The Bitterroot Valley is home to some of the most awe-inspiring mountainous landscapes in the West. And when you are out on the trails, in the forests, and at the top of mountains in the Bitterroot Valley you may feel inclined to capture the scene with a camera; most everyone these days has a phone in their pocket with a relatively high-powered camera. So, you take out your phone or camera, compose the shot, snap the photo, and something in the transmission between the landscape you see and the landscape captured by your phone/camera is lost. But bad photos can be forgiven. A flat-looking landscape, while it will never appear on the screen or on paper in exactly the same way as the photographer saw it in the moment, the photo can be composed in a way to it get it closer to reality, give the image more interest and dimension.
The first rule of casual photography is to stop taking the ruler shots; don’t place your subject in the center of every photo. Place your subject somewhere near the corners and only in about 1/3 of the frame (This is a brief description of the photographer’s “Rule of Thirds”). If you are taking a photo of a person, allow the landscape around him or her to compose the rest of the shot.
Foreground, middle ground, and background are important in photography. For example, what happens when you stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon and take a picture of the opposing side? You get a flat image of the opposing rock face and the sky above it. Now, step back fifteen steps and take a picture where the foreground, the ground where you are stand, is also in the photo. What do you get? You get a photo that shows the vastness of the Grand Canyon, a photo that better captures the entire landscape.
Remember to have fun with your photography. And remember that the best part about your own photos of the Bitterroot Valley is the time you spent in outdoors, taking them.
