Taming the Chaos – Exercising Photographic Control on the Landscape – Friday 22nd January 2021

Last night we were joined via Zoom by landscape photographer Kieran Metcalfe. Kieran’s day job is as a Graphic Designer working from home, so photography enables him to get into the outdoors and away from work. Kieran’s images demonstrated that it is possible to take stunning landscape images with an APS-C camera.

Kieran’s talk centred on composition in landscape photography which he split into 3 main parts:

· The Subject

· The Context

· The Camera (settings, position etc).

Within these he discussed the importance of knowing what you are taking a photograph of and what story it tells; where will the main subject of the image be placed in the frame and its’ size relative to the remainder of the image. He talked about the need to think about the colour and shape in the image, possible symmetry, leading lines and access into and through the photograph, the need to avoid distractions and should the main subject be framed by other elements within the image.

Other important points highlighted the position of the photographer and the position of the camera. Do you need to move a few paces or should the position of the camera be changed?

Finally, he talked about the lens choice and how this can affect the image, shutter speed and aperture and depth of field.

A really interesting and informative evening from a very enthusiastic photographer, illustrated by many of his beautiful images. Our thanks to Kiernan.

Next week John Gravett will be joining us with a talk ‘Lakeland and Abroad’. The following week, the 5th February, Adrian Gidney will be joining us to judge our Landscape Competition, and images for the People Competition should be submitted.