Landscape Photography: Summer EditionEd Heaton uses the Tamron SP 24-70mm VC lens to find and capture the right light for sun-kissed summer images. |
Article by Jenn Gidman Images by Ed Heaton |
Whether he's strolling in the sand and surf on the beaches of Cape May, wading toward a waterfall in a Pennsylvania state park, or exploring the forests of the Great Smoky Mountains, Ed Heaton has his camera on the ready-no matter what the season. But in the summertime, Ed is able to chase the light longer and create his trademark landscape images from a whole new perspective. |
"When you're taking landscape pictures, you have to ask yourself what you're trying to capture, what your inspiration is," Ed says. "For me, it's always the magic of the moment. I like to capture the way the light plays against a subject. I might head out with something in mind I'm going to photograph, like a waterfall, but when I actually get out there, the light may be better in the field behind the waterfall. The light is what dictates where I point my camera-in the summer, that light changes somewhat." |
Ed's go-to lens in the field is the Tamron SP 24-70mm VC lens. "I love this lens for my summer landscapes," he says. "It's very fast, and the focal-length range is right where I need to be for landscape photography. I typically shoot my nature work on a tripod, but I had a chance to test the 24-70's Vibration Compensation (VC) feature at my grandson's Little League game. When the sun started to go down, I pushed my ISO up a bit, turned the VC on, and was all set for the evening." |
Photographing landscapes in the summer has its benefits and challenges. "In the winter months, the sun is much lower in the sky, allowing me to shoot longer during the day,” Ed says. “In the summer I have to be ready earlier, because the sun's angle will track much higher, making the ‘good light’ window much shorter. "But at the same time, the sunrise is so much earlier in the summer than in fall or winter. I have to get up much earlier to be on location on time." |
Ed looks to balance summer's abundant greenery with other colors on the landscape. "The saying that opposites attract applies to photography as well," he says. "If you look at a color wheel, red is the opposite of green. The warmer colors like red or brown are advancing colors; greens and blues are receding colors. If you put something red-like a barn or garden planter-against a green background, the red subject will appear to come toward the viewer." |
Ed experiments with a variety of compositional elements in his summer landscape images. "I like to play with textures, patterns, shapes, and lines," he says. "If I can use a horizontal or vertical line or an S-curve to bring viewers into the image, I can then keep them there with the other elements of the picture." |
Those lines can be courtesy of Mother Nature or manmade-the gentle curve of a country lane or streetcar tracks that trail off toward the horizon. When Ed visited the John Oliver Cabin in the isolated valley of Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains, those lines came in the form of a zigzagging split-rail fence framing the homestead, built in the 1820s by settlers John and Lucretia Oliver. Fences with these designs were often built by farmers to keep livestock in and because construction was easy and fast (they don't use fence posts). "The fence added a lot of character to the image," Ed says. "I put the fence in the foreground, the cabin in the middle ground, and the fog way in the background to create a story in this image." |
The lines don't even have to be direct lines that are visible to the naked eye. "For one of the photos I took in a tulip field, there's so much repetition of the flowers that it pulls the viewer into the image," Ed says. |
On the Water |
Creating vibrant beachscapes gives Ed the chance to masterfully merge sky, sun, and sea into his images. "Photographers are always on the lookout for that money shot on the beach," he says. "I'll look for what's making the most impact in my viewfinder at the time of day I'm there-the magic could be in the colors and clouds in the sky at sunset, for instance, in which case I'll include a foreground element such as a lifeguard chair or pier post and leading lines that add that depth and draw the viewer into the image."
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Depending on local weather conditions, Ed occasionally will happen upon a mysterious, misty morning on the lake-a perfect photo opportunity. "When you're on the water and it's really hot out, the water warms up during the day," Ed explains. "Then at night, the air cools off, but the water stays warm. That creates that magical mist the next morning and tells a great story visually." |
To see more of Ed Heaton's images, go to www.edheaton.com. |