Practical Photography - UK (2019-09)

Thisimagewas

ta kenduringan

ex cursionto

a little-known

place in the

Apennines, in

th e Piacenza province of Italy.

I wanted to capture the beauty

of the landscape, with its

swirling water and dramatic

sk y, and combined several

sh ots to create a vertical

composition with strong

foreground. I tried to include

elements to lead the viewer’s

gaze to the landscape beyond.

instagram.com/luca_

pederneschi

Richard says: Landscape

photography is definitely a

genre where it pays to learna

fe w rules. Luca’s shot is bang

on the money in terms of its

composition – there’s plenty

of foreground interest, that

lovely big rock to anchor your

gaze in the mid-ground and

the stunning sunset beyond,

which completes the image

and gives the viewer’s eye

great interest across the

whole of the frame.

By getting down low – I

suspect that his camera was

at risk of a drowning – Luca

has added more drama to the

rushing water, which you can

almost feel speeding through

the shot. The water is clearly

the main element of the image

andI’mactuallya little

undecided on whether a

longer shutter speed might

have made for a more

interesting shot. Luca’s

shutter speed of 1/13sec is

enough to introduce some

blur, but I’d have liked to

break out a Big Stopper and

gone all-out for a very blurry,

milky look.

Luca combined several

images to create this shot.

This has allowed him to blend

the dark foreground and

bright sky together, which

would have been tricky to do

in one exposure. Great stuff

Luca, keep it up!

PRACTICALPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 85

Feedback

Apenninesunset

byLucaPederneschi

Anyone who’s serious about

their landscape photography

should ensure that they never

leave the house without a set

of filters. The three most

useful types for landscape

work are graduated ND filters,

which let you balance the

exposure between a bright

sky and a duller foreground;

10-stopND filters,which let you push your exposure times

intoseveralminutes to smooth out water and create

scuddingclouds;and polarising filters, that darken skies,

remove reflections and let you ‘see’ through shallow water.

Invest in a set of filters

There’s

drama in

the rushing

water,

which you

can feel

speeding

through

Ni kon D5300 | 11mm | 1/13sec | f/11 | ISO 100