Earth Portraits Photography Article

Earth Portraits

When someone starts talking to you about portraits in photography, the first thing that enters your mind is head and shoulder shots of people. If you’re a hard core wildlife photographer, thoughts of close-up shots of animals might come to the surface.

There’s another type of portrait image that can evoke a lot more thought and curiosity than either of these – portraits of our planet earth. These are the intimate photos that come in tight to show just a small part of the larger picture and there are boundless interesting patterns that can be emphasized to show this beauty. Composition, working hand-in-hand with light, can bring these out even more.

earth portraits photography, sappling in snow photograph
A low light angle provides some nice shadows creating a
system of roots from the sapling in the windblown snow.

aspen branches with snow photograph
Snow offers a contrast in color on the branches
making it seem as though the trees have arms
that are reaching out to and aroundthe other
trees. The tightness of the image gets the
viewers eye looking at the detail of the branches
as opposed to the intertwining of everything taking place.

I have a tendency to look small, at just a part of what’s in front of me, rather than the entire canvas that’s laid out for all to see. I have a friend with whom I go shooting who calls me the dentist, because I like to extract a small portion. My goal is to find something that represents what the overall area is like - reveal just a part of it. When people look at one of your photographs, your goal should be to have them zero in immediately on what attracted you to want to take the picture in the first place. This is where taking the portrait approach to nature and landscape photography comes into play.

After doing a presentation at a camera club recently, I received an email from the club president and it included a comment from a member who said, “…he knows how to draw out the interest and add another dimension.” This is what you want these types of photos to induce from viewers as well as from yourself. After all, you should be doing photography to please yourself rather than anyone else. If you like the resulting image, that’s all that matters. After that, if others like what you’ve taken, then that’s the added bonus.

Freeman Patterson is probably one of the best at creating earth portrait photography. His mixing together of light and detail creates some wonderful intimate looks at the intricacies of the world that’s in front of us. Taking the time to pull these out from the landscape is where each of us can find something inviting and everyone’s photographic eye is different. If you have a group of photographers and take each, one at a time, to the same spot and say, “I want you to look small and capture the essence of what’s there”, everyone will come up with something different.

Simplicity is paramount in creating earth portraits. When there is a lot for the viewer to see and comprehend, then the feel of a portrait is lost. Think about these as you would when taking a portrait of a person. Human portraits are very simple. It’s a close head shot, utilizing light, shadows and details, to show the true character of the person. This technique also applies to a portrait of the earth.

And the good thing about doing earth portraits - there are subjects everywhere you go. Let’s say you have arrived at your planned location and conditions haven’t come together properly for your intended shoot. For instance, the autumn colors haven’t come forth to create hillsides of color - no problem. Find a couple of leaves and use them to create some nice compositions. Looking at the details of what’s available can open up an entire new world of endless possibilities.

Step out of the box and be creative when doing earth portraits. Looking at what’s in front of you fully in terms of shape, line and texture, instead of putting the whole puzzle together, allows both you and the viewer to want to know more about what’s there. You can get a better understanding of an area by examining parts of it.

mountains shrouded in snow photograph

Some low clouds highlight the ridge lines of
two mountains close to each other. The
clouds also help separate the two ridges
and give depth to the image. A long lens brought it in and compressed the scene.

oregon coast sand ridge patterns photograph
A very small section of beach on the
Oregon Coast can be looked at as almost
being several different things – waves in
the ocean or a photo that easily could have been taken from 10,000 feet over a set of
sand dunes. The different colors and
textures in the sand adds to the shapes
and details of the beach.

Take the approach of being a research biologist as they enter an area for the first time. They start looking at individual items to see what new things they can find. The same approach can be taken with photography. What small, new subject can I find to shoot? How can I portray it in a way that is different or shows its uniqueness? This observational technique might take longer, but the results will be well worth the extra time, opening you up to an abundance of photographic opportunities.

While most of the time these earth portraits are of a very small area, they can show a little wider area as well. What needs to be included in the composition, though, is a focus on its simplicity and beauty. If you don’t have a natural eye for picking out these small portraits, this is a good exercise to help you develop this skill.

Some photographers have been blessed with a great photographic eye, while others have to work to find quality shots. Being creative and taking the time to really look around for the earth portrait images that are deeper than the typical snapshot of an area will help in the development of an eye that sees, rather than an eye that looks.