Big Sur Coastline: Line and Light

Our Christmas gift to ourselves in 2009 was a leisurely trip up California’s Central Coastline.  The late fall and early winter months are the most beautiful along this coastline.  The light is subtle and the weather is either raw and stormy or drop-dead gorgeous.  We got lucky.  Our scheduled drive from San Simeon to Monterey, taking in the Big Sur Coastline, was scheduled for New Year’s Eve morning.  We got lucky.  We hit the drop-dead gorgeous window in the weather fronts.

We stopped at all of the famous view spots, including this one just north of the Coast Gallery, just before entering the Carmel area.  These are the moody cliffs of paintings and many photographs, with distant hills fading into the background or under the fog.  When we were there, the cliffs were also badly back-lit.  As is so often the case, we didn’t have the choice of coming back later in the afternoon, so I had to deal with the light as it was.  I aimed the light meter for the neutral greys in the center of the hills, moving the focal point over about six frames to get what I wanted.  This is the only way to deal with this kind of difficult lighting situation.  The beauty of digital is that you can delete the ones you don’t want.  I shot below the sun line, but still have a few sun spots in the frame, which I will eventually stamp out in photoshop.  The clouds cooperated by creating an angled line pointing directly at the cliffs, creating the lead line I wanted.  The natural angle of the cliffs is an angle and not a straight line, so that also worked with me.  I just had to stand in an area of the parking lot that emphasized the line and showed off the repeating pattern of the hills.   Happy shooting, folks.  May 2010 bring you many joys with your camera.

Along with a few hundred other people that spring, my husband and I went on a wildflower search. We were doing roadside photography to get an overview of the Park, and weren’t walking on any trails for our views.

No flower shot is simple, but this one was especially challenging.  These are tiny white flowers that grow close to the ground.  We had been photographing the flowers spread across the valley in front of the hills when I spotted them.  I tried several ways to photograph them, but they were too tiny to stand out against the brown hills.  Finally, I decided to see if I could position myself close enough to create a line of flowers against the blue sky in the background.  I set the camera for landscape shots, laid down on a blanket I had spread in front of the flowers, and tipped my camera up until the hills in the background were spread along the bottom of the frame and the flowers were positioned against the blue sky.  Lines create a sense of motion, and angled lines create the strongest sense of action.  I wanted an angled line of flowers against the blue sky to bring out the delicate flowers and create a strong sense of action. 

When you are looking for strong nature shots, looks for lines and angles.  If you can’t find them, position yourself so you create them.

Metal Sculpture at Barcelona Promenade

My husband Dale and I were walking along the harbor of Barcelona with the rest of the tourist crowd when I was stopped dead in my tracks by this creatively textured metal sculpture.

I began walking to different sides, looking for angles where the light would bring out the texture and shape of the sculpture when I noticed the young couple sitting down a step and not far away. I quickly framed and shot before they moved on. The couple created a pattern that showed how she mimicked real life. I would like to think that was the intent of the artist, but I also know how serendipity plays a role.

That night, when I was reviewing my photograph, I found another pattern in the palm trees as the branches framed the scene. Gee, I wish I had thought of that!

Machu Picchu

People create perspective.

We were on a tour of the Incan Valley, including Machu Picchu. The tour included a night at the lodge so we could watch the sun rise over the ruins the next morning. Unfortunately, we were at the end of the rainy season, and morning fog dominated the scene. We had climbed up the terrace steps to the first level, joining the hikers who had also arrived early that morning. I took a lot of photographs that morning, knowing it would be our only chance at something like this, cursing the fog as I tilted the camera down to cut as much of it out as I could.

As I was working the angles, I noticed a young couple sitting on the ledge overlooking the ruins below and changed the camera angle slightly to include them in the corner. I was shooting film in those days, and when I developed the role, I was delighted to find I had achieved my goal – their presence drew my eye in to the photograph and gave a sense of size to the scene below.

Dale and camera at Tulum

In 1992, my husband and I were in Mexico for the first time, and were on a visit to the Mayan ruins at Tulum.  We had been touring the site with a guide and now were wandering a bit on our own.  We found our way to the overgrown hillside overlooking the Caribbean and I was attempting to document the experience.  In these two shots, I learned the importance of being clear about why I was there and what I was trying to show in the photograph.

Mayan ruins at Tulum by the sea

The shot above shows what happens when the subject of the photo isn’t well defined.  I was trying to show both my husband using his video camera and the ruins overgrown with the encroaching jungle.  I made a typical mistake of including too much in the photograph.  I would have done much better by taking two shots:  one photo showing the story of my husband photographing the scene surrounded by ruins and a few plants, and the second  showing  the ruins among the overgrowth.

In the shot on the right, I did a better job of telling the story of the location of the ruins and the encroaching jungle at the edge of the Caribbean Sea.  The ruins in the background are well-defined, the plant in the foreground hints at the jungle,  and the angled line of the coast, which also has rocky ruins not yet excavated, brings the eye through the scene to the primary background of the excavated Mayan temple.

The Primary Rule:  When you come upon a scene, decide what attracts you, focus on it, and exclude anything that doesn’t help define the message.

A Better Way to Tell the Story

Mayan palace, Yaxchitlan

By the time we visited Chiapas in 2004, the lesson of identifying the story and defining the subject properly had melded into my photographer’s eye.  The shot of the fully excavated Mayan palace at Yaxchilan, buried in the jungle, with the jungle growth advancing overhead, tells the location story much better.

Uluru, Australia

How small we are. We were on a short nature walk with a tour group, making our way up the trail through the Olgas in the Australian National Park, Kata Tjuta, part of the Outback that includes Uluru/Ayers Rock and the central desert. I was deliberately tail-end Charley because I wanted photographs and didn’t care how far I got.

I was admiring the textured red rock set off against the blue sky and what little green vegetation there was, when I saw some of our group in a perfect position to make my point. These are huge natural formations. There is no way better to show it than with us humans looking miniscule by comparison. I turned and used the zoom to frame them in the bottom corner of the photograph and made it one of my “keepers.”

For more on how to use people to set off your photographs, see my book “The Accidental Photographer”.

Vista at Logan Pass

Sometimes, the feeling of being overwhelmed with vistas like this takes over the camera and produces mediocre photographs that are nothing like what we are experiencing.  When that happens, it is important to recognize the process and stop for a minute.  Evaluate what you are seeing and the story you want to tell.

Visitor Center Trails at Logan Pass

Clearly the subject of Logan Pass is the sharp, well-defined mountains with the steep valleys below.  Both of these shots have elements of that story, but the one on the left tells it in no uncertain terms.  You can feel the razor-sharp edges of the mountain range, and the size is accentuated with the forest below, miniscule by comparison.  The shot on the right has too much information and attempts to tell a much different story – that of the trails around the visitors center, with the mountains as an afterthought.  The story of the trails is a good one to tell, but would be better shown with more emphasis on the trails and less on the mountains in the background.

Man with Red Sail

We were playing tourists at home one weekend, with a photo workshop at the San Francisco Maritime Museum.  As we were wandering, I noticed these beautiful red sails. Often an element like this becomes an attempt to tell an artistic story.  The problem is that as a traveler, you need to be able to get next to a subject like this to really emphasize its artistic elements.  Still, I decided to take it on.  Here is a description of the thought processes and problems I encountered.

Red Sail

The first problem was the angle.  I was limited in where I could stand by the fact that this boat was in a restricted yacht club.  So, I decided to include the setting and emphasize as much of the character of the sail as possible by where I stood in relation to the sun. When the sun is at an angle, texture shows up in the form of shadows.   In both of these photos, the red sail with its angles and shadows portrays a feeling of being well-worn and the sail itself stands out as a well-defined subject.

The next issue was whether or not to include people in the shot.  That decision created two entirely different stories. The addition of people makes a difference in the story the shot is telling.  The photo on the left tells a story of action: getting ready to sail, or bringing the boat and its sail home; while the one on the right emphasizes the sail itself and nothing more.

Neither shot is wrong or right.  The difference is in the intent of the photographer.  Once you decide on the purpose of the photograph, define it by using all of the elements at hand to tell the story.

Sunset at Mono Lake, Tufa

The sun is setting? Don’t put the camera away! My husband and I were at Mono Lake late one September afternoon, admiring the tufa towers when I noticed I was losing the light and the detail in the calcium carbonate structures that have made this lake famous. I knew I would have more opportunities during the day to get detail shots, so I decided to take advantage of the setting sun and go for the silhouette.

I aimed the little light meter square in the middle of the lens at the light behind the tower and stood so the sun was blocked, eliminating all but a smidge of the bright light from the frame. I used the telephoto lens to crop down on the tower. The residual light became an orange backdrop for the tower, emphasizing its shape and the warmth of the day.

Chateau at Vaux le Vicomte

My husband, Dale, and I had taken the train from Paris to Vaux le Vicomte for the day. Fortunately, our drizzly Paris day turned to gorgeous sunshine as we arrived at this first-built of the royal palaces from the era of Louis XIV, the predecessor-palace to Versailles. We had spent the day touring the buildings and walking through the first of the European formal gardens built by the original landscape architect, Le Notre, all restored after decades of decay. I had been trying all day to get a good, dynamic shot of the palace and its gardens, to no avail. They weren’t bad, but most were flat, didn’t show off the palace or gardens, or lacked a dynamic quality. As we were walking toward the Visitor’s Entrance, I was watching the scenes unfold. We turned a corner and I spotted this scene, full of angles and light, and shot. I knew I had my memory.

How did I know? Angles created the dynamic action and action is one of the four elements of a Wow! photograph. The other three – color, light and pattern – were inherent in this subject and the weather that day. I stood where the placement of the gardens and the building in the frame of the photograph set the lines so the gardens and the palace are at an angle to each other. The clouds cooperated – they were also at an angle to the building. I tilted the camera up slightly to include the sky. The end-points of the planting areas also created angles leading to the building. I used the zoom lens to frame down tightly on the patters. The building is slightly off center, allowing the lines from the trees and garden on the right of the frame to lead the eye in from that side.

And so you have it! If you are having trouble getting your photograph to come alive, look for the angles!