Landscape photography
Landscape photography depicts natural scenery, emphasizing landforms, light, weather, and the relationship between people and place.
Depth of field: The range of distances in an image that appears acceptably sharp. Aperture and focus determine how much foreground and distant terrain remains sharp.
Seascape photography: Landscape photography centered on coastlines, seas, and other marine scenery. It applies landscape techniques to tides, waves, and coastal forms.
William Henry Fox Talbot: An English pioneer of photography who developed the calotype process in the 1840s. His early photographs included landscapes made with a reproducible negative process.
Documentary photography: Photography that records people, places, and events as evidence or information. Documentary approaches emphasize a place’s observable conditions over visual idealization.
Wilderness preservation: The protection of areas from intensive development to maintain ecological and natural character. Photographs helped build public support for protecting scenic wilderness.
Hyperfocal distance: The nearest focus distance that keeps objects from half that distance to infinity acceptably sharp. Landscape photographers use it to maximize apparent sharpness from foreground to horizon.
Mountain photography: Photography that depicts mountains, their terrain, weather, and surrounding environments. It concentrates the genre’s concerns on altitude, scale, and changing mountain light.
Carleton Watkins: An American photographer known for detailed nineteenth-century views of the western United States. His Yosemite photographs helped shape public perceptions of western landscapes.
Fine-art photography: Photography made primarily as an expression of the photographer’s artistic intent. Fine-art landscape work treats scenery as material for personal interpretation.
National parks: Government-designated areas protected for natural, cultural, or recreational value. Iconic landscape photographs have influenced how park scenery is valued and represented.