Creative Landscapes: Digital Photography Tips & Techniques

One World, Many Landscapes

Seasons and a Sense of Place

• In the summertime, at high altitude, wildflowers burst into color—like this lupine I found in mid-August near Tuolumne Meadows in the High Sierras.

  120mm, 1/90 of a second at f/5.3 and ISO 100, hand held

• Pages 146–147: I created this image by shooting north from near Furnace Creek in Death Valley National Park during the dark of the moon in late February. I set my camera up on a bluff where I didn't think it would be disturbed. I used a portable AC power supply and an AC adapter so I had enough “juice” to last for many hours of continuous photography, then set the camera on Manual exposure and Bulb. I used an intervalometer—a programmable remote timer—to shoot the images through most of the night. While the camera was working I was even able to get some sleep!

  10.5mm digital fisheye, 75 exposures stacked together in Photoshop, each exposure 4 minutes at f/4 and ISO 400, for a total exposure time of about five hours, tripod mounted

In landscape photography seasons matter—a very great deal! When I am planning a trip, or on location shooting, one of the first things I think about is the season. Some of my considerations are pretty obvious: in winter there is snow on the ground, in spring flowers are in bloom, and in autumn ...