Despite all the celluloid and digital records I've made of Zion National Park since 1980, I’ve never had a moment where I could say that’s a keeper. I believe that is because all attempts to replicate fail on so many levels compared to Zion's contextual impact on just being there. For me there’s little point in pulling out a print to look at Watchman, the Narrows, or Angels’ Landing when the real thing is a short drive away. But that doesn’t stop me from photographing it.
即使我自1980年以来在锡安国家公园拍了那么多胶片和数字照片，却从来没有过一张照片我能说这张值得拥有。我觉得，这是因为任何试图复制美景的企图与置身其中相比都会彻底失败。对我来说，既然我能随时开车去那，那么拿出“巡夜人”，“一线天”，或者“天使降临处”的照片看显得没什么意义。但这却阻止不了我对摄影的热情。
I've shot 5x7, 2x2, 6x4.5, 35mm and many digital formats, leaving my work wanting until I realized that photographing Zion was not a product of my camera, it was a product of my eye and how I see into contrast.
我拍过5乘7，2乘2，6乘4.5，35毫米以及其他很多数字格式。那些作品都差强人意，直到我意识到，照片中的锡安不是我相机的作品，而是我的眼睛的作品，来自于我怎么看待那些对比变化。
The depth of the canyon, up to three thousand feet (over 900 meters), and its north-south orientation make exposures within the canyon that include any kind of vista or sky difficult because of the exposure range, dark valleys and bright canyon rims.
因为峡谷的深度，最深处达900米，以及它南北的走向，有限的曝光范围给在峡谷里任何角度和对天空的曝光带来了困难。
Cloudy mid-day skies can help even that contrast, diminish shadow intensity and saturate colors.
多云的中午的天空有助于均衡明暗对比，减少影子的强度，增加颜色的饱和度。
Golden-hour illumination sends light against canyon walls and depending on the season, behind canopies of foliage creating gentle highlights against dark trunks and branches. Exposure on the Virgin River in the shot of Watchman above has been compensated in post production to pull detail in shadows.
黄金时间的阳光洒在峡谷的峭壁上，它依季节不同，在树冠后面，带来了不同于黑色树干和树枝的柔和的明亮区域。这样也弥补了对“巡夜人”山峰底下流过的维京河的曝光，使影子里的细节得以呈现。
Photographing Zion has taught me a number of approaches in landscape photography; the influence of The Rule of Thirds on horizons, the Gestalt principle of figure/ground relationships on depth of field, and the sway of natural vectors on composition.
在锡安摄影让我学到了风景摄影的一些技巧：比如三分构图法，在景深中前后景关系上的完形原则和自然向量对构图的影响。
三分构图原则 The Rule of Thirds
The idea that the human eye is naturally drawn to a point that follows the suggestion of the golden mean is called The Rule of Thirds. Superimpose a tic-tac-toe grid on most aspect ratios and you might be surprised how many compositions follow this basic influence on photographic composition - visual design.
三分原则指的是人的眼睛会自然而然地追随黄金分割线。在任何横纵比例的画面上叠加一个九宫格，你会惊奇地发现许多摄影构图和视觉设计都遵循这个最基本的原则。
Find where the strongest and most contrasting points fall on the intersecting lines of that grid, creating movement through the frame. Rarely for me is this equilateral. The Rule of Thirds is more of a guide than a hard rule.
找找对比变化最大的地方落在哪个分割线交汇处，使得整个画面里产生运动感。我很少生硬地运用这个原则。三分法是一种引导，而非死规矩。
This shot at Alstrom Point at Lake Powell is a loose interpretation. Notice that the compositional elements of the scene's contrast are where I've defined the horizontal lines of the grid, along with the highlights at the upper left-hand intersection, and the shadows on the lower right-hand intersection.
这张在鲍威尔湖的阿尔斯特洛姆拍的照片是个大致的范例。注意图中明暗对比的构图元素落在了水平线上，且左上角的线条交叉点明亮，右下角的线条交叉点暗淡。
The Rule of Thirds influence lower and upper horizontal lines away from the center of the field creating a more dynamic composition. Imagine the image below of Yosemite's Half Dome as if the horizon of the meadow were composed in the center of the frame.
三分原则使得上下水平线偏离中央，使得构图充满动态。下面这张优胜美地的半穹顶，想象一下如果草地的地平线在画面中央会怎样。
前后景关系 Figure/Ground Relationships
Gestalt theory holds that objects within a composition are perceived as either figures - distinct elements of focus - or ground - the background or landscape on which the figures rest. Using figure ground relationships give scale and depth to landscape compositions.
完形理论说的是构图中的物体或者被看作前景——即吸引注意力的元素，或者后景——即前景所依托的背景。运用好前后景关系有助于风景构图的体量感和深度。
The image above was made in the northern part of the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, the park that surrounds the great Lake Powell. It has a variety of geological landscapes, one of them being this barren desert. The image was composed with a mild telephoto lens to induce some compression of the dirt road and its turns, but it had little scale without the vehicle composed within it. The truck gives the composition a figure/ground relationship. Note how the placement of the vehicle is on the lower right-hand cross-section of the Rule of Thirds grid.
上面这张图拍摄于格兰峡谷国家娱乐区，既鲍威尔湖所在的公园。荒漠是它的多种地貌之一。这张图使用了中等的长焦镜头，以使得土路和弯折得以压缩。但没有汽车，图中很难对比出景物的大小。这辆吉普车赋予整个构图前后景关系。注意车处于三分原则中右下方的线条交汇处。
The yellow kayak above does the same in the relationship to the monolithic formation on the shore. This is at Warm Spring Bay at Lake Powell.
Figures do not need to be foreign to the landscape. The image below establishes a figure relationship with the background with an optical illusion. The figure is the sandstone rock formation that frames the view to the Colorado River below. The illusion is in the highlight of the sunlight that divides the large rock that is low and center in the frame giving an appearance of a continuity of the river which is remarkably 8,000 feet below.
前景可以和后景是同一类事物。下图通过视觉错觉建立起了前后景关系。前景是砂砾岩块为下面的科罗拉多河提供了一个边框。错觉来自于落在下方岩石上的阳光，使得岩石明亮部位与河水在构图上连成一体。实际上河水在岩石下方8000英尺（约2400米）的地方。
Willis Creek Canyon on the Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument has beautiful slot canyons. This part of the canyon runs west-east, gathering sunlight on the south walls that bounce and fill the slot, making nice ambient light to naturally fill in the shadows. Positioning the film plane low just above the water with the stone just out of the focal plane depth of field creates a figure ground relationship that encourages the eye into the frame.
位于大阶梯国家保护区的威利斯溪峡有很多漂亮的峡缝。此处峡谷东西走向，南向的岩壁受光并反射、照亮整个缝隙，使得适当的环境光自然地填充到阴影处。把相机放置在水面上方较低的位置，让那块岩石恰好处在焦平面之外。这制造出一种前后景关系，把目光引入画面。
The image below is taken from a trail near my home in Hurricane, Utah, close to the Virgin River Canyon. The figure/ground relationship is amplified in the shallow depth of field and the contrast of the yellow highlights of the blooms to the shadowed details of the foliage and texture of the ground.
下图取自犹他州哈利肯市我家附近的一条小道上，离维京河峡谷很近。前后景关系通过浅景深里黄色野花与树影和地面的对比得以突出。
The same figure/ground concept is at work on these mustard weed blooms along the coastline of Northern California. The fog plays into the technique, dramatically softening the background, one of those lucky combinations of weather, light, and position.
同样的前后景关系也体现在那些芥菜花与北加利福尼亚海岸线的对比中。雾气也帮了忙，显著地柔化了背景。天气，光线和地点幸运地组合在了一起。
The simplest and perhaps most elegant figure/ground composition on vistas is framing a bit of the ground just ahead of the focal plane. The green brush of ephedra viridis, an herb early explorers used to make tea, gives scale to the camera's position in capturing the sunrise light pouring over Whitmore Point on the Parashant Canyon, the Grand Canyon's sister.
最简单、可能也是最优雅的前后景风景构图就是让后景的一部分落在焦平面前面。那丛绿色的麻黄草赋予了画面以拍摄的位置感。这个地区的早期开拓者曾经以那种草为茶引用。照片拍摄了日出阳光撒满位于帕拉山特峡谷的惠特莫尔的景象。
对角线与自然向量 The Diagonal Rule and Natural Vectors
Linear elements, such as waterways, roads and fences placed diagonally, are generally perceived as more dynamic than horizontally placed ones.
线条元素，比如把河流，道路，篱笆，放在照片的对角线上比放在水平线上更能给人一种动态感。
The preceding shot of the mustard weed has a strong, natural diagonal vector, the line of the edge of the cliff that descends the frame from left to right. This naturally draws the eye through the frame into the composition of the flowers against the background of the rocky ocean shore.
前面那张芥菜花照片就有很强烈的自然对角线方向感，那条崖壁的边缘线从左向右下降。这自然而然地把目光引向构图中依着岩壁海岸线的花朵。
The Shasta River is a tributary of the great Klamath River that flows from Oregon into Northern California. It spreads out along Mount Shasta's valleys of granite making for great fly fishing. This image breaks the Rule of Thirds in that the horizon is relatively centered, but the vertical energy of the trees and diagonal composition of the river create a visual dynamic that moves the eye from right to left.
沙斯塔河是克拉马斯河的支流，从俄勒冈州流向被加利福尼亚。它蜿蜒穿过沙斯塔山的花岗岩山谷，很适合钓鱼。这张照片打破了三分原则，水平线处于相对中间的位置，但树木的纵向能量和河流的对角线构图造成了视觉动态，把目光从右引向左侧。
Indications of continuity or direction are considered to be vectors. These are categorized into graphic, motion, and index vectors, each having their purpose in composition, but in landscape photography I look for a natural graphic vector that leads the eye through the frame and when combined with the Diagonal Rule, the image results in a more dynamic composition.
指示连续性或者方向的元素叫做向量。它可以分为图形的，运动的和指示的向量。每一种在构图中都有它的作用。但在风景摄影中，我一般寻找能引导我的目光穿过画面的自然图形向量，当它与对角线原则相结合时，构图就更具有动感。
The Loneliest Highway in America - that is its real name - crosses the northern part of the State of Nevada. The camera was canted for this shot below - tilting the film plane to the left - inducing the diagonal rule and giving more energy to the graphic vectors of the road, its painted lines and texture, the ravine and the power poles, creating a diagonal rule of the vanishing point.
美国最孤独的公路，这是这条路的真名，从内华达州北部穿过。拍摄下面这张照片时相机有一点侧倾，遵循了对角线原则，并使得路面的图形向量更具能量。路上的线，纹理，沟壑和电线杆都带来一种消失点的对角线原则。
Natural vectors have a strong sense of direction such as strong angles of canyon walls, the curvilinear vector of a river or divisions of geological features. These vectors encourage eye movement through the frame along the vector line, and like all compositional elements are not mutually exclusive. This can be seen in the following images created at the Toroweap lookout of the Grand Canyon.
自然向量的方向感很强，比如峡谷岩壁的棱角，河流或地质特征的曲线向量。这些向量使人的目光沿着它们穿过画面。像其他所有构图元素一样，他们并不互相排斥。下面这张拍摄于大峡谷的托洛威观察点的照片就很能说明这一点。
The image above has many of these compositional elements coming together. Can you discuss what they may be, from the Colorado River to the red Indian Paintbrush?
上面这张图有很多构图元素混合在一起。从科罗拉多河到串红花，你能说出都有那些吗？
It may surprise you that the previous four images are from a series I shot exclusively with an iPhone.
你可能怎么也没想到，前面四张照片都是我用iPhone照的。
Trees are natural vertical vectors, like these great giants in California's National Redwoods.
树木是天然的垂直向量，比如这些加州的红杉国家公园里的大树。
And perhaps that most natural motion vector is that of flowing or falling water. These following two images were composed at Proxy Falls in Oregon, a 226ft veil of water that steps down over moss covered granite. Of the two images below, which has more energy? Which is more relaxing? Why?
可能最自然的动态向量就是流水或瀑布了。最后这两张图是我在俄勒冈州普拉克希瀑布照的，226英尺（约75米）的水帘从长满青苔的大理石上拾阶而下。下面这两张图片里，哪一种更具有能量，哪一种更闲适？为什么？
