Landscape photographs are not simple snapshots, but strive to capture the untamed, pure natural scenery. The beautiful scenery is the subject whether that is wilderness, sea or something in-between. Strong landforms are often captured, using ambient light and varying weather elements although urban landscape imagery is also photographed. 3D style landscapes bend reality to give a dimensional feel to viewers. Landscapes often spark an emotional response and can inspire environmental protection instincts. Here are stunning still life photos and stirring landscapes.
Big Sur Portal of the Sun
This photograph taken by Patrick Smith, Big Sur, Portal of the Sun, is the winner in the 2009 Nature’s Best Ocean Views competition. Smith says, “This sea arch opening in a cliff face at Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur allows large waves to come through at high tide before a big storm. The waves often fill the entire portal to the top, and the portal becomes a giant water shotgun! The Tufoni formations in the rock are incredible and should be seen in person.”
Trinidad Surf
Sometimes nature can take your breath away with her beauty such as at this beach. Trinidad Beach is north of Eureka, California. At high tide, the amazing cloud layers and intense colors are spectacular. The second photo was taken ten minutes after the first. The view is breathtaking and nearly celestial.
Lovely Landscapes
At Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, buffalo still roam and graze on Antelope Flats as seen at Moulton Barn shortly before a storm broke loose. Another vivid yet totally different landscape is the view of the tufa from under Ribbon Falls in the Grand Canyon. It can be found on the North Rim along the trail. The North Kaibab trail is part of the Arizona Trail that traverses the 800 miles from the border with Mexico to the border with Utah. The bottom photo is an awesome autumn view of High Park, Toronto.
Lakes
The top left photo was shot in the final hours of daylight, rugged peaks near the southern tip of Argentina and the edge of Chile, just a glacier away from Antarctica. In the upper right, this landscape image of Iceland was created from scratch as were the mutli-layered textures. In the lower left, the lake is as real as Teton Range in the morning light. Another stunning lake landscape in the lower right makes it easy to see why landscapes are usually devoted to nature without mankind polluting the frame.
Coastline
New Zealand is a land of natural beauty. In the top photo, the dazzling coastline of Anaura Bay, Gisborne offers a wonderful seascape and a spot to enjoy the sun and surf. Some people do not consider a seascape to be a landscape, but there is no absolute definition of what makes up a landscape photograph. In either case, nature is showing off her good side to the camera. In the bottom picture, off the coast of Victoria, Australia, a stunning sight of “Twelve Apostles” awaits. The 20-million-year-old rocky remnants of limestone arches rise up from the ocean in an inspiring panoramic view.
Surreal
Promise of a new day is the title of the top photo. After a morning storm, a rainbow shimmers over the Teton Mountains. There are no foothills along the Tetons, making the view dramatic as they rise sharply from the surrounding terrain to about 7,000 feet. In the bottom landscape, the rugged coast and steep terraces of Cinque Terre National Park overlook the sea. Cinque Terra is located on the Italian Riviera and is made up of five villages. This view is of Riomaggiore.
Defined Landforms
Antelope Canyon is located near Page, Arizona, and is on Navajo land. The photo on the left is of Lower Antelope Canyon, also called The Corkscrew. It is a hot destination for photographers like James Neeley who titled this picture Nature’s Abstraction. On the right, a lone tree on the horizon makes a good subject for landscape imagery in Brisbane, Australia. With a humid subtropical climate and location on a floodplain, Brisbane offers sightseers everything from urban to rural settings.
Beauty Everywhere
The top left shot was snapped from Mt. Tolmie in Vancouver, Canada. The top part of the picture is real, but the bottom half was tweaked to give a pseudo-3D watery reflection sensation to viewers. In the upper right, Singapore glows in a night shot landscape, or nightscape, over the Pandan Reservior. It is a Photoshop blend of five exposures. There is no mistaking Monument Valley landscape for any other spot in the world. It once stood synonymous for the Wild West. The iconic sandstone buttes have been a famous landscape in media genres since the 1930s.
Rainbow of Color
In the Netherlands, a village called Kinderdijk has a system of 19 windmills that were built around 1740. The Millhouettes are the largest group of old mills in Holland and create an enchanting view at sunset. In the upper right, a waterfall cascades while an iridescent arch of hope touches Fiordland National Park in New Zealand. The bottom left photo is stunning as a rainbow stretches with prismatic promise over the spectacular lava Waimea Canyon in Kauai, Hawaii. On the bottom right, sunrise kisses the black cobblestone beach near Hana, Hawaii. This volcanic coast of East Maui offers a spectacular view.
