The term “fine art” might make you think that creating it is difficult. After all, you have to be an expert to create something labeled as “fine art,” right?
Wrong! Fine art photography can be achieved by any photographer. It just takes time, practice, and dedication to developing the requisite skills needed to create a well-exposed, well-composed image. You can find subjects for fine art landscape photography anywhere. As the second-largest state in the Union, Texas certainly has many landscapes that provide gorgeous subjects for fine art photography.
Kevin Vandivier has spent decades exploring every corner of Texas, including the southern border where the Rio Grande winds its way to the Gulf of Mexico. In Rio Grande Gold, you see one of the simplest landscape photography tips put to good use - using leading lines. The winding river helps grab your attention with its sparkling reflection of the golden light. But it also serves as a leading line, helping to draw our eyes deeper into the shot. Leading lines help give photos depth by encouraging viewers to follow the lines through the image. In this case, by following the river, you can explore its reflection, the shape and texture of the vegetation on its banks, and even the subtle shadows and light falling across the bluffs to the left.
Another simple tip you can use to create fine art landscape photography is to seek out unique vantage points. Oft-photographed locations, like Guadalupe Mountain, usually look the same because most photographers snap the same “postcard” shot that everyone else takes. But fine art photography is about telling a story, of giving deeper meaning to the location. And to do that, you might need to find vantage points for photographing the subject that deviate from the norm. In this case, Kevin spent day after day looking for the right angle that wouldn’t look like every other shot of Guadalupe Mountain. He ended up with this lesser-seen profile with a storm front moving in above it. The result is a unique fine art image that tells a different visual story than most photos of this location.
As noted in the introduction, patience is key when creating fine art. Kevin slept in his car for several days to get this shot - and that might also be something you need to do to capture the best fine art landscape photos!