Landscape Photography Course, Richmond

Landscape Photography Course for teens in Richmond!

On Saturday we were in Richmond teaching a landscape photography course to a group of great teens. Based out of the Richmond Hill Hotel, we explored the beautiful Richmond viewpoints and landscapes. Looking for the right light, placing the horizon, and finding intriguing compositions are the three subjects focused on for this landscape photography course.

We started the course by chatting to the teens about how their cameras work, and what settings to use to create the best possible image. We went over how aperture and shutter speed will influence their images, discussing depth of field and slower shutter speeds. When it was time for the teens to put their knowledge into practice, we headed to Turner’s viewpoint of Richmond. Here the students learnt about how to frame the amazing views in different ways. The weather was a bit dull and gloomy, but instead of it being a hindrance, the teens used it to their advantage and took some amazing moody shots of the Thames!

See how the students have placed their horizon lines in different places? Or placed them slightly off to the side? This is called the rule of thirds and its a great golden rule when photographing landscapes. The first image by Dylan has a tree to the left hand side. This creates a really interesting visual for the audience. The second image is by Nina. She placed the horizon line right at the bottom of her frame, adding to the emotion of the image by allowing lots of space for the moody sky. Another key tip for landscape photography is to think about leading lines. To achieve this you need to look to include paths, tree lines, hedges (or rivers in this case!) – anything that creates a strong line into your photograph. This will guide the viewer through the photograph, keeping their interest for longer.

 

 

 

 

 

Next we head over to the beautiful Richmond Park. Here the students learnt about experimenting with different perspectives when taking photos to capture a more unique image. The teens had a great time doing this to add another dimension to their landscape photos. They achieved it by getting down low and including something (like this long grass) in the foreground of their photo, but keeping the depth of field fairly large to keep everything in focus. Its important to remember the rule of thirds whilst using this technique, to create the best possible composition. See how Nina (first image) has placed the horizon line at the bottom of the photo even though the frame is full with grass and trees? And Gabriel (second image) has also placed the horizon as the bottom of the frame, making space for a lot of cloudy sky.

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to using a large depth of field (big f/number) to keep everything in focus whilst photographing big landscapes, the students also experimented with a smaller depth of field, blurring out the background but keeping the foreground in focus. Dylan (first image) took this great photo using a shallow depth of field. You can see the change of f/number in the second two images below. In the second image you can still vaguely make out the background whereas in the third image the background is completely blurred. 

 

 

 

 

 

Another way to make your landscape photographs more interesting is to add movement! This is where shutter speed comes in to play. Using a slow shutter speed can create really interesting photographs. A great way to take a non-traditional landscape photograph. The students took these awesome slow shutter speed and panning photographs to add another level to their photographs. Some look more ghostly than others, but that just depends on how slow your shutter is and how still you’re holding your camera! The last photo is by Vera. Instead of holding her camera still whilst photographing the landscape, she shook it up and down to create a blurred style. Another fun way to mix up a landscape photo!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So many amazing photos from some talented young photographers! If you’re interested in signing up to one of our future courses, head to our courses page! 

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