landscape help

Below is a perfectly horrible picture taken in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. My goal was to capture the emptiness of the area, but as you can see I crashed and burned. I just don't see anything in the picture that says what my eye actually saw. Kentmere 100 film, Canon AE-1, 50mm 1.8 Canon lens. Any tips greatly appreciated.

Here's a link to photos from the same general area, captured by more successful photographers. https://www.google.com …&biw=1242&bih=5​97&dpr=1.1

Your pic is a bit rough. Best I could do with your uploaded image.

What sort of help are you asking for? Reprocessing or tips for future shoots? There are several ways to make a landscape work, you can add a foreground subject to anchor the scene. You can find leading lines, or geometric patterns to draw the eye to what it is you want to communicate. Even if you are trying to show bleakness or desolation you need something for the eye to follow otherwise it just circles are the image looking for something to see.

That’s where I’m stuck, nothing to focus on. I thought the stock tank would be a good foreground, and way in the back is another tank with cattle that I could easily see, but a 50mm lens just couldn’t reach that far.

Should’ve used my Nikon P610 or Canon 7Ti with 75-300 I reckon.

Did you add the clouds, or just bring them out of the picture? Either way, much better than my original.

In my opinion you need some negative space, or rather a contrast of it. A distinct subject in the mid foreground (not too close or it grabs ALL the attention) would help distinguish the emptiness of the rest of the seen. The clouds in the back help to provide some depth (haze, etc) in the distance.

Terry McDaniel wrote in post #19417473
Here's a link to photos from the same general area, captured by more successful photographers. https://www.google.com …&biw=1242&bih=5​97&dpr=1.1

Hosted photo: posted by Terry McDaniel in
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forum: Nature & Landscapes

One thing I noticed is that many of the most successful images at that link are taken from a higher point of view. Next time, bring a box to stand on. Well, I mean a higher point of view than a box would provide. Maybe even a drone.

I just discovered I did take a photo with my 7Ti and 18-55 kit lens. I like it much better than the film photo. It seems to be a bit more dimensional that the other. Only thing done in post is increase contrast and decrease highlights a bit.

Added the clouds.