23 Jul
2012
Posted in: Composition, Creativity, General, Inspiration, Landscape Photography, Nova Scotia
By    15 Comments

Don’t be a Slave to Foreground


Over the past several years I’ve notice my work evolving more toward favoring the wide-angle landscape.  What can I say?  I’m addicted to big scenes and wide-angle compositions that showcase a stunning landscape and dramatic sky.  In composing scenes like these I invariably search for something to anchor the foreground, something to provide scale, immediate interest and most of all something to grab the viewer’s short attention span and get them engaged.  However, this can sometimes come at a cost.

I often find myself scurrying around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for just the right foreground element to compliment my 16mm vision.  This inevitably is all happening 5 or 10 minutes before the light is about to get good adding stress and anxiety to the already harried pace of my sunrise/sunset existence.  However, a recent experience in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia got me thinking about how many great possibilities I’ve missed over the years by “over thinking” and “over searching” for the perfect cluster of rocks, flowers, or __________ (fill in the blank) to put in the foreground of my shot.  Does every wide-angle scene need something in the foreground to make it successful?  Nope!

Take this shot of the Black River in Cape Breton Highlands.  While out scouting possible sunrise locations one afternoon I stumbled across this scene and instantly knew it held tremendous potential.  The perspective was good for sunrise and at low tide an elegant S curve of the river was revealed as it meandered to the sea.  Since the tide would be at approximately the same point in its cycle the next two mornings I figured I’d dial in my composition so that I could relax a little the next morning.  I wandered around the beach looking for a good foreground element around which to build my composition.  The more I searched the less I found and in fact the further away from this composition I got.  I thought could it really be this simple, just show up on the beach, plop the tripod down and shoot the first thing that caught my eye?  Apparently, Yes.

The lesson being, yes you need to work the scene, challenging yourself to exhaust all compositional options before settling and calling it quits.  But sometimes there is a danger in “over thinking” or “over composing” a scene, ultimately losing sight of what initially caught your eye.  Don’t be a slave to foreground!  Sometimes it really is just that simple.

Technical Details:  Canon 5DII, EF 16-35 f2.8L, f22 (for the sunstar) @ .6 sec. ISO 100, 3 stop reverse grad

About Kurt Budliger (37 Posts)

Kurt Budliger is a full-time professional photographer specializing in landscape, outdoor lifestyle and fly-fishing photography. He is a frequent contributor to Vermont Life Magazine and works with a variety of other editorial and commercial clients throughout the year. His fine art prints of the Vermont and New England landscape can be found in many private collections around the country. Kurt teaches a variety of photography classes throughout the year, both in formal college settings as well as more informal field based workshops.


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15 Comments

  • Mark Waslck July 23, 2012 at 10:17 am

    Yo, this is a killer shot Kurt! Wonderful curves leading to the sun and I would’ve killed for that sky this morning! I am going to miss the twilight chicken dance though.

    • Kurt Budliger July 23, 2012 at 1:27 pm

      Thanks Mark, hope you get some good light on your trip!

  • Ian Plant July 23, 2012 at 11:20 am

    Really sweet composition! I can’t wait to visit Nova Scotia and the surrounding area, it looks awesome.

  • yardstick July 23, 2012 at 3:41 pm

    Not be a wise guy, but there is a strong foreground in your photo. It is that reflective pool of water that starts on the far left and sweeps across the frame. To me, that’s the element which “grabs the viewers attention and [gets] them engaged”. My 2 cents.

    • Ian Plant July 23, 2012 at 4:38 pm

      I think what Kurt meant was that he didn’t use a dominant “in your face” wide-angle foreground, instead opting to use more subtle leading elements instead. You are correct that he did use a foreground, and that it acts as a very strong compositional element – but indeed this image is much different from something like his image of the church and lupines from a few weeks ago: http://d1ed38riipfdzp.cloudfront.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Steeple-Chase.jpg

    • Kurt Budliger July 23, 2012 at 4:55 pm

      Whaddaya godda be a wiseguy for? ;) Just kidding, yeah what Ian said. Certainly the river acts as a foreground leading line and is a pivotal part of the comp but it’s not inches from the camera, more like 15 feet. As such it’s size isn’t exaggerated, instead it’s more of a subtle element, and no less important as you point out.

  • Michael Flaherty July 23, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    I too think the photo has too much of a foreground to be the best example of Kurt’s point. But it does illustrate that there is a complete spectrum between the super-close in your face foreground element and the complete lack of foreground (only midground and background, or even just background). I often scurry around too, but since I took pictures for many years before I learned any rules or read any books, it’s natural for me to shoot what looks good, whatever the distance from my lens to the closest thing in the frame. It helps to seek out diversity in your compositions, but I think letting it come naturally is the best way to go about it.

    • Kurt Budliger July 23, 2012 at 4:58 pm

      Thanks Michael. What I was going for was more an example of a super wide-angle (I think I’m at 20mm here) landscape without an “in your face” foreground and without going the other extreme of a compressed comp made with a mid-tele.

  • Wesley Picotte Wilderness Landscapes July 23, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    (a) great image

    (b) great foreground

    (c) thanks for the post

    I think the foreground works nicely in this image. The sky is so strong that a powerful foreground would be a lot for this image. The lower right hand corner does a nice job of allowing the eye to move upwards and into the meat of the image…for me, at least.

  • Richard July 23, 2012 at 7:58 pm

    First off, I really enjoyed the photo. Makes me want to go back to Cape Breton. Composition really works with that s-curve starting at the LL and leading to the sun.

    Second, I like your perspective on slowing down and not over working the scene trying to follow the rules. I’ve spent years getting to the point where I think of the “rules” when I’m shooting. Now I’m trying to forget the rules and enjoy. You’ve reminded me how important that is. Thanks.

  • Kory Lidstrom July 23, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    Wise words, Kurt. I think we’ve all been there. Sometimes it makes me laugh when I think how insane I must look to bystanders if any happen to be around. “What in the hell is that photographer doing scurrying to and fro?! Why is he lying down, no wait, he just got up again. Is he ok? He looks like he belongs in an asylum!”

    Hahaha, perhaps I do. Perhaps ALL of us landscape photogs do. I mean, waking up at 4AM to trudge uphill in deep snow through -15 temps isn’t exactly the hallmark of sanity. :)

    • Kurt Budliger July 24, 2012 at 8:52 am

      ;) INSANE IN THE MEMBRANE… ;)

  • bill levin July 24, 2012 at 7:56 am

    Kurt

    Simple concept. Great insight. Great image!

    Thanks

  • Kent Mearig July 31, 2012 at 3:35 pm

    This is fantastic advice, Kurt. Sometimes I end up needing to push myself in the other direction though. Making photographs is SO much easier without that extreme foreground element.


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