Landscape Photography | Composition or Light?

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THE VIDEO:
This is probably the ULTIMATE QUESTION in Landscape Photography and I had so much fun putting this video together in an attempt to answer it. For all you Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy fans, this is the question to which the answer is 42!! :-)
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[@VenomIIID]

This channel is a gem. Thank you Alister.

[@Alister_Benn]

Wow, thank you! Really appreciate that.

[@tacituskilgore8379]

Yet again, great content. This daily content is like the soap opera of landscape photography, I can't get enough!

[@Alister_Benn]

LOL - I'll take that as a frequency comment rather than meaningful content :-)

[@tacituskilgore8379]

@@Alister_Benn haha, no! It's top quality, I'm just beginning to expect it everyday now! If I had cash on the hip I'd definitely buy your e-books, things are tight at the mo, obvs.

[@alanafinephoto]

Wonderful content!! Thank you for sharing!!! I love to hear how others approach their photography and how it does change over the years, what is important for you. Being able to watch and learn from my own home is amazing, I'm a self-taught photographer and this is great stuff and eye-opening. Your images are inspiring!!

[@rogerapplegatephotography5500]

Alister - great video series and fantastic topic and discussion. My personal opinion is light and composition have a balanced relationship. To create the art of the craft, we must have both light and composition - both must exist and cannot exist without the other.

[@Alister_Benn]

I agree with that - light is an element, in the same genre as atmosphere or geometry. I am more comfortable as you know with the term luminosity.

[@msenquiz]

Thanks Alister! As always a very enlightening subject.

[@Alister_Benn]

My pleasure! Thanks for your feedback

[@jonfischer9826]

Great video, loving these questions

[@Alister_Benn]

More to come! Thank you so much for your comment

[@bobdot1000]

Thanks once again Alister - my larder of "food for thought" is growing nicely, many thanks.

[@Alister_Benn]

Excellent! Another serving coming this afternoon :-)

[@boatman222345]

Alister as always I enjoyed this video and the insights you provide about the interplay between the strength, direction, and color of light and the elements of composition. I also totally agree with the comments you made about "expectations." When I first began a career as a photographer in the late 1960s I made the common mistake of attempting to copy the work of well known photographers. Alas while they got to travel to exotic places chock full of impressive landscapes I was stuck with the comparatively bland landscapes of the small New England town where I lived. The formula that played out went something like this: totally unrealistic expectations/less than spectacular realities = bitter disappointment After about 8 or 10 years of this I quit photography. Writing to a friend who was working for the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite at the time I said, "I've traded in my camera for a pair of binoculars because the binoculars allow me to isolate the key points of a scene and enjoy them without the terrible need to "capture" them." Some years later definitely older and perhaps a bit wiser I got back into photography, only this time I avoided the pressure of "capturing" things in favor of appreciating and enjoying the places I visited and the scenes I encountered there. And as in the Robert Frost poem "The Road Not Taken" ...And that has made all the difference.

[@Alister_Benn]

Such an awesome story, I couldn't agree more. I often just head out with a pair of binoculars, as you say, it allows you to isolate the small interesting details in the landscape, or the nature in it. I actually stopped photographing birds, as it ruined birding for me! Now, I take great pleasure in looking without cursing the innumerable reasons why the shot wouldn't have worked! :-)

[@MarkRomine]

Interesting discussion and nicely illustrated with your photo examples. For me, if I’m getting great light I do find it much easier to find good compositions. If the light is blah then I struggle to find good compositions. I don’t know if this is a true statement or not, but it seems that great light makes or creates good compositions and it makes my photography come with less effort.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks again - I'm going to cover this in my new eBook that may be out late July (wish!) - why do we respond to great light? It's a very easy question to answer.

[@howardallen5390]

I always get great pleasure watching the sun come up over the horizon and that golden light racing across the landscape when suddenly the world comes to life around me and the directional light creates contrast and gives colour to my composition making it look infinitely better.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks so much again Howard. Yes, I'll never deny that "great light" won't add drama and dynamics to an otherwise flat landscape. My argument will always remain though that it is also very easy to use great light as a crutch and let it make up for compositional deficiencies. A subject with more legs in it for sure...

[@nickshepherd8377]

Enjoyable, stimulating and useful. Thank you Alister for this great mini series.

[@Alister_Benn]

My pleasure! - Glad you're enjoying it. This is a one week only video fest!!

[@bavpotter]

Alistair, love your videos, they’re just so unique and great to learn from.I’m interested in this subject and believe there is a very obvious answer. Light has to be the most important bar none. Without light there is no luminosity and contrast. Compositional elements at their core are simply areas of contrast that come from a 3D dimensional scene being rendered on to a 2D medium, in this case a screen / photo.In any scene, if you remove all light then there is no contrast, which means we cannot see any element.

[@Alister_Benn]

Yes, of course, the presence of light is essential. I think when people talk about "light" the general wish is for it to be "good light" "helpful light" "photogenic light" - Light is what it is and it's our judgement of it that makes the difference. Composition and light of course walk hand in hand. Personally, I don't care about the quality of the light as I'll notice arrangements in the landscape that speak to me with a quiet voice, where it is not the light that matters.

[@kevbell5346]

You’ve mentioned in previous videos about not allowing expectations of good light prevent you from finding shots that suit the conditions - this simple advice has had massive effect on how I think about photography. Thanks very much for sharing your amazing photography knowledge.

[@Alister_Benn]

I am really pleased to hear that, thank you very much. It's good to hear that it's helpful.

[@rosiesamuel8562]

I thank you 🙏

[@Alister_Benn]

No problem 😊

[@marklambert7734]

really interesting analysis- and helpful to have see multiple examples from the same dramatic location to illustrate the point

[@Alister_Benn]

Great, glad it's helpful.

[@susanfirth2279]

Really enjoying this series Alister. Fantastic images.

[@Alister_Benn]

Many thanks! I really appreciate that

[@XJ1042]

Great content and perspective. Many thanks.

[@Alister_Benn]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much

[@williamdesevo2089]

Another good one. It seems to me that all good photographs have three components: good composition, good light, and good focus. Sometimes a lack of focus can work but those are anomalies for the most part.

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks again William - I'd say great photographs are greater than the sum of their parts - and I'd add "thoughtful photographer" to your list...

[@chrisalmerini3284]

Just when you think it is great...you hit us with tomorrow's question which is WOW...Yes Adamus is great but....there is hope too for the rest of us. Looking forward to tomorrow!

[@Alister_Benn]

LOL - thanks Chris :-) Let's see what I make of this today!

[@TheSun1901]

Well said!

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks.

[@kenfallu727]

Great discussion topic, very insightful!

[@Alister_Benn]

Glad you enjoyed it - Thank you very much

[@nqnmaca]

totally agree! light is one more element in the composition of an image. They make up the aesthetics of it, and it is what we as photographers can lean on to transmit a message visually. The aesthetic impact of the image is emphasized. There is a Spanish author, Jose Benito Ruiz, who has a great work on the subject developed from the visual narrative. regards!

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for that - I will investigate.

[@jennifercrouse]

I LOVE your videos - but I do have a small technical request, please turn up the volume a bit, you are so soft-spoken I have to turn up the sound significantly!

[@Alister_Benn]

Sorry about that - yes, we are working hard to sort out the audio, it's tricky. Plus I have been suffering from a strained throat from all the talking, so I can't speak louder!

[@andrewsimpson5436]

Very enjoyable and interesting but shouldn't there be a third element to the question? You skirt round it a few times "The Subject" In most of your examples, composition and light are important but in general the subject is the star. Those pinnacles, rocks, jagged peaks, trees are a delight, that's why people go there or Skye or Yosemite or wherever, the subject is stunning. All you have to do is Focus, expose, shut your eyes and hit the button. Mind you I'd probably screw it up LOL If you add that in does it not become like the exposure triangle? If the subject is a 10 light and composition can be 3s but if the subject is a 3 then light or composition have to step up to 10 or a 9/4 split to make the image?

[@Alister_Benn]

:-) This is a video discussion right here!

[@blivieriphoto]

I love these discussions Alister. However... I'm going to play devils advocate on this one. Between light and composition, light wins - hands down. You can't have any composition (or see anything really) without light. No shapes, no color, no atmosphere visually exist without light. What the question should be is: which is more important, composition or GOOD light? That question has been plaguing man since Moses was in diapers. LOL Surprised Adam hasn't chimed in on this one. I know he's discussed this topic in his previous vlogs. Thanks again for the great videos!!

[@Alister_Benn]

Well, of course Barb! otherwise without light it would just be "graphy!"

[@blivieriphoto]

@@Alister_Benn 😄 so true.

[@kevins8575]

Composition or light? Yes, or no. Or neither.

[@Alister_Benn]

Both :-)

[@patthompson1253]

Not sure it's just me, but I find your audio levels very very low. My laptop can not turn up the sound to an acceptable level. None of the other video as that low. Worth checking. Pat

[@Alister_Benn]

Thanks for your comment and it’s one that confuses us. We are using a high end mic through a professional audio interface. The audio is then mixed to ensure there is no clipping and we listen back on multiple devices. Have you checked the volume level on the KZbin video window itself, is that less than max?

[@patthompson1253]

@@Alister_Benn Curious. I have insured that my levels are on bust. I can then switch to any other video and get higher sounding volumes. I've noted the type of equipment you use, but I feel it is more in your recording levels, not the equipment. . I would be curious to see if others experience the same? Anyways, just thought I would mention it, as I have noted this on all of your videos. I usually have to use a Bluetooth speaker to get acceptable audio levels. Having said all that, I enjoy your videos!