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
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