Altered Landscapes

Landscape photography is a genre intended to show different spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. This popular style of photography is practiced by professionals and amateurs alike. Photographs typically capture the presence of nature and are often free of man-made obstructions. Landscape photographers usually attempt to convey an appreciation of the world.
Many landscape photographers show little or no human activity in their photos, striving to attain pure, unsullied landscapes that are devoid of human influence, using instead subjects such as strongly defined landforms, weather, and ambient light. Despite this, there is no pure or absolute definition of what makes a landscape in photography, as such it has become very broad term, encompassing urban, industrial, macro and nature photography. A beach full of parasols and sunbathers can be a landscape photo, but so can the view through an electron microscope, which shows a different type of landscape. Waterfalls and mountains are especially popular in classic landscape photography, often calling for Large Format cameras and neutral density or polarizing filters. Though many photographs are inspired by traditional landscape painting, the term in photography broader; most places and things can be photographed as a landscape, a kitchen, a lamp, a wall, or even the human body can be turned into a rolling vista by a skilled photographer.
Landscapes are often created with such tools as a pinhole camera, or a large format camera and tripod, usually with a wide angle lens (24 mm and 35 mm are especially popular). Many serious photographers use medium or large format systems to record as much detail as possible, although the vast majority of landscapes published today are from digital SLRs and compact cameras.
Capturing the beauty of unspoiled places can bring dwindling wilderness areas into the public eye, so environmental protection organizations use professional and amateur photographers' work to further the cause. Notable landscape photographers include Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell and Edward Weston.