Greetings, my excellent friends!
In the last four articles I’ve been driving home the importance of using contrasts in your photos. (You can read that full series here). And by now, you may be thinking that in order to create a strong photo you need to put as many different contrasts as you can into the image. Well hold the phone there, Sally, because as amazing as visual contrasts are, it’s possible to have too much of a good thing.
Anytime you start adding too many contrasts, too many elements, or too many ideas to your photos, they can quickly become overly complicated, making it difficult for your audience to know what the photos are about. In other words, if you try to show everything, you’ll end up showing nothing.
For example, the photo below has a lot going on. TOO much, in fact. Yes, it’s full of amazing things, but which one is the most important? Is it the crazy textures in the foreground, the colors of the clouds in the sky, or the reflections, or the difference between this bizarre landscape and the mountains beyond? All of those things are present in this photo, but it’s not clear which is the dominant idea, and so the image feels overly complicated and needs to be simplified.
So over the next few articles I’m going to talk about effective ways to do just that: to simplify your photos to their core essence.
Now, there are many different ways to simplify complex scenes, but in this article I want to mention one of my favorites: look for uniformity within the chaos. This technique is extremely simple, and that’s why I love it. Instead of looking for large-scale contrasts, use your telephoto lens to zoom in on parts of the scene where the patterns, lines, shapes, or colors are consistent and uniform. When you fill your frame with just that uniformity, it tends to create a clear, graphical image that speaks loudly about one specific aspect of a landscape.
For example, in the scene above, when I took a closer look at the salt under my feet, I noticed it was full of intricate, endlessly repeating patterns. By zooming in on just this small part of the overall landscape, I created a simple, harmonious photo that clearly states what it’s about. (And notice how there are still visual contrasts in this photo that help it pop?)
Here’s another example from New Zealand. The beech forests of Fiordland are gorgeous, but extremely complex environments. Just look at all the different shapes and patterns and light and shadow in the photo at left. So instead of trying to capture the whole scene, I took the time to look for small areas where everything was uniform. In this case I found the wonderful repeating pattern of these fern leaves and zoomed in to fill my frame with just that. The result is a much cleaner, simpler photo that tells the story of one part of this amazing landscape.
Also from New Zealand: Milford Sound is one of the most stunning places in the world, but on a sunny day it can be photographically overwhelming. Instead of attempting to create an image to show the whole place, I began to look for areas of uniformity. I noticed a consistent pattern of the ripples in front of me and zoomed in to capture just that and nothing else.
Moving away from water, the desert is one of the best places to practice this idea of finding uniformity within chaos, as you can often find small areas of intriguing consistency buried within a vast landscape of complexity. For instance, Zabriskie Point in Death Valley is an incredibly visually complicated place at first glance. But if you look closer and closer you will find many areas where the lines and patterns all flow in the same direction. Zooming in on those small areas is the perfect opportunity to find simplicity and harmony within the chaos.
Sand dunes are another wonderful place to play with this idea. There are so many overlapping lines and textures it can be overwhelming. But by looking closely you can often find those areas where the lines and patterns are all consistent, and within those areas there are magnificent photos to be created. Notice how in this photo all the ridges of the dunes flow across the image horizontally without overlapping? That uniformity is what makes the photo work.
So the next time you are out and you are finding that your photos contain too many ideas, too many contrasts, or too much complexity, try simplifying them by looking for the uniformity within chaos.
Until next time, have fun and happy shooting.
Joshua
Joshua Cripps is a renowned landscape photographer who has garnered worldwide acclaim for his breathtaking images of our planet’s wild places. His photos have been published by the likes of National Geographic, NASA, CNN, BBC, and Nikon Global.
The Mt. Whitney Gallery was founded in 2023 by Joshua Cripps as a way to share his passion stunning landscapes of the Sierra Nevada and beyond.
Set at the foot of the breathtaking Sierra with a view of the range’s highest peaks, the gallery features large format, museum-caliber fine art prints of Josh’s signature photographs.
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5 Responses
I should have said my photos don’t look the same as the real thing or as good! Yours certainly do or better!
Thank you Joshua, for the wonderful articles. I was up early when it was still dark and read them all. Then I noticed the scene unfolding on the east horizon as the sun began to rise and was reflected in the low long clouds. I live to the west of Lone Pine in the higher foothills of the Sierras and the view encompassed the shine on the water in the Owens lake. As I watched this stunning scene unfold I was able to appreciate it more fully as I noticed the color contrasts of blue and orange, the texture contrasts of sharp hard mountains silhouette and fluffy soft clouds, and the tonal contrasts of black dark mountains and lighted sky. Thank you for this new way of “seeing”. I always wonder why photos never look as good than the real thing, is that equipment, technical, or what?
You live in the Alabama Hills? Consider me jealous! What a cool place to wake up everyday.
Glad the ideas of contrast are resonating with you.
As for why the photos never look as good as the real thing, that’s a simple question with a complex answer, and something all photographers continually struggle with. Quick answer: your camera and your eye see the world in different ways, so you have to learn to “see like a camera” and vice versa. I advise asking three questions while you are photographing: WHAT do I like? WHY do I like it? HOW can I emphasize it? Spend time consciously thinking about exactly what you’re trying to capture then look at your photos to see if they include anything you didn’t intend to, or misrepresent something. The more consciously you think about your vision of a scene, the more you can use your camera to capture it.
Best of luck!
Joshua
Hey Josh, great ideas for more intimate compositions. Although I like the concept, the close-in images are sweet, but they miss the wider location shot that was the attraction in the first place. I’d love to hear your ideas on focusing in and simplifying the complex mountains/reflections image, as well as the forest stream. How can we eliminate some of the complexity, but retain the overall sense of the location. Or is that even possible? Thanks/John
Great question, John! It is definitely possible, and I will be writing about that in an article very soon. For now, the best answer I can give you is to think about the core idea of each photo and make sure the photo contains only that, and not any extraneous elements. More soon, stay tuned.