Friday, June 27, 2008

Photography: 10 Surefire Landscape Photography Tips Part 1(2)

orginal post by dps blogHey, i don't know if you guys have noticed but i am very big fan of landscape photography. And just anything goes in that subject for me, this is a combination of tips that you can already find on the blog as well as some new ones that i have put together for you. So sit back and hopefully this will be a nice read for you.

1. Get a big DOF (Depth of Field).

Now the beauty of landscape photography is that you get to show what your looking for, and for this you will be needing larger f numbers (smaller aperture) to get as much as you possible can in focus. So this wouldn't be the time to experiment with tight DOF's leave that for other types of photography. I find myself using f/22 the most often for landscaping and it has become a habit for me now.


2. Find some sort of support.

Use some sort of support, a tripod monopod or a bench the top of your car anything will work, as long as its steady. This will allow you to use a smaller aperture (small f number) and get no camera shake in the photograph. By choosing a smaller aperture (if your in A or Av mode) will make your camera use a slow shutter speed. If you can place the camera on the 10 sec timer and let that take the photograph to decrease even more camera shake, i often use my remote for the landscape photography when i have a stable place to lean the camera on, just because i want that super crisp shot


3. Look for focal points.

You want to have some sort of "main" focal point where you want to lead the eye towards, sort of it being the center attention of the photograph so to speak. This of course has to go on nicely with the entire photograph. Some examples that i found works great as focal points are: buildings, some sort of structure a striking tree or a rock boulder.

Sun Ängö, Sweden

4. Think of the foreground.

To make the image appear a lot bigger with a lot more depth of field think of adding foreground elements, this will give the visual impression that your looking at a never ending landscape and will add that sense to freedom to your photograph.


5. Consider whats you have going on in the sky

Now i have realized that clouds or the look of the sky is going to impact the look of your photograph. This is something that is easier to work with in nations that found themselves on the north or the south part of the world, were you will find clouds pretty much everyday. Now this will add a lot of drama to your photograph, it will make it go from an nice shot to one of those superb shots. If you can't don anything about the sky dont feel ashamed of adding a different sky to the image. I have a folder where i keep several different sky images that i have shot, i took images of dramatic skies from different angles so you can apply it to different shots depending on where the sun is coming from.

the kiss

More to come tomorrow, have a great Friday

3 comments:

Graham Pakiam said...

Nice tips Alex! I always forget to watch for my skies!

Also, what about the focusing 1/3 up from the bottom tip to maximise DOF?

Alexander Blacker said...

Graham dont spoil it mate. I got a second part coming today!

But that will be in the second part!

Cheer Graham

Graham Pakiam said...

Oops!