Ways to Photograph a Road

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

I was in Luxembourg on a misty morning in November. The road seemed like a great subject to photograph, winding beautifully through the hills.

But what is the best way to photograph it? With a wide-angle lens or a telephoto lens? And from which viewpoint? I have worked out a few examples and ideas.

There are, of course, many different ways to photograph a road. However, there are a few things you can keep in mind to achieve the desired effect. What is desirable naturally depends on your own preferences.

The photo above gives a good overview of the road and how it wound through the fields. It was photographed from the field on the right, from a slightly higher viewpoint so that you can see the road clearly.

It is a distant view of the road, taken at a focal length of 76mm to make it wind through the frame nicely from left to right, with a pleasant S-curve. You can avoid this distant feeling by standing on the road and taking the photo from there.

The point I chose was the top of a hill, so that you look down on the road. I did what many photographers do in this situation: use a wide angle.

Because of this focal length, 24mm, the road has become very dominant in the foreground. So dominant that the winding section in the distance hardly stands out anymore.

The road may be large in the frame and form a leading line, but the bends in the distance have become too small and insignificant. The wide angle has also included too much of the misty sky, which adds nothing.

I could point the camera further down to limit the amount of sky and place it in the top third. But then I would have included even more foreground. Even more road, distracting even more from the actual route through the landscape.

The solution is a longer focal length, 78mm in this case. A few things happen now. The foreground is less prominent, the road through the hills has become a clearer line, and I have included less sky.

Still, it is not ideal. The road now enters the frame from the right, and the reflector post is the first thing you see when you look through the photo. In addition, the bend in the road touches the left edge of the photo, which feels very cramped.

It looks better when the road enters the photo from the right and there is more space between the edge and the bend in the road. The solution is simple, stand further to the right.

The result is better. You follow the road much more easily through the photo. There is space on the left and right, and the bushes are also positioned more pleasantly in the frame. I used 83mm for this photo.

The only thing I still have doubts about is the reflector post on the right. It stands out quite a bit. It also feels a little empty there, because the road enters from the far right. What if I stand further towards the middle of the road?

There is more balance in the photo. It is not so much a better version of the previous photo, but a slightly different one. Which one you prefer is a matter of personal taste. The reflector post has disappeared completely here, partly because I zoomed in a little further to a focal length of 95mm.

For this type of photo, it is often better to choose a longer focal length. What I also want to show is the influence of your viewpoint in relation to the road. Do you stand on the left or right, or in the middle? This makes a big difference to how the road enters the photo.

This does not just work for roads, but also for footpaths, rivers, streams and ditches. It is also important to look carefully at the edges of the photo, so that you do not discover later that the road, path or waterway winds right against the edge.

Of course, the height of your camera also plays a role. But because these are already hills, it is relatively easy to photograph a similar road. If there are no hills, try to find a high viewpoint anyway and avoid the popular low viewpoint.

You might also like

7 comments

Have your say