I have freely admitted, on these pages, that landscape photography is not something that comes naturally, to me. I can appreciate a beautiful scene as much as anyone, but translating that beauty into a photo is where I struggle. I understand that I should, first, know why it is that I want to take that photo. I have to know what is special. But sometimes, even knowing what is special, I still have trouble taking a landscape shot that makes me want to keep it.

First, the circumstances. We were leaving Yellowstone through the south entrance, on the way to Grand Teton NP. That drive took us along Yellowstone Lake. The day was beautiful, and on the far shore of the lake was a range of snow covered mountains. They were lovely, and worthy of some photos.

I try to educate myself as to what makes for good landscape photography. One topic -- and this subject of this post -- is camera orientation. Should one use horizontal or vertical, for a particular shot? Various articles tell me I should let the circumstances dictate the orientation. If my subject is, by nature, horizontal, use a horizontal orientation. Likewise, for a subject that is vertical, use a vertical orientation. A long, tall waterfall, for instance, would seem to dictate a vertical orientation.

What if my subject were a range of mountains on a distant shore? An individual mountain might be vertical, but the range is horizontal. The distant shore is horizontal, as well. The first shot is the horizontal orientation. It's okay, but not special. There is a little peninsula, on the left, that provides some scope, but the shot is, for the most part, water and sky. I loved looking at the mountain range, but its majesty was simply not translated into two dimensional form.

I took another shot of, essentially, the same view, using vertical orientation. Actually, my intent was to stitch together several vertical shots into a panorama, but it just didn't do anything for me. However, the leftmost shot had possibilities. That is the second shot.

The question is not whether either of these shots is a keeper. That is actually immaterial. The question is why one of these works better than the other. I think the vertical orientation works better than the horizontal orientation. My subject is still the mountain range/distant shore, which are still horizontal. The rocks in the lower left vertical shot provide a bit more perspective, which, I suppose, makes the lake look more like a lake than an ocean (a really calm ocean). Do the near rocks, combined with the peninsula on the left, comprise an implied curved shoreline that is vertical?

Two pictures (one cropped) of one of Michael Angelo's 'Madonna and Child' in the Church of Our Lady Bruges, the only statue of his allowed outside of Italy during his lifetime. Ordered removed by Napoleon and sent to Paris in the late 1700's, returned after his defeat. It was stolen by the Nazi's during WWII, stored in a salt mine in Austria, and later returned after the war. Chapel was very dark, only minimal natural light and didn't allow tripods. Just gazing on Michael Angelo's work is amazing and wondrous. Thought you might enjoy