New Zealand Landscapes

I figured since we were doing landscape photography it would be a good idea to find someone who take pictures of places I want to visit. These are some of my favorite examples of Chris Gin, he is a landscape photographer in New Zealand. 
I really like black and white photography so this one really appeals to me, I especially like that the horizon line is not level (diagonal lines are more appealing than horizontal ones after all).

This one appeals to me because of the purple/pink hue that the mountains have and I like that the water looks so soft.

I like that this one has a perfect reflection in the lake and that the picture is cropped so you see more of the lake than you do the rest of the mountains and the sky.

I like the focal point of the rock (boulder? island?) and how there is more light coming from behind it. Also I like the jagged edges on the right side of the rock and that the trees on the left kind of balance the rock since it's leaning to the right.

Another black and white one that I liked. I wish that the tree set more to the left though.

This one has an ominous feel to it that made me stop an look at it again even though there's nothing that interesting going on in the picture.

I don't usually like cityscapes but this one captures my attention with the tree out front that contrasts with the city behind it. I really like that the grass is such a bright green compared to the dull almost smoggy city in the background.

I really like that the train tracks lead you into the picture and that they disappear into the fog and ocean.
Here is the URL to his website if anyone wants to look at more of his work.

Landscape Lenses to Use

Abram Goglanian writes an article on five lenses that can be used for landscape photography and what each of them will do to your picture.

First he mentions the 20/21 mm ultra wide angle lens. He likes this lens because he says it provides a wide angle view obviously but it doesn't distort the image as an 18 mm or wider would.
 
Next is the 35 mm wide angle lens. Goglanian likes this lens because it gives you a lot in the image but it doesn't give you the pronounced wide angle look. This lens allows you to get close but at the same time gives you the option of being farther away if necessary. He likes a lens with aperture of f/1.4

The 50 mm normal lens is mentioned next. This normal length lens compresses the background and brings focus on the detail rather than the broad scene. This lens can help capture a wide scene from a "human eye" perspective.

Next is the 85/ 135 mm short telephoto lens. This lens also compresses the background and puts focus on select portions of the scene. The amount of compression will make you focus more on your subject and less on the surrounding environment. This is good for concentration on a portion of a forest or a compressed view of a mountain range.

Finally Goglanian mentions the 70-200 mm telephoto lens. This lens has the ability to go to short telephoto to full telephoto which comes in handy often. The flexibility allows for selective framing and the ability to capture ornate details.

These lenses are all Canon but in his article he lists other lenses that are similar to the one he listed but for other brands such as Nikon, Sony, Rokinon etc.
Obviously I am not going to go drop a bunch of money on one of these lenses right now for this class but it's good to know what these lenses do so in the future if I was more interested in landscape photography I'd know what each lens could do.
This is the URL to the original article http://www.thephoblographer.com/2013/05/24/five-lenses-for-the-discerning-landscape-photographer/

Time Lapse

http://vimeo.com/80836225

This is a time lapse video done by Nicolaus Wegner. I thought that since we have to do one this semester it would be a good idea to look at some and I just thought that this one was amazing. I've never really heard of time lapse and don't know anything about it so I thought this one was really cool. Wegner took over a year to compile all of the images used, he took somewhere over 125,000 pictures and the final product used 20,000 pictures. His website has more information about how he made the time lapse. http://www.lightalivephotography.com/wyoming-wildscapes-ii