by Amit Ranjan
(Kathmandu, Nepal)
This photo was taken on the way trekking to the Annapurna Base Camp.
I liked the crow on the trees branch with Annapurna at back drop. The clear view of Annapurna is fantastic.
(For convenience, all links below open in new windows)
I've never actually seen Annapurna before, but it looks highly photogenic!
The difficulty with this is that it's not easy to do it justice. The problem (written about here before, as well as in the newsletter) is that a 3D scene doesn't easily translate into a 2D photo.
So what can be done to make the scene a little more impressive?
Well, there are solutions. First, it's worth trying a panorama. When you look at a scene your eyes go from left to right, not up and down. So it makes sense to take a wide panoramic photo. We wrote about panoramas in a recent newsletter – click here for an example of a panorama
This can be done by zooming out, taking in more of the scene, and then cropping into a panorama. Or, for a much better result, take a series of overlapping images, and then stitch them together later using software.
It is also worth having a go at 3D photography. This can be done by taking two photos. Take the first, then move a few feet to the right and take another. Later on these can be placed next to each other, and viewed by going cross eyed.
It takes a little practice to view these 3D stereoscopic photos, but once you get the hang of it you will be astonished at the effect. You can read more about 3D stereoscopic photography here.
Finally, it helps with these sort of scenery shots to get something in the foreground. Amit has tried to get a crow into the photo here.
The only thing is, it's a little small. In fact, I missed it at first!
If possible, it would have been better to get the crow more into the photo, and higher up – set against the sky rather than against the mountain.
If this isn't possible, there are always static objects that can be used – an interesting tree, or a rock maybe?
Getting something into the foreground can really add some depth to landscape photos.
Thanks Amit for the submission, and I hope there are a few useful tips here too,
Ed.
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Return to Digital photography tutorials - submissions, July 2008.