Red Coat to the Rescue

Adding scale to your pictures

On our recent trip to Iceland I had a chance to share with our NE Explorers the idea of adding scale to your pictures by including a person in the landscape. We were shooting the beautiful Hvítá River in overcast light which was perfect for the silky water look we originally set out to capture.

I framed the image as it was, shot a few pictures, and then thought to myself, “This needs a red coat.” My dear wife Tanya often travels with her red Canada Goose camp down hoody for these occasions where the effect of color and scale can be extremely helpful.

Red adds interest

Making your photo worth looking at

Adding scale to your pictures gives the viewer an additional element of interest to look at. It also gives a better sense of of how large the landscape is. Adding color and scale improved this image from mediocre to nice. Obviously this won’t be winning any Pulitzer prizes, but I thought others might enjoy seeing how I try to make a picture worth looking at.