Patterns and Textures in Winter Landscapes

Patterns depend on the repetition of similar shapes, forms, lines, or colors. Because such repetitions attract our instinctive attention, they can be a powerful ingredient in photography.

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.44

“Look for details that provide a strong contrast of white against black or in which frost creates interesting patterns and textures.”

Capture The Beauty In Nature. [Alexandria, Va.]: Published by Time-Life Books in association with Kodak. P. 64

“Landscapes make for excellent subjects for experiments in photographic patterns. The furrows of a plowed field following the contours of the land or the regularly planted rows of trees gives structure to scenes that might otherwise appear featureless.”

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.44

“The cold has its visual drama – that silent, still, enclosed feeling of a midwinter’s day can come strongly in photographs. Although colors often vanish and the scene is reduced to monochromatic patterns of just three or four tones, this often helps to simplify landscapes that would otherwise be too complex.”

Capture The Beauty In Nature. [Alexandria, Va.]: Published by Time-Life Books in association with Kodak. P. 64

“Texture, sometimes equated with uneven surfaces, can in fact range from the roughness of coarse-grained surfaces to a sleekness, and the contrasts between such different surfaces can give great richness to a picture.”

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.50

“Sometimes a photograph records the texture of objects in such astonishingly sharp detail that the surface looks real enough to touch. Pictures based wholly on such textural contrast have an attraction of their own because they convey both visual and tactile sensations.”

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.50

“With the right lighting, you can pick out rugged surfaces in sharp textural relief or reveal a fine texture in surfaces that almost seem smooth to the eye.”

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.52

“You can accentuate such patterns when the light from the low sun at right angles to the camera casts shadows that emphasize the repeated shapes of trees or snaking lines of ridges and hollows in the land.”

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.44

“Generally, to bring out texture the light should come from oblique angles to rake the surface of the subject, highlighting each small relief. A subject with a very delicate texture needs more acutely angled light than does a coarse-textured subject.”

Mastering Composition And Light. Alexandria, Va.: Kodak/Time-Life, pp.52