This idyllic Tuscany landscape awaits anyone willing to get up at dawn and venture east on state road SP438 toward the town of Fiorentine, a bit south of Siena. If you do so, you will have no trouble spotting a somewhat surreal landscape of rolling hills of wheat interspersed with large mounds of what look like boulders. As the narrow road unfolds, one compelling landscape after another beckons. This day proved to be one of those hot and humid early summer mornings, resulting in a hazy dull-blue sky, but I would not be deterred and once again called on a graduated-blue, neutral-density (ND) filter. With my camera and 70–300mm lens mounted on a tripod, and my graduated-blue filter in place, I was quick to make the decision to push the horizon line near the top of the frame. Note the varied textures and tones of the landscape in the second image. There are five distinct “lines” here—tones, actually—beginning with a green tone, followed by the golden tone of the wheat, the yellow/orange tone of the hillside and rocks, the blue tone of the distant hills, and finally the lighter blue tone of the sky. And while this pleasing landscape does not follow the normal Rule of Thirds, there are five distinct lines found here, a Fibonacci number. Compare this to the first image, with only four distinct tones, and I’m sure you’ll agree that the shot below is much stronger.

Nikon D3X with Nikkor 70–300mm lens at 300mm, f/22 for 1/60 sec., ISO 100, graduated-blue filter for the sky