Morning in Jackson Square, New Orleans

Morning in Jackson Square, by Reed A. George

Leica M6 Titan, Summicron 35mm f2 v.3 Lens

Ilford Delta 3200 Film

 

As I sit writing this morning in my local Starbucks, this image reminds me of the wonderful coffee and chicory I had just enjoyed at Cafe Du Monde a few minutes before I shot it. I like Starbucks; I loved my Cafe Du Monde coffee that morning.

 

Morning is very quiet in the French Quarter; most of its denizens are at least semi-nocturnal. I always enjoy seeing new places early in the morning, to get a different perspective.

 

The sunlight was just coming up over the bank of the Mississippi River, which would be on the right in the photo above. I like how the edge of the light follows the intersection of the two sets of stairs, going off at different angles. While the steps in the lower section are fully light, those in the middle have light only on their edges. The pigeon at right is similarly edge-lit, which gives it a bit of a focal point in my opinion.

 

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Including People in Your Landscapes? It Can Work.

Kauai Beach, by Reed A. George

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, Lumix 100-300mm f4-5.6 Lens at 100mm

iso 400, f7.1, 1/1250 sec

 

Many times, when we think of a landscape image, we picture an untouched wilderness. One of the old rules of landscape photography is to include a strong foreground element, a focal point of some type, to anchor the scene. I can admit that I find myself trying to accomplish the untouched look, and have to search hard to find something interesting to put in the foreground.

 

Including a person is an easy way to achieve the necessary foreground element and focal point. It also has the nice feature of adding scale to a landscape, by letting the viewer see something that they know the size of. In the picture above, what I was trying to show was the steep mountains of Kauai, jutting straight up from the seashore. Yes, the trees would have given some idea of scale, but the two people on the beach do a better job of that. And, the trees were just a "layer" in the composition. They would not have provided a focal point. Without the people, this shot would not have a focal point in the lower 2/3 of the image at all.

 

There is a nice brief article by Matt Dutile on this concept on the Digital Photography School's blog.

 

(Click Here) to read Matt's article and see some nice example shots.

 

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