FORESTS AND TREES

Forests are a landscape photographers true friend, they are beautiful natural landscapes that can stretch across large areas of continent providing pristine, untouched wilderness where only the most intrepid go. Or, and more often, they can provide large or small chunks of nature even in the largest towns or cities.

Wherever the location of a forest, you will be transported immediately into an area of nature and wilderness, and if you are a landscape photographer, then you have the opportunity to create some great photography.

Epping Forest in the autumn, Essex, England, UK

In a forest, you need to think creatively and originally whilst using standard compositional techniques. Forests are natural landscapes often photographed close up from within.

Most traditional landscape photography whether on beach or land is wide angle with prominent foreground subjects, the eye drifting towards the horizon.

Forests provide a more intimate environment where an individual tree can be your subject, and where the skies are often obscured by the landscape itself.

So you need to expand on your compositional choices if you are to take advantage of the photographic opportunities that a forest offers.

The images on this page are all multi image stitched images, although not all are panoramic.

I find that in forests especially there is ample time to stop and wander around looking for compositions.

I don’t always see a composition contained with a nice, neat oblong or square shape.

So, I create multiple image images that I stitch back together to form the final composition.

Epping Forest, Essex, England, UK Forest in winter, Epping Forest, Essex, UK

Forests are a great way to hone your compositional skills and will accelerate learning. Most people have forests either large or small close to where they live, and they provide a wonderful environment to create a variety of compositions. It will allow you to practice your photography skills and talent before going on that far away photography trip as well as providing an opportunity to create some great imagery.