How to add emotion to a landscape

[Sirius Glass]

How do you put emotion & feeling into a landscape (e.g. get the viewer to empathize with the shot)? I asked a somewhat related question on the f32 site and it led me to this question.

Composition, lighting, contrast, filters for black & white, polarizer filter color and black & white can add to the emotion. There is no cookie cutter approach for adding emotion to landscapes.

[Rick A]

If amateur photographer unable to see a mood - he should sell his photo gear

Thats a harsh statement. I think the OP can see the emotion, but like many he is unable to satisfactorily portray emotion. There are many components that need to be utilized in our magic bag of tricks, deciding on which and how is the hard part. Many amateurs may not have those skills and we should be there to help them learn them. I for one didn't have those skills for a long time, perserverance and many rolls of film later, I think I can get my viewer to feel what I saw. Not everybody is capable of it, but that doesn't mean he or she should give up, just means they are far better in other areas. Not everyone can pull out the emotion in grand scale, that's why there so many different aspects to photography. That is also why this forum exists, to help those seeking.

[Sirius Glass]

+ 1

These skills are learned, not inherited.

Steve

[CGW]

Check out Salgado's Alaska landscapes in today's NYT magazine:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/201...salgado&st=cse

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/09/ma...salgado&st=cse

These shots are not just majestic but alive. Emotion? It's everywhere in this series.

[dxqcanada]

Elements in a photograph can evoke emotion from the viewer.

It is the art of knowing what the majority will be affected by.

Many people like glorious sunsets, others feel the expanse of a panoramic ... others require contrasts ... etc.
Look over all the images that evoke something from you ... then figure out the why.

National Geographic is good at picking out the images that get to the majority.