Why this composition works
1 The hedges create an amphitheatre effect. Notice how the foreground is unlit to better emphasise the middleground features, like the sweep of the green field and the rectangular yellow fields of stubble.
2 The hedges fit snugly around the stubble fields and help to separate them from the other elements in the scene.
3 As with the foreground, Charlie wanted the background to be in shadow to frame the interesting shapes of the fields and hedges while also giving a sense of depth. Note too how the clouds create a natural vignette.
“This image is about using clouds to give emphasis to a particular shape,” Charlie says. “To get the amphitheatre effect, I needed friendly clouds. A cloud to my left, which you can’t see in the image, is stopping the light falling on to the background. The oblique lighting also reduces the monotony of the big slab of green. The vertical rectangle between the two stubble fields adds interest.”
Charlie says he was seeking a sense of order in the scene. “On the left-hand side, at the top of the yellow field, is a skinny hedge, which fits snugly around the other elements, like a hand around a ball. I also needed a few arcs in this image to balance out the severe horizontal lines.
“One of the biggest challenges that my students face is photographing a ‘big landscape’, which they can find cumbersome and intimidating. How do you jam this huge landscape into a 35mm frame? The key is to refine, to omit redundancies. Think of the bits you want in, and the bits you don’t.
“Don’t just say, ‘I can clone them out later’. That never feels particularly satisfying. You need to do it ‘au naturel’, as it were.
“So sometimes you need to wait for the clouds. You can’t be in a rush and hope to take good landscape photographs.”