Landscape and Nature Photography

In this week’s blog post, I would like to cover two of my favorite types of photography, landscapes and nature. These are fun to shoot because of the freedom it allows me. There is nothing in particular I am supposed to be taking pictures of, so it is whatever I find the most interesting. In addition, it is extremely relaxing to be alone in a park or in the quiet of your hometown and taking pictures of things that you never thought much about. After spending enough time taking photographs of nature, you begin to find beauty in everything.

The other week, State College was bombarded with snow, and that snow helped to produce the most beautiful scenes around campus. Since my classes were cancelled I decided to wake up early and go out before there were many people on the streets.

This is a landscape taken behind the iconic Old Main. I love this photo and the way it turned out. I think the trees creating a path towards the tower is something that is truly remarkable and one of the highlights of the shoot. Onward State featured it on their website and it received many likes and comments from students and alumni alike that appreciated the scene and beauty of the campus.

This next photo is another landscape shot of the fraternity Beta Theta Pi that I took following the death of Tim Piazza, a student and member of the fraternity, that died in the past few weeks. Although I very melancholy reason to take the photo, it was a very beautiful day. The sun was just setting that provided many wonderful colors and made the sky very intriguing. This picture was actually featured on ABC World News Tonight when they were doing their feature on what happened. It is very exciting for your work to be recognized, especially by such a large media outlet.

Moving more towards the nature side of things, I like to use a macro lens for taking these kinds of shots. A macro lens is a camera lens that produces an image that has a 1:1 ratio of how big the subject actually is to how big it looks in the picture. They also allow for photographers to get much closer to the subject. Many people might not know this, but camera lenses require that you be a certain distance, on an average lens it is usually right around 1 meter, before it will focus and let you take a decent photo. That is what is nice about the macro lens, it greatly reduces the distance so you are able to get right up to the subject.

I took this photo on campus right by my dorm room and the thing I wanted to point out is how the background is blurred. If you remember from my post talking about camera settings, this is caused by having a small f-stop number. This photo has a f-stop of f-3.5 which is relatively large and creates the scene of the subject being in focus but everything behind it slightly blurred.

This last photo I would like to highlight is one that I actually took right in my backyard at home over winter break. I am rarely up to see the sunrise, but I remember this particular morning I had to be up at the crack of dawn to head to Pittsburgh. I was walking out to my car when I saw this scene and it took my breath away. It snowed the night before, so there was a small amount of snow on the ground but the way the sunrise was peaking behind the hills and through the trees was mesmerizing.

Landscape and nature photography are great ways to experience nature and help us realize just how beautiful the world we live in is. I hope you enjoyed looking at my pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

 

*All photos are those of the author

5 thoughts on “Landscape and Nature Photography

  1. I really enjoyed reading your post this week! Your photos were so pretty! They look professional, and congratulations on getting your photo featured on ABC news! That’s such a big accomplishment, and I can’t wait to see even more of your photos featured on major news sources. It’s always interesting to read the stories behind your photos, and I think it adds to the beauty of the photos. I look forward to reading more of the art behind photos, and of course getting to see more of your photos!

  2. Let me just start off by saying that all of your pictures were absolutely amazing! I wish I was as good at taking pictures as you are because they’re really impressive. I remember seeing the picture of Old Main and thinking it was really good, but I didn’t even realize I knew the person who had taken it! I think the fact that ABC news used your picture shows how much talent you have, because they wouldn’t use just any picture to show everyone. I can’t wait to see more of your pictures and learn the stories behind them!

  3. I really enjoyed your pictures! My favorite types of pictures are those that have a lot of emphasis on the subject. My favorite picture was the one of Old Main, because I think the lines formed by the trees help to direct your eyes to the beautiful building. I can agree that nature pictures are my favorite. I think there is something that is so calming about being about being alone in outdoors and be able to capture the beauty of that moment. It’s so cool that your photos have been feature on such prominent outlets like the news and Onward States’s website. You have a lot of talent.

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