7 years ago I was just starting out on a Photography course at University. One of the main tenants was as photographers we need to find and develop our style. Our voice. We should be inspired by our fellow photographers, avoid copying at all costs.
now 19-year-old Jonathan was somewhat perplexed, Not about the no copying part, that was easy I nearly knew any other photographers at the time, But what defined a photographer's style? And I have wrangled with this for some time and it would be fair to say I am still not certain.
as far as I was concerned I was shooting what I wanted too, I saw some cool or something I had an idea for I shot it. The shots below were taken in November 2014 in my first year in university, My tutor was a man by the name of John, John is a landscape photographer who uses traditional methods such as wet plate to create images.
Early on John was teaching us multiple facets of landscape photography such as compositional techniques and post-processing techniques, He asked the class to produce images that we liked and to use our new compositional and post-processing techniques.
It would be fair to say John‘s response to these shots was a mixed bag. Compositionally there were fine, not good but fine, but I had gone way too far in the post-processing. At the time you can imagine 19 years old me was a bit miffed with John’s assessment....you will be glad to hear 25 years old me thinks John was bang on. Although knowing John he would probably say 25 year old is still over editing aaand he‘s probably right...again...
ironically maybe I should have taken a leaf from my only real previous landscape image that I personally viewed as being a good image.
A year prior in March of 2013 while in college studying a side photography course to my media production course had taken my first landscape photo where my intention was to take a landscape photo.
Now to be fair to 18-year-old me, My understanding of photography and certain concepts within it were still very embryonic. Over time I discovered more techniques and tested ideas, found other photographers work such as the likes of Thomas Heaton, Nick Page, and Gavin Hardcastle plus many more from YouTube and elsewhere, I also found the work of a photographer called Paul Harrison who’s website I found while researching while in one of John‘s lessons. My understanding of exposure, ISO, Composition, using ND Filters, Panoramic stitching, and my overall use of editing software has improved.
I am starting to believe that a photographer’s style is achieved in 3 ways. One is the way images look. The subject, the composition. The second is the technical techniques they use.
The image below was taken on 4th June 2021. This image is perfect for showing how one technical technique can be used to help show a few compositional techniques which create depth within an image.
The image gets its perception of depth in 2 ways. One, use of foreground with the large tree which dominates the right-hand side of the image and Two, Use of leading lines which are created by the edges of the path leading past the tree and becoming smaller. The Tree gives us a reference point for scale in terms of size which is something I have only recently started doing, the path adds the true feel of depth as it narrows off as it goes further into the image. This isn’t the first time I have used this technique.
Flanked by Heather was taken on the 17th of August 2020. During the pandemic lockdown. While the pandemic had put my regular job on hold it did mean I had more chances to get out and shoot sunsets and I wasn’t going to miss the opportunity.
I made my way the mile or so through Norden village and up to Scout moor. The weather had been rather changeable all day and they went from overcast to broken cloud to clear then back to overcast all day. I set off hoping for a sunset knowing it was a coin flip's chance of getting one. The main reason I went up was the heather had bloomed and I wanted that shot. After a bit of scouting around the moor and following little pathways I eventually found a spot where the heather was abundant on both sides of the path and with the path leading perfectly up the Knowl Hill. Heather added the size scale for the foreground while the path did the rest.
Now don’t get me wrong you don’t necessarily need both foreground and leading lines to create depth. Both are perfectly capable of creating depth on their own In the right condition.
Norden Road at sunset uses a scale. The tree in the foreground is the largest object in the frame and one of the closest in the camera giving the viewer a reference point for the size for trees in the far side of the field showing depth.
River by the Bluebells uses leading lines as a technique to add a sense of depth.
Leading lines are a technique that is designed to guide a viewer's eye into an image. Perfect for creating depth. In River by the bluebell, the river acts as the leading line, leading the viewer's eye into the image right along with the bluebells on the right-hand side of the image of the opposite river bank. Much like the paths in the 2 earlier images, the river becomes smaller the further back it goes giving the image a sense of depth.
Path through Carr woods is a 2 vertical shot panoramic image using a wide-angle lens. Panoramic images is another technically technique I personally like to use. Over the last few years a large majority of my landscape images have been made a pano's. Pano's allow a photographer to fit more into a single image. The more you can fit in a frame the more story you can tell. To me if feels more like how we see the world and the wider an image the more to explore. However you can go to wide.
To be honest I don’t ever remember how many shots this pano was or how long it too to stitch but it I regret it. It’s too thin to truely see anything and nothing has any scale to it. The sweet spot seems to be between 2 and 5 vertical shots. this creates images that give a great almost cinematic effect. For example the image below is a 5 shot pan.
This 5 shot pano sits in a comfort zone which personally I like. The image above is fairly wide showing the river flowing away and the icicle covered back wall while showing a decent amount of the old mill’s wall. This helps tell the story of the location in a way that is actually viewable without being blown up to an unreasonable size.
Pano's are also a great way to make up for using a crop sensor or not having a wide enough angled lens. work smarted, not more expensively. After a while i realised I shoot more pano's than i shoot regular images. It's a pain when it comes for sizing images for sale.
earlier I told you how my work started To become influenced by other photographers who‘s work and ways of working I found on YouTube. Well more recently I took an image that had an influence from someone who wasn’t a photographer but a painter and probably the most famous modern landscape artist in Bob Ross And his happy little pine tree which are usually dominant in his such as the one in the image below.
A photographer’s style doesn’t happen over night, it’s not something they just have. It’s something that evolves and develops with them. After a while a you realise that you do have a style and once you do finding images become easier and your success rate increases.