Creating ‘Unbelievable’ Moments in Time

By Jenn Gidman
Images by Christian Danner

Christian Danner’s Tamron 17-28mm F2.8 wide-angle lens brings the landscapes before him to life.

Walks in the woods with his grandmother when he was a boy in Indiana kick-started Christian Danner’s love of nature, as did treks with the Boy Scouts. Christian’s grandmother also taught him how to paint, then introduced him to his first film camera—and from there, a new vocation was born.


17-28mm (17mm), F4, 1/250 sec., ISO 80

As an adult, a reconnection with an old friend brought Christian back to his affinity for the great outdoors, which blossomed into the medium he uses today to express himself: nature and landscape photography, which he indulges in his home state, as well as other areas of the Midwest and internationally. “I find a way to get my photography in wherever I go,” he says. “My goal is to always show an unbelievable moment in time, in dramatic but not hyperrealistic style. I’m lucky to have stunning scenery close to home, too—especially since I have a baby on the way and won’t be traveling as much in the near future.”

At Christian’s side of late is the Tamron 17-28mm F/2.8 DI III RXD wide-angle lens for his Sony mirrorless camera system. “The first thing I noticed about this lens is how light it is,” he says. “I love how wide it goes so I can capture everything in the scene I want to, yet also punch it in just enough so that I can better emphasize a rock, tree, or stretch of shoreline. The F2.8 maximum aperture is perfect for low-light situations, and my images are always sharp.”


17-28mm (17mm), F5, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

CHRISTIAN’S QUICK LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

Shoot for scale.
I don’t look for anything specific when I’m scouting for photos. What I do seek is an element to add context—usually something in the foreground to give the background scale. That could be a train coming down the tracks in front of a mountain range, as you see here. Once while photographing the Pyrenees, I positioned some firewood in front of the mountains for that same reason. If it’s a man-made element I’m using for scale, it doesn’t hurt if it adds a little pop of color to the landscape photography.


17-28mm (19mm), F5, 1/640 sec., ISO 200

Don’t balk at midday shots.
My favorite times of day to shoot are during the golden hour and blue hour; lately I’ve been tiptoeing more into nighttime photography. But I’m pleasantly thrown sometimes at how my pictures come out when the sun is at its highest, like for the train I mentioned earlier on Morant’s Curve, in Banff National Park. If you’ve got the flexibility, don’t pack it in once lunchtime starts approaching. Play around and see if you can create something different.

Photograph the same spot at various times of day.
I was scouting in Alberta around dusk when I spotted this lake scene, with the mountains in the background. I slammed on the brakes, scaring my wife, who thought I was screeching to a halt to avoid hitting an animal. I quickly mounted my camera on my tripod, created a composition, and then noticed that the clouds were moving pretty fast. I pulled back my exposure to 30 seconds, threw on a polarizer, and gamed it for those clouds. This image is actually a composite of three different images. I exposed for the water and clouds in one, then the mountains and background for the other two.


17-28mm (21mm), F20, 30 sec., ISO 200

The nighttime image in the same spot was later that week. I’d left my headlamp at home, so I used my phone light to make my way out to the dock to take this photo. I got down low on the platform and basically held my breath for the entire 20-second exposure so my body would stay still.


Tamron 17-28mm (17mm), F2.8, 20 sec., ISO 2500

I’d been itching to make an astral photo, and this location seemed perfect—but I was worried I’d encounter too much light leak, complete with purple and orange haze, from the town tucked between Mount Rundle and the tree line. However, that light ended up framing and illuminating my subject. All the stars came out to play, including Polaris on the left. I was super happy with how this photo came out.

Curate a tonality.
I’ve built a number of presets over time, but I’ve also created that tonality. I like my greens a certain way, for instance. It helps add consistency to my photos. That doesn’t mean that I’m married to my presets. It depends on what I’m shooting. When I see a scene, I automatically think of how I want it to look, but during the editing process, I’m often surprised by how an experimental edit looks 10 times better than what I originally had in my head. My usual workflow can always be altered in the service of making the best image possible.


Tamron 17-28mm (17mm), F6.3, 1/15 sec., ISO 160

To see more of Christian Danner’s work, check out his website and Instagram.

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