Dr. Elliot McGucken - Epic Landscape Photography: A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Odyssey Mythology Photography Book 5)

EPIC LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY
A SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE PRINCIPLES

OF FINE ART NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY

MASTER COMPOSITION, LENSES, CAMERA SETTINGS,

SHUTTER SPEED, APERTURE, ISO, EXPOSURE,

& OUTDOOR ADVENTURING!

Dr. Es Fine Art Photography in the Gallery http://mcgucken.com

Caspar David Friedrich: Every truthful work of art must express a definite feeling, must move the spirit of the spectator either to joy or to sadness rather than try to unite all sensations, as though mixed together with a twirling stick.

Enjoy Dr. Es video portfolio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3b1df46oKw

Dr. E: Landscape photography is not just about journeying outwards into the realm of spectacular scenery, but it is every bit as much about journeying inwards into the deeper realm of the spirit and soul, if not more so.

Vincent van Gogh: When I have a terrible need of shall I say the word religion, then I go out and paint the stars.

BY

DR. ELLIOT MCGUCKEN

2017, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Please contact me at with any comments or questions about the work herein!

Setting up for an Epic Sunset with perfect clouds at the Grand Canyon! (Cape Royal, North Rim)

Epic Zion National Park Scenery: From left to right: Wash on Zions east side, Wall Street in the Narrows, & Archangel Falls on the Subway hike! This book will take you there!

(Thats a photo of me in the middle, hiking up the Wall Street section of The Narrows!)

The Wisdom of the Ancients: Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, California White Mountains

Sony A7RII, 16-35mm Carl Zeiss Lens, 16mm, ISO 3200, 20s

Enjoy the Milky Way Rising Timelapse !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKaRoIHgZHk

I love the fresh, crystal clear air 10,000 feet up!

Dr. E: The epic print is the end goal of my photography.

T able of Contents

The Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid

Epic Monument Valley Sunset (This epic alignment happened on September 12 th !)

Three-shot panorama with Sony A7RII. ISO 100, 24-240mm Sony FE Lens, 50mm, 1/200s

The key to epic landscape photography is losing oneself in the story of the land. See yourself as not just a photographer, but as the Man with No Name in a John Ford or Sergio Leone Western, riding into town as a stranger in a magnificently strange land. See yourself as an ancient Navajo sage entering Antelope Canyons sacred temples in a state of humble reverence. When shooting a seascape, become Captain Ahab pursuing the While Whale Moby Dick .

Eternitys Wink: Malibu Sunset, El Matador State Beach

Camera, Lens, Filters, and Settings: Nikon D810, 14-24mm F2.8 Nikkor, ISO 200, 16mm, F18, .2s

Exalt the epic mythology of the landscape. Every location is brimming with fantastic stories, shaped and told by nature and humanity alike. The sandstone formations tell of millions of years of accretion and erosion, coupled with some master sculptors hand. Time hath maketh and time hath taketh away, and by the time we shoot the sandstone layers and sculptures at the beach, in Zion, or at the Grand Canyon, we are capturing times epic story itself.

Every land is rich in history, from the dinosaurs who left their footprints behind, to the art, tools, petroglyphs, and weapons of the earliest human inhabitants, to the decaying industrial-age, goldmining equipment erected by those who came later by different routes, oft risking it all for their unyielding dream of a better life. Every land was once a frontier, and every frontier was first reached by dreamers and explorers who oft followed the setting sun west.

Today we shoot that very same sunset, as we follow the same spirit in our fine art photography, hoping to find and photograph an epic dream away out there where fortune meets perseverance. Yes, we landscape photographers are journeymen, frontiersmen, artists, and storytellers in our own right, and thus we feel a deep kinship with every petroglyph, ancient mine shaft, and worn sandstone hoodoo. Not only have our fellow travelers walked here before, but their spirits yet walk right alongside us on this epic odyssey. And so it is that although we walk alone, we are never on our own, and we may take a quiet faith that our art may someday guide and inspire others on out towards that grander vista.

Exalted Zion Patriarchs (Abraham Peak, Isaac Peak, and Jacob Peak)

Location: The Three Patriarchs, Zion National Park

Camera, Lens, Filters, and Settings: Sony A7RII, Sony 16-35mm F4.0 Carl Zeiss Wide-Angle Zoom, B+W Polarizer, ISO 100, 35mm, F11, 1/400s

Study the history and literature of the land. Miltons epic Paradise Lost helped inspire John Muir in establishing the National Parks System, as sure as Zion, and the names of all her wonderful landmarks ranging from Angels Landing, to The Court of the Patriarchs, to The Towers of the Virgin were inspired by those same epic stories which inspired Paradise Lost s Garden of Eden. Learn the story and meaning of words such as YosemiteThose who kill. The Yosemite people were feared as rugged warriors, and their spirit can yet be seen in the rugged, towering granite of The CaptainEl Capitan.

El Capitan Winter Dreams

Location: El Capitan at Valley View on the Merced River, Yosemite National Park

Camera, Lens, Filters, and Settings: Sony A7RII, Sony 16-35mm F4.0 Carl Zeiss Wide-Angle Zoom, B+W Polarizer, ISO 200, 16mm, F11, .4s

Many of you may have noticed how the previous photographs exalt the rule of odds, or the rule of threes, and/or repeating patterns. As humans we are forever seeking order in chaos, as order and patterns have ever represented life. Nothing catches our attention more than a lone wildflower in a desert landscape (precious water!), or an old, decaying fencepost in a wild meadow, as they exalt vitality and intent, reminding us of our kinship with all that lives and dies.