Landscape Photography - A 'How To Do'
Discussion
We have a motosports thread, a macro thread and I think it is time for a landscape thread to help teach others how to improve their landscape photography and to show off and explain your own. It should help having some very good landscape photographers on this forum anyway - GetCarter, john185k, paul911, ..Mole.. etc...
I struggle with landscapes as I don't know how to make them interesting (ambiguous word I know!) and I seem to struggle with sharpness (widest lens I have is the kit one, although I do quite fancy the Sigma 10-20 when I have the money). I have a tripod, polariser and remote so I'm OK on the kit side of things.
Here are a couple of recent ones I have taken:
18mm, f22, 1/10, ISO 100
55mm, f22, 1/6, ISO 100
C&C would be appreciated.
Anyway this thread isn't all about me so over to you - any tips for us all to learn would be great and please feel free to add your photos.
I struggle with landscapes as I don't know how to make them interesting (ambiguous word I know!) and I seem to struggle with sharpness (widest lens I have is the kit one, although I do quite fancy the Sigma 10-20 when I have the money). I have a tripod, polariser and remote so I'm OK on the kit side of things.
Here are a couple of recent ones I have taken:
18mm, f22, 1/10, ISO 100
55mm, f22, 1/6, ISO 100
C&C would be appreciated.
Anyway this thread isn't all about me so over to you - any tips for us all to learn would be great and please feel free to add your photos.
1st you dont need a wide lens to shoot a landscape, it often helps but you realy need good sky or lots of foreground intrest if you do.
Wat makes a good landscape? good light, colour, dynamic range, intrest, areas of intrest, frameing and lead lines. Being in the right place at the right time and knowing how to extract the shot from where you are.
And luck, thats what I use most...
Wat makes a good landscape? good light, colour, dynamic range, intrest, areas of intrest, frameing and lead lines. Being in the right place at the right time and knowing how to extract the shot from where you are.
And luck, thats what I use most...
Gosh that’s quite an honour to be mentioned in the same sentence as GetCarter and John185k, mole, thanks. There are a few other PH members that take ace landscapes too.
My take on landscape then:
Tripod - I use mine 95% of the time. If your going to make the effort to take a landscape pic, carry it with you and use it.
Lens - A good majority of mine are taken with the Sigma 10-20mm, but I could have quite easily used the kit lens for a similar shot.
Filters - Not always necessary, but a polarizer works wonders on the sky. Use it at a 90deg angle to the sun for best affects. ND grad filter is also handy to avoid a blown sky.
Composition - When you have found an interesting landscape, find a suitable foreground object to lead your eye into the picture. Be it a rock, puddle, bush ect. If necessary put something into the picture (a rock, a sand castle, a branch) to make it work.
Rule of thirds - Don’t centre your picture, offset it to the left or right by one third. Same with the sky, don’t have the horizon bang on centre. Move it up or down 1/3.
Aperture - Usually a small aperture is required to get all the foreground and distant hills, ect in focus. But this is not always the rule. Use f5-6 to focus on a foreground flower, but have the distant hills in frame but slightly blurred to keep the interest.
Focus point - Usually 1/3 into the scene works best (but see above).
Lighting - The best time for the greatest lighting conditions is one hour before and after sunset and sunrise. You can obviously take pics any time you like but the 1 hour rule is the best for lighting.
I would recommend you study some landscape pics that are appealing and seem to work. Study them and work out why they work. What was the time of day, composition, what’s in focus, rule of thirds, ect.,
I’m sure others will have their own rules and idiosyncrasy’s, but that’s what I try and stick to most of the time. Oh and sometimes you need to forget all of the above and just click away and see what happens.
Hope this helps
Paul
(Its late and I’ll correct the spelling and grammar tomorrow, lol)
My take on landscape then:
Tripod - I use mine 95% of the time. If your going to make the effort to take a landscape pic, carry it with you and use it.
Lens - A good majority of mine are taken with the Sigma 10-20mm, but I could have quite easily used the kit lens for a similar shot.
Filters - Not always necessary, but a polarizer works wonders on the sky. Use it at a 90deg angle to the sun for best affects. ND grad filter is also handy to avoid a blown sky.
Composition - When you have found an interesting landscape, find a suitable foreground object to lead your eye into the picture. Be it a rock, puddle, bush ect. If necessary put something into the picture (a rock, a sand castle, a branch) to make it work.
Rule of thirds - Don’t centre your picture, offset it to the left or right by one third. Same with the sky, don’t have the horizon bang on centre. Move it up or down 1/3.
Aperture - Usually a small aperture is required to get all the foreground and distant hills, ect in focus. But this is not always the rule. Use f5-6 to focus on a foreground flower, but have the distant hills in frame but slightly blurred to keep the interest.
Focus point - Usually 1/3 into the scene works best (but see above).
Lighting - The best time for the greatest lighting conditions is one hour before and after sunset and sunrise. You can obviously take pics any time you like but the 1 hour rule is the best for lighting.
I would recommend you study some landscape pics that are appealing and seem to work. Study them and work out why they work. What was the time of day, composition, what’s in focus, rule of thirds, ect.,
I’m sure others will have their own rules and idiosyncrasy’s, but that’s what I try and stick to most of the time. Oh and sometimes you need to forget all of the above and just click away and see what happens.
Hope this helps
Paul
(Its late and I’ll correct the spelling and grammar tomorrow, lol)
Edited by paul911 on Thursday 6th August 00:10
I agree wholeheartedly about having to be in the right place at the right time, obviously correct exposure helps but there's only so much you can do if the light isn't right. Composition is also a very big factor IMO, see for example the 3rd of my photos below - this is the only version online at the moment, but I have another with the foreground and background meeting further to the left and it looks much better. Paul911 is giving very good advice above too.
34mm | f/11 | 1/60 | ISO 100
18mm | f/11 | 1/160 | ISO 100
18mm | f/13 | 1/400 | ISO 125
34mm | f/11 | 1/60 | ISO 100
18mm | f/11 | 1/160 | ISO 100
18mm | f/13 | 1/400 | ISO 125
Edited by GravelBen on Thursday 6th August 06:51
Foreground interest is very important, to me anyway. Provides a greater sense of depth to the photo in my opinion, so experiment with whatever is around interesting rocks, Driftwood , flowers etc.
I personally prefer to go as wide as possible which allows me to get a decent chunk of foreground and background.
I never take a photo without a tripod either, not so much for stability etc but more for the fact it slows me down and allows me to think more about composition, rather than just snapping away and hoping to come back with a decent shot.
not sure if i have much to add to that, i may edit this later as i am tired and it probably makes no sense :P
Dont limit yourself to sunny/nice looking days either, A really wild day can produce some interesting results (large waves look particularly good in a long exposure shot).
I personally prefer to go as wide as possible which allows me to get a decent chunk of foreground and background.
I never take a photo without a tripod either, not so much for stability etc but more for the fact it slows me down and allows me to think more about composition, rather than just snapping away and hoping to come back with a decent shot.
not sure if i have much to add to that, i may edit this later as i am tired and it probably makes no sense :P
Dont limit yourself to sunny/nice looking days either, A really wild day can produce some interesting results (large waves look particularly good in a long exposure shot).
Edited by ...Mole... on Thursday 6th August 09:48
80% being in the right place at the right time, and most importantly, getting the right light.
10% having decent kit
10% having 'an eye' for a composition (this gets better over time)
I've been lucky enough to work from home for the past 25 years, so I can live in places with nice vistas. There's nothing like being somewhere for a long time as you get to know when the light is likely to be good, and can jump on it when it happens.
Plus, as mentioned, getting up really early and sitting on a hill helps. (The roads are empty too, so both hobbies at the same time)
ETA: here's a perfect example of this! (Album cover created this morning - photo taken at about 5 a m).
10% having decent kit
10% having 'an eye' for a composition (this gets better over time)
I've been lucky enough to work from home for the past 25 years, so I can live in places with nice vistas. There's nothing like being somewhere for a long time as you get to know when the light is likely to be good, and can jump on it when it happens.
Plus, as mentioned, getting up really early and sitting on a hill helps. (The roads are empty too, so both hobbies at the same time)
ETA: here's a perfect example of this! (Album cover created this morning - photo taken at about 5 a m).
Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 6th August 10:41
not only is Steve showing off his landscape skills but he's now doing product placements too 
Does this breach the 'no advertising rules'?
I'd love to have more time to get up and go out and take more landscapes (unfortunately, I'm usually on the way to airports at 5am rather than looking at great scenery) but when I did a landscape course with the Peak Photo Centre last year (recommended for the OP) the number one thing which you get time to do is look at your shot and see how much difference the light can make even over just a few mins.
Certainly looking at shots just a few mins apart can show the difference the light makes between getting a great landscape and a dull landscape even if the composition is the same.
As others have said, thinking about the composition is key but most importantly, if you've got the time (light permitting), just looking through your view finder and moving the camera just a few cms can make the world of difference.
Does this breach the 'no advertising rules'? I'd love to have more time to get up and go out and take more landscapes (unfortunately, I'm usually on the way to airports at 5am rather than looking at great scenery) but when I did a landscape course with the Peak Photo Centre last year (recommended for the OP) the number one thing which you get time to do is look at your shot and see how much difference the light can make even over just a few mins.
Certainly looking at shots just a few mins apart can show the difference the light makes between getting a great landscape and a dull landscape even if the composition is the same.
As others have said, thinking about the composition is key but most importantly, if you've got the time (light permitting), just looking through your view finder and moving the camera just a few cms can make the world of difference.
some of my bad weather(not extreme though mostly just cloudy 
) shots.
most of my stuff is at http://moleeth.deviantart.com until i get off my arse and get round to building a website for myself.
) shots. most of my stuff is at http://moleeth.deviantart.com until i get off my arse and get round to building a website for myself.
Edited by ...Mole... on Thursday 6th August 13:23
Can I just add
Polarizer Be careful not to always set the polarizer at it's maximum effect, the effect can sometimes be way OTT
Graduated neutral density filters often very useful. Do not add any colour but do help to balance the exposure difference between the sky and the landscape
Tripod It's a buggerance to carry round but for the one shot when you need it, it's worth the sacrifice
Light Definitley agree about the hour before and after sunrise / sunset being in general the best time but also look juts before / after storms, light & skies can often be very dramatic at these times
Chris
Polarizer Be careful not to always set the polarizer at it's maximum effect, the effect can sometimes be way OTT
Graduated neutral density filters often very useful. Do not add any colour but do help to balance the exposure difference between the sky and the landscape
Tripod It's a buggerance to carry round but for the one shot when you need it, it's worth the sacrifice
Light Definitley agree about the hour before and after sunrise / sunset being in general the best time but also look juts before / after storms, light & skies can often be very dramatic at these times
Chris
GetCarter said:
cirks said:
he's now doing product placements too
Who you calling a product?!Some good advice from all here. I'll take some of it myself.
ETA. Mole - get your website running NOW.
Edited by GetCarter on Thursday 6th August 15:24
....i was going to get it started on the flash gallery im going to make for it tonight. But i got a message saying my D200 arrived so ill give it another few weeks until i probably start the website
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