Weekly Photo Challenge: Near and Far

Photo courtesy of Brian Cooney

This week’s photo challenge is guest hosted by Brian Cooney. Read on for more about this week’s theme and his photography tips!

Near and Far. We’re excited about this week’s photo challenge, near and far, and hope it inspires you to play with perspective, which can give sweeping images of beautiful locations more oomph and power. Perspective is what makes a flat two-dimensional image, such as a photograph, appear like it is three-dimensional. To create this effect, you can use features like diagonal lines, which converge within the frame and literally suck in the viewer.

In this image of Tra Bui in County Sligo, Ireland, the rocks in the foreground and the lines in the water on the right guide your eyes to the center of the picture. Here, I use a small aperture (f 16), which creates good depth of field and a sharp focus from the foreground and into the distance. For this shot, I also hunkered down low on the ground with my camera on a tripod. I like to shoot from a low viewpoint, as this makes the convergence greater.

Share a photo that means NEAR AND FAR to you!

Tip: In landscape photography, keep the horizon level: a tilting horizon can be disconcerting to the eye. When I shoot, I use a small spirit level that slots into the camera hot shoe, where my flash is normally mounted, to confirm that I have my horizon level. If you don’t manage to get the horizon level, you can crop and straighten your image on your computer later. Also, when photographing landscapes, it is generally better to shoot when the light is softer—early morning or evening light. Cloudy days are great, too, because the light stays soft all day.

Brian Cooney is a photographer interested in all photography, especially street and landscape photography. He lives in the west of Ireland from where he leads photography tours to breathtaking locations all around Ireland. See what he’s up to on his blog.

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Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, we’ll provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

2. To make it easy for others to check out your photos, title your blog post “Weekly Photo Challenge: (theme of the week)” and be sure to use the “postaday″ tag.

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