Landscape Photography - A TUTORIAL
Writer Rick lodge
http://photographyatnewenglandmoments.com/index.php
I was asked by two other Mods on a recent thread “Why don’t you do a Landscape Tutorial”.

Well, with a slight touch of apprehension, here it is.

Firstly, I consider myself more of a pupil, than a teacher, as I do not have a B.A. but a mere Assoc.Dip.App.Photo. so what you are going to get, is my version, which hopefully, some of you may glean something from.

So, here is my version.

Things have changed immensely for me, going from a Freelance Sports Photographer, spending whole weekends shooting Basketball/Golf/Tennis and Rugby for Sports Magazines, using shutter speeds of 1/1000th sec. to 1/8000th sec, then swapping to landscapes, using 30sec. exposures, and loving every minute of it.

So what makes a good landscape photograph ?

I always consider that a good landscape photograph requires three key elements –

Subject

Composition

Light

So let’s look at the three.

Subject:

When venturing out, 1 and 3 can go hand in hand, but 2 comes along at the scene.

I always try to keep my subjects simplistic, or as “Birdman” would say “Minimalistic,”

meaning uncluttered, not too much to focus on, with the focus on “your subject”.

I can’t advise you on what subjects to shoot, as we are all different.

I will however, use a recent shot of mine as an example.

Subject wise, it is as simple as it gets – a tree.

I saw the sunlight coming through this tree and hitting the ripples of sand, so #1 and #3 were there, it was then just a case of moving around to block the direct sun, still retain the ripples of light, and then #2 fell into place.

For other good examples of this, view these recent posts.

Birdman’s – “A new day”

Barry3964’s – “Lone winter tree”

Both with a solitary tree, but with a different touch to them, great examples of simplicity.

Composition:

You need a good strong composition to pull a shot off.

Most photographers these days apply the “Rules of Thirds”

Rather than plagiarize, or give my interpretation, I have extracted a section from Google on the rule of thirds, that might explain it perfectly:

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts.

As follows.

As you’re taking an image you would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display that you use to frame your shot.

With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’ now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider placing points of interest in as you frame your image.

Not only this - but it also gives you four ‘lines’ that are also useful positions for elements in your photo.

The theory is that if you place points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre of the shot - using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing an image rather than working against it.

I have now attached another image of mine to show the “Rule of Thirds” in play.

I used the larger foreground rock as an “entry” into this shot, and positioned it in my frame accordingly.

Note the horizon is in the upper part of the frame, not centred in the frame.

I liked this larger rock, as the colouring on the top of the rock, almost matched the colour of the sky.

Using a similar colour in each half of the frame, can really lift an image, providing they are not overpowering in size.
Another example of two of the same colours in an image, is this shot below.

I had positioned the buoy where I wanted it to sit in my frame, the added bonus happened when the light came on in the ferry terminal to reveal a yellow wall (a touch of luck I know, and one that lifted this shot, I feel).

If it were just a white wall, it wouldn’t quite have the same impact.

You will notice that I have broken the “Rule of Thirds” in this shot, as the horizon is almost centred, but I loved the clouds in this shot, so decided not to crop, but leave it as it is.

I think this is one of those occasions when a “half and half” does work.

If the sky were just a plain blue, it would not work, and a crop would be necessary.

Something to consider when framing, or processing, you need something interesting in each half, if you are going to break the rule.

Paths, walkways, roads and converging lines are a good compositional way of using a lead-in to your subject.

I have added another recent image to show how the use of 2 converging lines can help lead the eye to your subject.

For other good examples of compositional shots, check out these recent posts:

Easypickings – “Discovery Harbour – Penetanguishene”

DonnyW – “Buachaille Etive Mor …Scotland”

Lighting:

My favourite of the 3 key elements.

If you have beautiful natural light, you can always find something to shoot.

But take a good composition, with lousy lighting, and you have a job on your hands.

I prefer to shoot my stuff late afternoon and dusk.

I love the lighting at that time of day, the window of opportunity isn’t great, but I normally just go out and shoot a dozen or so shots at a time.

When I say the window of opportunity isn’t great, I am, in fact, relating to my circumstances.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a twilight up here in Queensland, it’s light/it’s dark, that’s about it, so we don’t have long.

Having spent my first 22 years of life in Scotland, and knowing what evening light is like there, I am as jealous as hell, and I’m assuming the US/Canada is much the same in summer (?), being part of the Northern Hemisphere.

I have attached another image of mine to try and convey this:

This shot was taken right on dusk with a Circular Polarising Filter, and a Split Graduated Neutral Density Filter.

The exposure was 8 seconds @ f11.

I used the polarizer, and turned it to get the feel I wanted on the water.

The Split Grad. was just hand held over the lens, and used to balance the lighting.

The graduated section was just used on the sky, so the clear section was from the horizon down.

Why hand held you may ask – well, with the circ. Polarizer being used, and resembling 2 filters already, if you fit the Cokin Filter Holder and insert the grad. filter, vignetting will appear with an ultra-wide angle lens, so I just hold the filter hard up against the polarizer.

To finish off, I have inserted this final photo to again display all three elements.

- I wanted to capture my City at night, so chose this angle as my subject viewpoint.

- The railings curve along, sweeping, then behind the tree, to merge with the ferry terminal, thus leading you into the frame.

- The lighting on the scene, is in my opinion, just perfect.

(If you are shooting city scenes, you need to shoot with just a touch of light left,

dusk is much better than dark, it just wouldn’t look the same with a black sky, and the building outlines wouldn’t show up as much).

So that is about it from me, all that is left is what equipment to use for landscape photography.

Camera – I won’t specify any particular brand here, we each have our own preferences, but a good DSLR is preferred (unless you’re shooting film), preferably with around 10mb, ISO of 100 (I think you’ll shoot most of your images on 100 ISO, unless you’re after a certain effect)

One tip – Don’t trust your camera default settings.

I have 3 Nikons, all now set with a different EV setting.

My D1x is set at -0.3 EV compensation

My D70s is set at -0.7 EV

My D80 is set at -1.0 EV

I find that with the default setting of 0 EV, my images come out slightly overexposed, so I have added a touch to each camera (tested) to slightly underexpose my images, and it goes to show, all cameras are not the same, even 3 Nikons, but that’s my preference.

All other settings are the same on all 3 cameras.

Lens – Preferably a wide angle, or ultra-wide angle, the best you can afford.

Tripod – A matter of choice, I guess.

I never leave home without one, I have a tripod, a mini tripod, and a monopod, that reside in the boot of my car, always.

An essential, for me, I never shoot a landscape without one (that’s why 100 ISO is preferred), I shoot most of my images in low light situations, in the 1sec – 30sec. range.

But I know of at least 3 senior members that never use one.

It all depends on the time of day you prefer shooting.

Cable release – If you are using a tripod - another essential.

Filters – A polariser is virtually an essential in Landscape Photography.

Remember you cannot replicate the look of a polariser on Photoshop, one of the few things you can’t do on PS.

Neutral Density Filters are also worth considering.

Once you use them, you’ll wonder what took you so long.

I use a full Neutral Density Filter – Hoya ND4

I also use Cokin Split Graduated G1 and G2 ( there are now better ones out – Lee for example is an excellent brand) but I’ve had mine for a long time, and I feel no need to change right now.

Format – I always shoot my landscapes in RAW.

If you’re looking for ideas, check out the work of current English Landscape Photographers, Joe Cornish, Andy Latham and Charlie Waite, and Scottish Photographer Colin Prior.

My favourite photography book is still American Photographer Galen Rowell’s “Mountain Light”.

Unfortunately he was killed in a tragic accident some years ago.

His book still takes pride of place in my book collection.

I hope this thread was of some assistance to you, or at least some of you.

Thanks for reading it.

Rick

http://photographyatnewenglandmoments.com/index.php