Some of my favourite photographs from this year have been ones with people in them. I’ve always struggled with landscape photos, and my most successful ones usually include people in some way. Putting people into nature images makes them much more accessible to viewers – they can picture themselves as that person, there in that environment. Contrasting colour clothing is essential so that figures don’t get lost in the landscape. Red is particularly good at drawing the eye – but any bright colour can be good.

In all these photos the person is facing away from the camera, looking in to the landscape. I think this is an important aspect, because the photo isn’t about the person, it’s about the landscape. If there was eye-contact, or even a visible face, the eye would be drawn to that. With the figure looking in to the landscape, we can utilise the instinct to follow another’s gaze and draw the viewer into the landscape, despite the figures being bright and attention-grabbing.

I even managed a sneaky self-portrait! Blue would have been a better wardrobe choice to contrast with the tawny dry grass, but I’m an orange person.

Another common theme across these images is the use of leading lines to direct attention. Diagonal lines are particularly dynamic, and ‘S’ curves are also a good way to lead the eye through the image. Just keep the horizon line straight (or the trees vertical)! One of my goals at the start of the year was to shoot more wide-angle images, and I think I’ve done pretty well. What do you think?