Landscape photography Tips

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Landscape photography tips

One of the most common questions I get asked is “How do I get the look?” on my photos. Usually people mean that slightly surreal look to some of my landscape photography. Well here are a few of my landscape photography tips to get you started.

My shots are a combination of factors, which I’ll briefly outline here before I go a little more into creating “the look”.

Almost every shot I take is the result of meticulous planning. I check the weather forecasts, tide tables, sun rise and set times as well as direction. I have been out and scouted hundreds of locations in advance and made notes on how the scene would be best lit so that when the lighting is right I can take advantage and go straight to the right place at the right time.

Learn the basics

Going back before this stage I have learnt the fundamentals of composition through in depth reading and research. Almost anyone can fluke a good shot now and again but to consistantly take good images it is important to spend the time learning what exactly it is that makes up a good image. How to draw the viewer in through use of leading lines and S curves etc. Which shapes capture attention, which create a sense of dynamism and which add balance. What colours work together and in what ratios.

And then when this theory is learned its time to research the rules of composition and how they relate to photography. The rule of thirds, golden mean, use of lead in lines, use of foreground middle and background,weighting a photo so there is balance, use of odd subject numbers etc. These rules are not to be followed religiously but to know them allows you to use them and break them intentionally and creatively.

Ok so you know the theory now you have to put it into practise.

Well there are now several aspects to putting this into practise. Some of these tips and others you can follow via my Twitter profile @davidfleetphoto.

It is a case of trial and error and experimentation to put the theory of composition into practise, however to create technically correct exposures with superb detail the landscape photographer needs to work with certain tools and use certain methods for best results.

10 easy landscape photography tips

1) Use a tripod- I cant stress this enough. Using a tripod will not only make your pictures sharper due to avoiding camera shake, it also slows your picture taking down, allowing you to think more before you take a shot. If you’re after a great reasonably priced tripofd then check out my Vanguard Alta Pro review

2)Use a shutter release cable- this stops any vibrations due to you physically pressing the shutter button.

3)Use mirror lock up- Some people get confused by mirror lockup but it needn’t be the case. This bascially locks the mirror up before you take the shot, so when you press the shutter button the first time the mirror locks up into position then when you press the shutter button the second time the shot is taken (on Canon cameras , I think Nikon is different but have no experience here)

The benefit is that the small vibrations from the movement of the mirror dont transfer into lack of sharpness in your shots.

Tests have been done on tripods to see how long it takes to dampen vibrations- I find on my Manfrotto I allow about 5-6 seconds between locking the mirror up and taking the shot.

4)If you dont have an electronic level then use a hotshoe spirit level to ensure your horizons are straight.

5)Use ND grads to balance out bright skies with darker land. I use Lee filters ( I did a Lee filters review ) but there are plenty of choices from companies like Cokin, Hitech and Singray.

6) Use ND filters to reduce light and allow longer shutter speeds for creative effect.

7)Use a circular polarising filter to reduce reflections, make skies seem bluer, clouds whiter and increase saturation in your shots. Polarisers work best if the sun is at 90 degrees to your shot,ie over your shoulder not behind or in front of you.

Be careful using them with wide angle lenses though as they can create uneven blue skies.

8)Use manual focus- To really nail front to back sharpness I use manual focus and either focus on an object about 1/3 into the scene or use Hyperfocul distances to focus.

9)Use the viewfinder to compose and live view to check focus- I usually compose my shots using the viewfinder, then I focus using live views 10x magnification. This ensures very precise focusing.

10)Dont stick to these general rules rigidly, its better to get a brilliant one off grab shot than to miss it while setting everything up, even if it’s not as sharp as it could have been.

Now as for getting “the look” I usually shoot at dawn and dusk, this means that available light is lower than during the day time. This naturally results in having to use longer shutter speeds.
I often shoot at the coast and I want to capture a little motion in the water to add dynamism to my shots. Perfectly sharp water can look good when capturing a wave or rough seas etc but for a lot of my shots a little movement adds to the shot.

To get this effect I usually aim for a shutter speed of arround 0.5 seconds upto 4 seconds. My method would go like this.

Start at f16 which is my preferd aperture on my 5d mkii
if shutter speed is too fast stop down to f22
if shutter speed is still too fast add a neutral density filter.
If Shutter speed is still too fast use extended iso 50. (i almost always use iso 100 unless I have a good reason not to)

It is rare that I would need any further reduction in light than this, however if I am shooting in the middle of the day (again another rareity) I may add a circular polariser which would give me another 2 stops of light reduction.
I do have a Hitech 10 stop filter but dont use it as the colour casts that it creates are horrendous and render it virtually unuseable unless you want to mess around in photosop for hours which I dont.

Now depending on the effect I’m going for I would alter my desired shutter speed accordingly. For a little movement in a rolling wave like

0.6 seconds is often perfect however I sometimes want some movement in the clouds and to flatten out the ocean. This can take a longer shutter speed of 30 + seconds which was the case in the shot below

Experimentation is really the key here, use a large aperture of f4 and experiment util you find the right exposure to create the look you want. Then do some maths and work out the corresponding shutter speed for an apperture of f11-22. This will mean you can experiment without having to wait so long between exposures.

You can take a look at the various images in my galleries and see what look you like best

 

Once you know how to create technically correct photos you can then start to concentrate then you will be ready to read my article on how to improve your landscape photography

If this article helped then I would appreciate it if you bought your camera gear through my links as it helps towards the running costs of the site. A big thanks to everyone who does.