfaced. Though we respect the opinion of these artists allover the world, we have to debunk certain concepts that may hinder photography as an art. The following are various concepts that you may have heard of and following them are the reasons why we should reconsider their validity.

“Landscape Photography is limited to natural subjects”

This is a line that most purists would say about Landscape Photography. However, we have to remember that Landscape Photography originated even before the rise of urbanization, before the birth of skyscrapers that allowed the concepts of cities and grand views to intersect.

However in the various definitions of Landscape photography, we can see that it is more about the interaction and emotion of the photographer with his environment. May it be a great mountain, lake or rows of tall buildings, it is the grandiosity of the scene that counts.

“Landscape Photography requires a lot of traveling and consequently, a lot of money”

While it is true that most Landscape photographers’ masterpieces were taken in famous landscapes where they are not native to, it doesn’t mean that Landscape photography is limited by it. In the thousands of definitions of landscape photography that you can find online and in print, it never required that the photograph was taken away from the artist’s home.

Landscape is more commonly associated to sceneries of the environment and their interaction with the artist. Its definition never spoke of location or geographical distance. In that light, we remember that landscape is, in a sense, all around us. Landscape photography then, as photography is an art involving framing and putting elements into place, would be simply finding good compositions of the one’s environment whether at home or at a foreign place. It is, as some would put, the artist “making love” to his environment.

To further strengthen the argument, let us take a look at Ansel Adam’s photo of the Golden Gate Bridge, the landmark of San Francisco taken in 1962. Urban setting and situated in his home town.

Why is it necessary to disprove this line of thinking? Because it may limit and discourage aspiring photographers from pursuing their interest in Landscape Photography. Practice is essential in learning every art form and if one would think that they would have to spend fortunes globetrotting just to practice, then the chances lean towards them losing interest in it.

“The use of filters is a falsification of reality”

Filters are not that new to the technology of photography. However, certain purists would discourage the use of these tools because they think that it is used to alter what is recorded by the camera. While it is true that they alter what is recorded, it is more important to remember that what is recorded by the camera may actually be more distant to reality than the product of filters. This is explained simply by the differences in Dynamic Range that can be perceived by the camera and the human eyes.

Dynamic range is the fraction of the visible light spectrum that can be perceived by the camera (or the eyes) from pitch black darkness to blinding bright white. This is the reason why cameras can’t seem to instantly record what we see with our eyes. In the measure of stops, the camera can record a range of 11–14 stops depending on its sensor while the human eyes have been said to perceive up to 30 stops. Which means that the reason why most images that conventional cameras record seem to be more stale than what our eyes see is because the human eyes have a wider range.

So what do filters do? Filters, specifically Graduated Neutral Density (GND) filters work to narrow the dynamic range of a scene for the camera to be able to record closer to what the eyes record. Simply put, it’s like compressing an amount of matter to fit a smaller space.
That being said, filters actually help the image become more truthful than not. Of course, there are scenes and instances where using filters are not necessary. Everything, of course, would have to fall into context.

“The use of long exposures are not truthful”

“Have you ever seen a body of water that flat?!” is one line many hear from close-minded critics.
It is basic knowledge in photography that a longer exposure allows more light to be recorded in a photograph. Other factors such as ISO and aperture come into play that also affect the amount of light recorded. In landscape photography, Long exposures or slow shutter speeds are primarily used to allow more light especially in very low light situations. It is secondary however, that as exposure time is lengthened, the movement of elements reflecting light is also recorded. This leads to certain beautiful effects such as flattening of bodies of water, or silky smooth flows of waterfalls, light trails of cars in the city or trails of stars in the sky.

Would the presence of such elements lead to the photograph being untruthful? It is arguably valid to say that more than documenting a fixed instance, long exposure in photography documents motion, possibilities and a longer span of time. Minutes, hours, even days in a single frame.

The point is, we should not let these concepts or misconceptions (depending on whether you agree with the or not) become hindrances to the goal of every artist which is to create the most beautiful art that he can.

It is important to remember that art is the transcription of a vision and a masterpiece is one wherein the artist transcribed it perfectly or close to what his imagination envisioned.

Beautiful art is one wherein the artist’s vision and emotion are expressed the most and not hindered by limitations.

Thanks for reading!