Landscape Photography
For Beginners
By
Allan Davies
© Allan Davies Photography
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Version History
1.0
1.1
© Allan Davies Photography
Initial Publication
Amended to include NR
section
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Dear Club Members and Friends,
I was asked to do a paper on Landscape Photography. Having
been doing this now for 30 years and I still do not feel like an
expert. I am constantly learning and I honestly feel I still have
much to learn. I can only discuss how I approach this subject
and my own thought processes, while others may have
another or different style. I do what is right for me. Which
may be of help to others’ if you are just starting out as a
beginner.
Pre-Visualisation: By the means of visiting your intended
scene, finding your best photographic composition and for
you to determine where you wish the sun to rise or set or at
any giving time of year. This can be achieved by the use of a
hand held manual photographer’s ephemeris (compass) or
now as an excellent application on your android/phone. I
would also suggest that you take down written notes as it
may be months before you return because of seasonal
changes or particular weather that you may require for your
eventual return.
Check Weather Forecast: The evening before your shoot
prepare all your equipment for example format memory
cards; place auto- focus point on the bottom third and
middle in landscape format, remembering that if you go
portrait format, you will have to change your auto-focus
point again; turn image stabilisation (off ); select raw which
of course shall require some photo shop skills; charge all
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batteries; and spares; phone; set your camera to an ISO
setting of 100; Mirror lockup; spirit level for the hot shoe if
that’s your preference; set also 2 second timer delay;
aperture priority set at f:11 to f:16 ( I personally prefer f:16
which shall remain constant only the timing changes;
evaluative metering; white balance (I set mine at a cloudy
setting as it warms up the image which can also be changed
at post-processing if you so wish); a cable release which has a
large rubber-band attached to it and fitted around the base
of your camera body in the event it may become loose, lost
or broken. One can also switch Noise Reduction (NR) on. But
please remember that if you have, say, a 3 minute exposure
you have to wait the same length of time before you can use
your camera again so a total of six minutes in this example. If
you choose not to use (NR) the noise can be removed in
Photo Shop/Lightroom.
Ensure that your camera lens and filters have all been
cleaned and also that your vehicle has enough fuel for the
journey.
Morning/Evening of departure: That you have appropriate
clothing to remain warm and dry; hot flask/water; energy
cereal bars; Peacock pocket warmer with runs on lighter fuel
if required; wellington boots for coastal shots (ideally when
the tide is going out) a tide table; which can also be placed
as an application on your phone; camera bag/rucksack
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packed obviously with camera and (lenses wide as possible);
tripod- carbon if possible which is more suitable for coastal
scenes [salt water]; consider placing spikes on the bottom of
your tripod; have at least 2 head torches (one of which is a
spare) which can be bought cheaply at Trespass; lens cloths
and towel; safety whistle 6 long blasts per minute; small
folding foot- step costing £5 at Dunelm (for gaining more
height when required) a small brolly; (midge net and bush
hat which keeps the net of your face for summer) bum-bag or
pouch strapped around your waist for filters spectacles etc.
stopwatch; blow brush; hi-visual vest if required and purely
optional, [which I wear]; workmen’s trousers with knee pads
for when kneeling on rocks which I find are very helpful on a
long day shoot.
Please inform someone responsible where you are going to
and if you change your location for whatever reason, inform
them again.
Allow travelling time to get to your chosen destination and
try and be there 1 hour before your shoot.
On arrival: Ensure that you park sensibly and don’t block
farmers’ gates the last thing that you want to do in your
excitement is to get called back from your photo shoot. Also
hide all other valuables in your car and remember where you
put your driving keys.
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At your chosen location erect your tripod and securely attach
your camera to the head of the tripod; cable release and
spirit level. Modern cameras have a built-in levelling system
however when the tripod is set low, it can be difficult to read.
Double check all your settings in the event you may have
dislodged them accidentally. Now look through your eye
piece or at your live screen and check all around your frame
and exclude anything that you do not wish to be seen. When
happy with your composition half depress your auto focus
button an audible sound and/or a green light can be seen in
the viewfinder which will confirm you have achieved this, still
holding your shutter-button half depressed, now with your
other hand switch off your auto-focus which is on the left
side of your lens to now lock your focus position. Then place
the affinity mark which can resemble a letter (L) lying on its
side beside the number (8) which also lying on its side
adjacent to your marker. As a beginner I would suggest the
above and not to focus manually unless you are competent.
A final check of your lens/filters and remove any water or
dust. Please remember to close/cover the eye piece to stop
stray light entering during long exposures. At the time of
exposure, press your cable release once and the mirror will
lock-up (to avoid mirror slap) then press a second time to
take the image. Now view your exposure on your live screen
at the back of your camera and check the histogram which
goes from zero on the left to 225 on the right which covers all
the necessary tones of the image from pure black to white
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whilst the height addresses the colour pixels. You should
neither wish to clip the shadows (under-expose) on the left
or clip the highlights (over-expose) on the right, as flashing
will occur on the screen. An ideal histogram is one that
exposes to the right (ETTR) if your image is too dark then give
it a longer exposure and if too bright then give a shorter
exposure. If unsure how to do this you can also go into your
menu and select Aperture Exposure Bracketing (AEB) which
you can set to take an exposure which shall be normal, under
and over.
But what do you do if your exposure is correct for the
foreground, but the sky is over exposed and flashing/blinking
on your screen. The answer is that we fit a Neutral Density
Graduated Filter onto our filter holder to hold back the light
in the sky and this has the effect of controlling the light of the
scene which can now produce a correctly exposed sky and
foreground. It is recommended that we use the Hard ND
graduated for coastal scenes and the Soft ND grad for
mountains, forests and such like. Again, we can lengthen or
shorten our exposure to get the perfect image. There are
many makes of filters which can be expensive. Lee Filters
which are handmade are considered to be the best and the
most expensive. I bought mine second hand at Ffordes
Photographic Shop at £45 each. There are cheaper ND Grads
filters which can simply be screwed on the front of your lens,
so the choice is yours.
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Placing my Lee filter holder onto an adaptor-ring which is
secured to the front of my camera lens. Carefully, slide down
ND grad in the ferrule closest to the lens being also careful
not to disturb your auto-focus point, you will now observe
the darkening of the sky. Push it slightly below the horizon
then pull it back up to establish its correct position. It is best
considered that we use a 3 stop ND Grad for sunrise and
sunset and a 2 stop ND Grad for during the day. I would also
suggest that it is good practise to shield your filters from
extraneous light which may get behind the filter and cause
flare. If windy, also place yourself in a position to shield your
camera and tripod from excessive wind or foul weather, get
comfortable, and stand perfectly still during the exposure as
movement can cause vibrations up the tripod and in turn
cause camera shake.
Neutral Density Filters: Taking long exposures with Neutral
Density Filters of 2, 3, or more stops of light. This time having
selected your composition do not use Aperture Priority but
switch to Manual Mode (M) and select an aperture of, say,
f:11 as recommended by most agencies. As you look through
your eye piece and scroll the dial which is placed normally at
top right of your camera near the shutter button until the
needle pointer is situated in the middle of your exposure
graph. If a Neutral Density (Graduated) Filter is required then
fit this first on the second groove away from the lens. When
done fit your ND filter. Light can be in a state of flux so
remember to check the needle from time to time and to
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adjust if necessary. Gently slide your ND filter down the
groove closest to you all the way down until it covers the
camera lens. This time the camera shall select and adjust the
shutter speed for you. Unfortunately, manual does not mean
it shall be always one hundred per cent accurate, that’s the
nature of photography. So once again, lengthen or shorten
exposure to receive a full range of tones i.e. expose to the
right (ETTR) without inducing clipping.
Again remember not to touch the barrel of your lens or
dislodge your tripod. Something else to remember the
shutter in (manual) can only remain open for a maximum of
30 seconds. If you see 30” flashing then you will require a
longer exposure than this switch to Bulb (B)
Lee Big 10 Stopper: The Big Stopper is made of glass, unlike
the other’s which are made of resin. So they can easily
become broken. And when you order your filter it can take 3
to 4 months to arrive and costs around £100 and more.
(shocker)
But if purchased it can give you the ability to shoot during the
middle of the day and achieve very long exposures, my
longest exposure to date is 7 half minutes. So you see there
is a lot of potential to exercise your creativity.
The set-up this time is exactly the same as the ND filters
(except) after you have done all your composition, checks,
autofocus, manual, spirit level. Now switch from manual (M)
to Bulb (B) Bulb enables you to do very long exposures (in
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excess of 30 seconds) which of course is ideal for fireworks,
night time photography and of course in this case long
exposures throughout the day with the Big Stopper in place.
On a bright day I would suggest a starting exposure of 50
seconds. The time can be viewed at the top of your camera
timer, but the timer is small and can be also be too high to be
seen above your tripod. So I would suggest that you use your
stopwatch on your phone or my favourite, a referee’s
stopwatch, which is nice and large and easy to see. So now
press your cable release to achieve mirror lock-up then press
a second time to take the exposure but ensure that you lockon your cable release. (which will remain on constantly whilst
locked) Normally, you shall see an orange flash of colour on
your remote switch to confirm it is locked and at the same
time press your stopwatch to count your exposure.
Now you are in the realms of guessing the time of exposures
but remember you can rely on your histogram. Lee Products
do provide a card to assist with all various apertures and
suggested times for exposures. But even with the Big Stopper
you must expose to the right (ETTR) as far as you can to get a
good range of tones. If it is still not far enough to the right,
take another longer exposure until you get it right. And if too
long, shorten the exposure. To be honest, you really do not
know what you will have until you view the image on a large
screen when you arrive back home….
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Finally, when you get back home, wipe down your camera
and clean the pitted salt stains on your lenses.
Wash all used filters under a warm tap water with a mild
washing up liquid and put on a dish rack to dry off. Later buff
up with your (lee filter) cloth until polished clean.
Take your tripod outside and extend to its full height. And if
you have a garden hose wash it thoroughly down, working
from top to bottom. Particularly if have been working at the
coast. When dry I recommend spraying a little WD 40 on the
metal working parts and wiping down the excess down the
legs - will aid freedom of movement….
Photography is a highly creative means to express ourselves,
so do not let others constrict your creativity, only do what
pleases you. There is no right - there is no wrong….
Photography is Greek and simply means ‘To Paint or Draw
with Light ‘
Composition: Rule- of- Thirds first of all there are ’ NO
RULES- ONLY GUIDE LINES’ which will allow us to create
wonderful images, hopefully one’s, that you shall be very
proud off.
Then your next best tool is our own creativity which is our
‘Freedom of Expression.’ Do not allow others to constrain
what (you) want to do! There are too many people who are
saying that’s wrong and don’t do that! If you love- it then
that is all that matters….
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But all is not lost however! There are many things that we
can do to achieve that pleasing image.
An example is shown below – The Toy Boat at Ballintoy
Harbour:
Try to use manmade and natural shapes in the environment
to make our images more interesting.
The final result is shown below:
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A further example demonstrating different guidelines - Titled
Ballintoy Bay:
So here we have the classic Rule of Thirds with approx. 1/3 of
sky, 1/3 sea and 1/3 land. The four X’s denote the powerpoints within the image to achieve a well-balanced
photograph. As you can see here we have a beginning in the
foreground, rocks and sea in the middle, and an interesting
long exposure sky containing Rathlin Island.
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The final result
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Image titled – Water the Elephants
The main subject is the elephant which is on the top Rule of
Thirds. The foreground interest is made up of a triangle of
rocks, whilst the leading lines of the sea is receding and
taking the viewer into the scene.
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The final result
For 3 decades now, I have been using lead-in-lines enabling
me and the viewer to go on a journey within the image. Let’s
remember a photograph is only 2 dimensional and to bring it
alive we must first attempt to make it 3 dimensional. A good
composition should be like a good book, with a beginning
middle and an end. Normally, in the English speaking world
we read from left to right, likewise, when we view a
panoramic scene the same way. So, if we place a person,
animal, fence post, gate, or even a start of a river for example
on the bottom third on the left of our picture looking into
scene, which in turn, helps the viewer’s eye then to go on a
journey. We can use dynamic lines whether they be natural
or manmade; triangles; diagonals; (S) shapely curve which is
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more pleasing to the eye can imply sex or (S) can be
something sinister as seen on a children’s cartoon. Shoot
High-Shoot Low! At the end of the day, we are
photographing and attempting to catch extra-ordinary light.
Read as many books as possible on composition, there is a
vast number. Study other photographers and artists’ work.
A good tip is to tear out ‘How to Shoots’ from magazines,
then highlight the important passages with a yellow highlight
marker, then place the tear sheet into a plastic poly-pocket
to make it waterproof and take it along with you on your
photo shoots. This is good practice for all types of
photography, which serves as a reminder when out in the
field.
Most people now possess good cameras and lenses and have
the ingredients to take an excellent image, so by studying
composition and the use of good available light there is no
reason at all, why we cannot reach our full photographic
potential of expression….
*** Good Luck ***
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