Tuesday 10 December 2024
Our Speaker was Eddie Hyde, who gave us lots of inspiration, tips and tricks for landscape photography.
Eddie reminded us that in any image our eyes are drawn to any bright areas, warm saturated colours and what is in focus. For these reasons it is important to pay attention to what we see and to edit, for example by using a long focal length. Which can be an asset for seeking out compositions within a landscape. Also, Eddie pointed out that no landscape image works without the “right” light.
The guidance “Keep it simple”, works well in landscape photography and Eddie showed us examples of his work demonstrating this principle. Using shapes, rhythm, patterns, mysterious roads and paths, frames, light, shadow and colour to compose his images.
Where the sky and the foreground aren’t contributing to an image, Eddie uses panoramas. These he recommend taking with the camera in Portrait orientation and stitching together in post. This creates a larger file, but retains a greater level of detail than simply cropping an image taken with the camera in Landscape orientation.
Living in Surrey (the most wooded county in England), Eddie has developed a lot of skills in woodland photography, and displayed many of his woodland images. One tip Eddie gave, was that Woodland colours are more vibrant when wet. And as with all landscape photography it is about being in the right place at the right time. Eddie will often revisit the same spots throughout the year and in different weather conditions to capture the best image.
Eddie’s tips for dismal days was to use water and close-up (macro) photography. For Sunny/harsh light convert to black and white or try infrared. And don’t forget to try different viewpoints of the same subject and experiment with creative techniques, for example ICM (Intentional Camera Movement).
Finally Eddie highlighted an area for consideration when processing our images. When using a long focal length the atmospheric conditions will be condensed, so use “Clarity” and “Dehaze” to increase contrast in those areas. If you don’t like the effect it can be softened by reducing the opacity of the edit.
One last creative technique Eddie suggested was the “Orton Effect” (named after its creator Michael Orton). Eddie invited anyone who wanted instructions how to create an Orton effect on their image to email him. There is a useful YouTube tutorial here. Note: The Tutorial is for PhotoShop, but the same instructions will work on Photopea (FREE Web-based editor) and Affinity.
All in all a very constructive and inspirational talk.
For more of Eddie’s work, see:
Website: eddiehydephotography
Facebook: EddieHydePhotography