I'm going to cover all the tips you need to know as beginners to take your landscape photography to the next level, will be long but definitely will be worth your time
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| landscape photography |
The first thing is camera gear talking about any genre I feel the lenses matter more not that the cameras do not matter but lenses matter more for landscape photography I recommend two lenses one is a wide-angle and second a telephoto zoom lens a wide-angle lens because you get that wider field of view which allows you to capture more of the landscape the lens that I'm using is a 14 to 24 mm 2.8 I use a full-frame camera so the effective focal length is 14 mm but if you're using a crop sensor camera I will recommend to get the lens at about 10 to 11 mm wide so the effective focal length is around 15 to 16 mm the reason for using a telephoto lens in landscape photography is you get to zoom in and capture the smaller details of a wider landscape I use my 7200 mm a lot for landscape photography to get those tighter shots one more gear apart from cameras and lenses that are very important in landscape photography is a tripod when you're into landscape photography you're going to shoot in different conditions and a good tripod is a must-have. You don't invest in a cheap quality tripod because a tripod is something that's going to hold and support your camera gear and accidentally if anything happens it's going to cost you way more than a good quality tripod
Camera Setting:-
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| camera setting for landscape photography |
The next point is camera settings for landscape photography I use two camera modes one is aperture priority and the second is manual mode let's going on about manual mode first, the first thing I decide is what aperture do I want to use most of the times I want everything to be in focus so I shoot at F8 or F10 for the particular image I shot two different images at f10 and f 2.8 with the focus on the thing that where I want to focus and I like the f 2.8 version it adds a bit of depth to the image. I want to Sunstar I use a smaller aperture like F14 or F16 smaller the aperture more pronounced will be the Sunstar there are two issues with using a smaller aperture one if you have dust on the sensor it becomes more visible as you use a smaller aperture and two after a certain point which is known as the sweet spot of the lens the sharpness of the lens tends to reduce now If you want to know the sweet spot of your lens just research a bit on the internet and you will get all the information so technically even if at F16 you're getting more depth of field the image won't be as sharp as it would be at F10 or F8 the other two things left are shutter speed and iso what to decide first depends on the situation if there's some kind of motion and that motion is important then i will adjust the shutter speed first if the motion is not important I'll set my iso and then I'll set my shutter speed.
Camera Mode:-
Accordingly while adjusting the exposure doesn't rely on the display always relies on the histogram. The histogram is going to give you an accurate representation of the exposure you're about to capture make sure you don't overexpose the highlights because if you do that you cannot recover them in post-processing if you're shooting in good lighting conditions most probably during the day time and the shutter speed is not important you can also use aperture priority the shutter speed will be adjusted automatically by the camera and it saves you a lot of time and you can focus more on the composition that brings me to the next point.
Composition Rule:-
Composition all the basic composition rules like symmetry rule of thirds leading lines everything is applicable in landscape photography the intention behind good composition should be to keep it as simple as you can so that the viewer understand what is the main subject and it is also pleasing to the eyes one tip to make your composition much more interesting is to use a foreground element adds more depth to the images but make sure it's not distracting is there to complement the rest of the composition and not distract you from the main subject one more tip is to place a human element in your landscape images the reason why this is a very good tip is one it adds interest and two it gives a sense of scale since you know the size of an average human being you get an idea of the scale of the overall landscape once you start studying and analyzing the composition of the images you will develop a sense of good composition.
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| composition in photography |
Understand more about Composition here are separate article on composition detail check out
Planning:-
When it comes to landscape photography you're dealing with nature and obviously, you cannot control the climate but what you can do is plan before you go to shoot the question is what and how should you plan for landscape photography well that depends on the kind of images you're looking for the most important thing is the weather I check the cloud cover if I want to shoot stars I will prefer a low cloud cover percentage and will shoot mostly during no moon days wind also plays an important role if you want to shoot calm reflections you would prefer a less windy location on the other hand if you want movement in the clouds for a time-lapse or a long exposure you would prefer stronger vents you can use google maps too for doing a bit of research about a particular location.
I see a ton of images before going to a location to get a better idea of what could I do differently when I reach that location doesn't matter how much you plan things are always not going to work out a hundred percent the way you have planned it but the probability of getting a good image increases when you spend extra efforts in planning your shoot one important factor for planning.
Lighting:-
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| lighting in photography |
Is lighting most important thing about a photograph is light in landscape photography mostly we are dealing with natural light if the light is good it can make an ordinary location look extraordinary if the light is not good vice versa generally i don't prefer shooting much when the light is too harsh if the cloud cover percentage is high and it's overcast day the light will be softer and probably I'll shoot the whole day my favorite time of shooting is golden arm and blue are these are the times where you see a lot more colors and get those dramatic images in case of sunrise the blue hour happens first and then the golden arc in case of sunset is the exact opposite what i would recommend is research about the timing of sunrise and sunset of a particular location and reach that location one hour prior to it this way you get more time to explore the location and finalize a good composition once you're happy with the composition then you have to wait for the perfect light and take the image most of the times the best light will only be there for few minutes or even few seconds but since you have taken all the efforts before shooting you're going to get a great shot.
Filters:-
The next point is filters talking about filters are something that you attach in front of the lens to achieve the desired effect some of the lenses also allow you to put the filter through an opening but it works in the same manner for landscape photography the two filters that I use is ND filter and a circular polarizer an ND filter is a dark piece of glass it is used for taking long exposures during daytime ND filters come in different types like for example suppose there are two ND filters ND4 and ND8, ND4 will reduce four stops of light and ND8 will reduce eight stops of light higher the number darker will be the glass for beginners I would recommend getting a ND 6 or ND 10 depending on your usage talking about circular polarizer this is completely different from an ND filter many people confuse it and they think it's the same but no they are completely different a circular polarizer is a filter which you can rotate and you can change the angle of the light and add or remove reflections. Sometimes I use the circular polarizer and ND filter simultaneously when I want the effect of both the filters
Post Processing:-
The last point is post-processing I have seen a lot of beginners over editing the images to make the images look dramatic the problem with that is the images lose their natural feel, set image dramatic colors are vibrant but the images are natural at the same time and that is what you have to master one of the areas which you have to pay attention while editing landscape images is the border that separates the highlights and shadows if you over-edit the images you will see this artificial-looking line which is known as a halo that's something you have to avoid so the goal behind post processing the images, that is to make your images look better but also natural at the same time