Unreal (epic) Landscapes

[JAS_Photo]

I came across this guy, Jim Patterson's amazing flickr today. I did not add it to the "flickr Stars" thread because I think there is really a lot to learn from this guy. It's more then ooohs and aaahhhs.

Here is an example:
Vamos a la Playa - The Racetrack, Death Valley National Park, California on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimpatterson/4281126185/)

Ok, once you get your jaw off the floor. He lists his equipment used and and all the tech stuff but of particular interest is the use of a Singh-Ray 3 Stop Reverse GND fillter,
a Lee .6 Hard Stop GND filter and a Gold and Blue Polarizing filter. I guess I am asking for further comments on his techniques etc.

[kat]

If I am correct, isn't he a Canadian photographer.. his work in one of the canadian magazines, does tutorials, walk throughs I think. Now I'm going to have to go digging.

Awesome work. Love to see photos I strive to get!

[kat]

No scratch that... the magazine being Peteresen's Photo graphic and the photographer Jim Zuckerman.. lol..

[Marko]

Excellent work for sure. He has an excellent eye, excellent understanding of composition (using excellent foreground, background + midground points of interest)

He also uses Grad filters very, very well.

FYI - Podcast on Grad filters coming shortly. :)

[kat]

Excellent work for sure. He has an excellent eye, excellent understanding of composition (using excellent foreground, background + midground points of interest)

He also uses Grad filters very, very well.

FYI - Podcast on Grad filters coming shortly. :)

:clap: I'm liking that!

[F8&Bthere]

Thanks alot JAS (and Marko, in anticipation of the next podcast)! I've been working so hard to fight off the urge to drop $500 on filters like these..... and now once again I see great landscape shots that strike me as being much less without them. All I have is some rather suspect eBay Cokin knock-offs.

[Rinkdaddy]

What beautiful work he does! I really enjoyed viewing his photos.

[JAS_Photo]

Another fantabulous landscape photographer.

Flickr: Rob Cherry's Photostream (http://www.flickr.com/photos/robcherry/)

[Mad Aussie]

I've had Jim Patterson as a contact on Flickr for some time ... Rob Cherry is a new one on me though.

[F8&Bthere]

Patterson's stuff is just plain impressive. Cherry's stuff is very nice too, for what he has in his Flickr collection, but I look at those with mixed feelings. I like them, and if I took those shots I'd be so proud of them that I'd be all over the forum with them. But at the same time they kinda make me want to throw in the towel on landscape photography... Some days I feel like if I see one more wide angle/big rocks in the foreground/body of water shot, one more staring out over a long pier shot, or one more blurred waterfall shot, I'm going to toss my tripod out the window. I have to find a way out of my it's-all-been-done-and-overdone funk...

[Mad Aussie]

It hasn't all been done before by many of us ... so we still need to learn how. If you've done it before, and to the level of some of these guys, then perhaps a different genre of photography awaits you?

I don't mind taking a shot that's similar to ones I've seen before because I try to emulate those results, and/or surpass them if I possibly can.

Also, it's easy for us photographers to 'see' it all done before when using the net every day ... but for those friends and families around us, our work is unique to them quite often. There's a nice achievement in that I think.

[F8&Bthere]

Yeah I think you nailed it for me MA. It's a combo of feeling the urge to do something different and needing to remind myself that the images are primarily for my own enjoyment and development. And even though photography is spreading like wildfire as a hobby in this digital age, not everyone I share my images with is going to be as experienced or critical as those who are as immersed in photography as I am (books, forums, online galleries, podcasts, magazines etc). Thanks. Sorry for diverting the topic too!

[Mad Aussie]

You were still loosely on topic ;)

One thing about seeing the 'same' composition is that it can push you to greater levels if you take on the challenge.

"How can I take this same scene differently from what I've seen before and make it work?"

A good way to push yourself is to go and re-visit a scene you've taken a photo you are happy with ... and take another 10 good ones ... all different in some distinctive way. Doesn't matter if you take another 100 to get just 10 good ones. In the end you will have created new ways to look at the the scene you hadn't thought of before.