Get Creative this Fall Season

I'll be the first to admit it. I have a big, bold love for landscape photography techniques. Sharp, crisp images captured in beautiful light with well-executed landscape photography techniques will always give me warm fuzzy feelings. So you can bet that this fall, I'll be out capturing a ton of images with techniques in the foreground of my mind. This style of landscape photography is my preference and the one I teach other landscape photographers.  

However, there are times when I'm in the mood to throw caution into the wind, step away from my preferred landscape technique, and embrace creativity and artistic expression.      

I have the opinion that there is no right or wrong when it comes to creative self-expression. If you're one of those rule-following landscape photographers, I want to encourage you to break free from your love for technique a few times during the fall season.  

There are two main ways a landscape photographer can infuse creative artistry within a landscape scene. The first is on location in the field, and the second is during post-processing. 

As means to inspire you this fall season, here are a few ways in the field you can think about infusing creativity: 

1. Long exposure (see this blog article)

2. Panning (see this blog article)

3. Choose a non-traditional landscape aperture like f4 or even wider to create intentional blur outside of your depth of field. 

4. Use a telephoto and shoot through foreground elements infusing bokeh.

^{ISO 800, 110, f8, 1/80ss}

5. Use vintage or artistic lenses like a Lensbaby or try Freelensing  (see this blog article)

While creative artistry within post-processing might not be for every landscape photographer, I think that if it's something you're interested in, then you should embrace these creative techniques. 

There are certainly a few ways creative techniques can be infused into landscape images during post-processing, but my favourite methods are usually through the use of: 

1. Creative overlays like light rays, fog and snow.

^{ISO 800, 200mm, f7.1, 1/1250ss}

^{ISO 100 70mm f16 1/5sec}

Fall is a beautiful time to be outdoors. The changing colours and still comfortable weather temperatures give you plenty of time to practise traditional landscape photography techniques but also offer the opportunity to step outside of your comfort zone and embrace creative artistry within an image or two!