Foreground and Background, a perspective to landscapes

by Ghassan Safi

You can tell that a person is tall, short, fat or thin; but you can make that appearance stand out when you place two contrasts together. A tall and thin persons next to each other would intensify both their lengths.

Contrast is important in a still to show what exactly is within. Its just that frame and it has to sound loud to attract and make us gaze for some time :)

Using a tripod, controlling shutter and/or using some filters etc ... are not covered in this article.

You're in some distant trail hiking and wish to take significant landscape shots.

So where am I:

- (foreground) You may need a tree, trees, a house, a cottage, animals, a trail and/or people hiking on that trail etc ...

- ( background) of mountains, desert and/or mist, rivers, clouds, cityscape, island(s) etc ...

SO in this perspective of things, what's close (foreground) would appear as intended and (background) would appear as such as well. One that is close and the latter that is far.

What has the photo(grapher) provided:

- A starting point, some detail of the lands being photographed in terms of flora, animal life and/or residence etc ...

- A surrounding for that area that you have already seen a glimpse of its terrain contents.

How is it technically achievable:

- Camera: a DX/FX Dslr or mirrorless cams are preferablea smaller sensor camera would not be able to provide good detail in comparison to the latter mentioneda medium format camera is the best choice for detail but at a relatively higher cost

- Lens(es): a wide angle zoom or a wide prime , though i'd prefer a wide zoom for more flexibility in taking exact frame where you stand if moving around was not an easy option. Wide angle lenses provide a great depth of field and when aperture is stopped down say at f11, you may have both the foreground and background is focus (That depends on how much close is the foreground content; the closer that is the more stopping down would be needed)

- Try not to have the foreground content in the center, nor far at the corners ... follow the rule of thirds and you'll be safe in terms of overall composition, yet that is color/contrast and content/concept dependent (as shown below)

- (aside from the topic) its better to use a gradual filter, dark for the sky where highlight is more pronounced and light area of the filter on the ground/below. But that is dependent on the frame context and concept as well.

Hope that those words are of benefit :)

Photo credits: Khunaspix, Martin Molcan, Minnystock.