Antrim Photography

Tutorial

Landscape Photography

This is the first in a series of monthly articles aimed at helping people understand landscape photography and help them produce some stunning photographs. Each month we’ll look at various aspects and techniques used to produce award winning landscape photography.

Right, so let’s get started. How does one go about producing good landscape photographs? Landscape photography is all about light, colour, tone, location and a little luck with the weather.

Camera Settings: I use a 12.2mega pixel digital SLR, the Sony A700 with a Sigma 10-20 and Sony 16-80 lenses with various filters and of course a tripod.

A Landscape shot will normally cover a wide area, often covering an area stretching from as little as 1 or 2 feet in front of the camera to 10 or more miles and we need to have the whole image in focus and sharp. Generally to do this I will use a small aperture setting of something like f18 to f32. I set the camera to Aperture Priority – “A” on my dial, I then select the desired aperture, say f22, and the camera will then calculate the shutter speed to produce the correct exposure.

A useful trick using the aperture: If you're shooting a sunset or street lights and you want to get that star effect around the light source, as in the shot below, use a small aperture of about f22. The small hole in the aperture will cause the intense light to sparkle.

































The use of a tripod is necessary for landscape photography because I am generally using small apertures and as a result the exposure times can be anything from 0.5 sec to 20secs. I will normally place the camera on the tripod and then set the camera to a 2 second self-timer and use the mirror lockup function to reduce any camera shake caused by mirror-slap. Mirror-slap is the action of the mirror inside the camera being raised as the shutter release is pressed. The action of the mirror being raised can cause tiny vibrations with the result of a slightly blurred image.
The longer the focal length of the lens the worse the effect of the vibation will be. So by using the camera's mirror-lockup function the mirror is raised before the shutter opens, result - no vibration. Every little helps.
Another way to over come this vibration will be to use my camera remote control – again to reduce any camera shake caused by my hand pressing the shutter button.

Nearly all my landscape shots are produced using filters, which attach to the front of the lens. I will generally use a Neutral Density Graduated filter, which is dark grey at the top and clear at the bottom, sometimes I will use a polariser filer too if there is a lot of reflection off the water or sea. The ND Grad filters are used to balance the brightness of the sky with the less bright foreground of the land or sea. ND Grad filters are a MUST have for the landscape photographer.

Cokin P and Lee Filters are most popular amongst landscape photographers.


Location, Location, Location: Finding a beautiful location is the first step to taking a good landscape photo and it also helps to photograph that location in fine weather conditions. Being located close to the Antrim Coast and the Glens of Antrim really helps me as I have mountains and seascapes and sandy coves close to hand. The chances of producing a breathtaking photograph in dull, wet and windy overcast conditions, where the light is flat will be pretty slim.







It's all about Location, Location, Location

What time of day you take the photo is very important. It is no accident that photographers produce their best work at sunrise and sunset when the light is beautifully warm, helping to produce clear vibrant colours. So find out what time the sun sets and rises and make plans to get out there. This time of day is often referred to as the Golden Hour.

When taking sunrise photographs it’s always best to get to a location facing East, where you will get the best light early in the morning, and West facing in the evening for sunsets. If you need to get up at 5:00am to get a sunrise, so be it, believe me, on a clear morning it will be worth getting up early. I remember when I first got up at 5:00am, drove for an hour to get to a sunrise location, my wife thought I was nuts. I suppose I musta been a little nuts. Anyhow, once I started producing good shots from the sunrise sessions I knew it was worth it.

















Weather: I am constantly looking at the detailed weather forecast on the BBC website, which does a great 24 hour weather forecast which gives cloud cover at 3 hour intervals.

Taking a photo on a clear day will result in the sky being overexposed or the darker areas such as rocks, being too dark, or both. It’s best to tackle Landscape Photography when the sun is low in the sky as it helps to produce warmer colours and beautiful tones and contrast on the landscape. Shooting with a little cloud in the sky will help overcome the harsh light of a very bright blue sky, the clouds will act as a giant light diffuser giving a softer light.

If you must shoot in the day time and want that beautiful blue sky, try to shoot at 90 degrees to the sun. So, we know the sun travels east to west, so to shoot at 90 degrees, we need to be facing north or south. The shot below of the Mourne Mountains I was facing south.





















































A dramatic sky full of interesting cloud cover is far more interesting than flat blue or red skies. The worst weather days can sometimes produce photo’s filled with character, drama and atmosphere, due to the cloud formations. Dramatic rain clouds and fog can add a missing ingredient to what might otherwise be an average scene. The interaction of sun and cloud on the landscape can help to focus attention on a subject. This shot of Dunluce Castle on the Antrim coast was shot on a terrible February day, when it rained pretty much non stop all day with the odd moment where it stopped raining. I sat out of the rain and waited until it had stopped, which it did for about 5 mins and I was reward with great big dark dramatic clouds looming in the distance.








Composition & The Rule of Thirds: It is good practice to have a focal point in your image, and it is good practice to have it placed on a Rule of Thirds. A what!!! The Rule of Thirds is based on the principle that the image is divided by two imaginary vertical lines and two horizontal lines. Where each of these lines meet is called the Rule of Thirds and this is generally where a focal point of a photo is placed. It can be a path through a field leading to a bridge, a bench with a view or rocks positioned in the lower left of the image, people on a beach at sunset. Shooting the photo with those people positioned in the centre of the frame will be much less interesting. Without a subject or focal point, people will glance at the image and not “get it” giving it only a passing glance. So place your main focal point on the Rule of Thirds.

See in this image I have positioned the stone cottage in the lower left of the image, where the imaginary lines intersect giving us The Rule of Thirds.



If there is more interest on the landscape than in the sky, give it about 2/3rd’s of the frame. If the sky is the center of attention, give it 2/3rd’s of the image. If a foreground rock is an important focal point, put it near the lower right or lower left corner, but don’t let it get too close to the edge frame. Make sure that small details on the edge of the frame such as trees or rocks are not cut off. Walk around with the camera and arrange things in the frame as though you are painting a picture. A small move to the left or right can result in a completely different image.


Take more than one shot: If you manage to be in the right place at the right time, make the most of it. Get a portrait version as well as a landscape version. Change foregrounds while keeping the same dramatic sky or mountain in the background. Often a completely different image can be made at the same location at the same time. Moving the camera little to get more sky, or more of that rock in the foreground will produce a completely different image.

If you are shooting digital, shoot in RAW format as RAW contains far more detail than JPG’s. RAW files can be converted into TIFF files, which do not lose detail each time they are edited. Invest in a good RAW converter program, such as Lightroom. For example, if parts of your image are dark, it is much easier to get detail out of the dark areas using RAW than a JPG. If you are using film or digital, shoot at the very lowest ISO setting, I will always use ISO 100. There will be less noise and larger prints will have no grain effect. You pay for this extra quality in longer exposure times, but usually that is not a problem since you will be using a tripod.