Do you want your landscape photos to appear 3D? Do you want the greens of your grasslands to be richer? Have you tried backlighting landscape photography?
The way to go is to scrap the conventional “from over the shoulder” lighting and find landscapes which have the sunlight coming from behind the vista.
As I look over my landscape photos (including aerial scenes), I find that most of them are backlit. That backlighting caught my attention, and is why I thought the vista would make a gallery photograph.
When an outdoor photograph’s main lighting comes from the sun which is behind rather than in front of the photograph two advantages occur:
- the colors are usually deeper on the areas where the sun is shining from behind and
- it gives the subjects a 3D appearance because the sun casts shadows on the front of any objects in the photograph. A 3D look on a flat 1-dimensional print is a great asset.
When you look at my sample photo selection to illustrate this concept, take notice of the rocks in the stream of the Hickory Run State Park photo. See the darkness on the front of the rocks and how it makes them look 3D. Or pick out the two aerial photos and notice how rich the greens are in the fields. I achieved this because the sun is coming from behind the scenes. Notice the shadows in the photos, which confirm that the sunlight is coming toward the horizon of the scene. The farm landscape from Berks County, PA is another great example.
Also notice that the ridges of the vistas are set off by light coming from behind them in the mountain pictures. If the light were coming from the front they would appear much more flat.
Backlist scenes attract my attention most when I’m searching for outstanding landscapes. To have more outstanding landscape photographs, ignore the conventional and go for backlighting landscape photography.
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