Simple Landscape Photography Tips With Huge Benefits for Your Photos

We all want to create breathtaking landscape photos, right?

But the trick is figuring out how to improve on the photos we take to get them to that breathtaking level...

Fortunately, you don't have to be an expert or a professional photographer to greatly improve your images. In fact, for some photographers, it's a dead simple process that really only requires a bit of time and patience.

That being the case, here's a few simple landscape photography tips that you can use to vastly improve the quality of your photos.

Participate in a Photography Workshop

Image Credit: Kevin Vandivier 

When I was in high school, we had the chance to take immersion-based language courses. That meant having a block class that was 90-minutes long every day for a semester.

I took French, and learned the language far faster than my friends that took the traditional 45-minute daily course for a year.

That kind of immersion learning is beneficial for all sorts of things - photography included - which is why immersing yourself in learning new techniques and skills in a workshop format is such a great way to improve your photography.

Image Credit: Kevin Vandivier 

I'm an especially big proponent of taking part in on-location photography workshops.

Companies like National Photographic Adventures, for example, put you in a gorgeous location like Monument Valley, the Grand Tetons, Iceland, or Glacier National Park where you get to develop your photography skills in the midst of some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth.

Image Credit: Kevin Vandivier 

Better still, on-location workshops like these put you elbow-to-elbow with a professional teacher that can give you one-on-one learning time because group sizes are limited.

You also benefit from getting to know other photography enthusiasts, sharing your work with one another, and getting quality feedback on your photos.

So, beautiful scenery? Check. In-depth learning opportunities? Check. Making connections with other photographers? Check!

Sounds like a great way to improve your photography to me.

Shoot in Aperture Priority Mode

Image Credit: Bhanupong Asatamongkolchai via iStock 

If you're not quite to the point where you feel comfortable shooting in manual mode, but you want to escape the clutches of shooting in full auto mode, aperture priority mode is a great compromise.

Using aperture priority mode (A or Av on your camera's dial) allows you to retain control over the aperture for landscape and ISO settings while the camera controls the shutter speed.

Without having to remember all three camera settings, instead, you can focus on just two. And, really, you can set the ISO in most situations and worry only about the aperture.

With less brain power devoted to trying to figure out all the exposure settings, you can instead concentrate on other aspects of getting a great shot like framing, composition, and lighting.

Use That Histogram

When you start out in photography, you often get into the habit of checking the exposure of the images you take by looking at them on the camera's LCD.

The problem with doing so is that the LCD is not a good representation of the exposure levels of an image.

Not only is the LCD difficult to see in some situations (like bright sunlight) but it's also not intended to be a means of inspecting shadows and highlights.

Instead, to improve your landscape photography, get into the habit of using your camera's histogram.

As you can see in the chart above, the histogram is a graphical representation of the brightness of pixels in a photo.

That means that there's no mistaking if a photo is overexposed, underexposed, or just right, and that, in turn, means that you'll have better-exposed photos because you can take action based on the histogram's data to rectify exposure problems.

Simplify Your Photos

Image Credit: musicphone1 via iStock 

The last piece of advice I'd like to give is to simplify your photos.

Though this sounds easy to do, in landscape photography - in which there is so much detail everywhere you look - it can actually be quite difficult to create a simplified image.

But the simpler a composition is, often, the more powerful that composition is as well.

A key practice for simplifying your landscape compositions is to consider what it is about the scene that you like most, and make it the focal point of the shot.

Is it an interesting mountain peak? The color of the rocks under the surface of the water in a river? The way the light filters through the trees?

Whatever it is about the landscape that draws your attention the most, make it the subject of your shot, work to cut everything else out of the image, and you'll likely end up with a much stronger composition that has more visual appeal.

This blog post about the topic "Simple Landscape Photography Tips With Huge Benefits for Your Photos" was first published on our website here https://www.photographytalk.com/landscape-photography/8819-simple-landscape-photography-tips-with-huge-benefits-for-your-photos

7 Tips and Tricks for Photographing Landscapes With a Wide-Angle Lens

By and large, the landscape images you see in magazines and online are taken with a wide-angle lens. It’s the go-to focal length for landscapes for a variety of reasons, not the least of which that the angle of view allows you to capture more of the scene before you. For that reason, a wide-angle lens is a crucial part of a landscape photography kit.

Where a normal focal length lens (50mm on a full frame camera or 35mm on a crop sensor) captures a landscape much like we see it with our own eyes, a wide-angle lens creates an image with a wider angle of view. From sweeping vistas to close-up shots of individual landscape elements, wide-angle lenses (which is generally anything wider than the lenses listed above) produce results that are pleasing to the eye.

Let’s explore a few tips and tricks that will help you get the most compelling shots with your wide-angle lens.

Highlight the Broad View

Going with a wide-angle lens means you can capture more of the landscape before you in a single frame. That’s advantageous for a couple of reasons. First, wide-angle lenses allow you to show off the grand scale of a landscape. If vastness of space is an important aspect of the scene, a wide-angle lens will help you capture that.

Second, a wide-angle lens gives you an opportunity to highlight a single, strong subject by placing it in a position of importance in the frame while simultaneously allowing you to show the relationship of that subject with the larger landscape. That, in turn, assists you in telling a stronger story about the subject and its place in the immediate environment.

This trick in action: Using a wide-angle lens allowed the photographer of the image above to highlight the tree in the foreground while still giving us a view of the surrounding landscape. Without a wide-angle lens, getting so close to that three would obscure the surrounding environment. What’s more, by going wide-angle, we get a better feel for how distant the mountains are in the background. In that regard, the wide-angle lens helps tell a more compelling story about how desolate the landscape is and how isolated the tree is within that space.

Play Up the Foreground

One of the best assets of a wide-angle lens is that you can get up close to an element of foreground interest in order to make it more important in the scene. That is, a wide-angle lens alters the perceived size of elements in the frame - elements that are closer seem larger than they are while elements in the background seem smaller.

This trick in action: Perhaps the best way to take advantage of this feature of a wide-angle lens is to use a low shooting angle to place a foreground element on full display. Using the image above as an example, note how the lower-than-normal shooting angle helps bring the foreground boulders into full view. Note as well how their size is emphasized in the frame, while the mountains in the background seem much smaller.

And, because wide-angle lenses offer a greater depth of field, you can get even closer to foreground elements and still manage to have a decent depth of sharpness in the photo. Try getting a foot or even closer to a foreground element and see how much of the scene you can still get in focus.

Go Vertical

When using a wide-angle lens, it’s most common to shoot in horizontal format. However, don’t be afraid to tilt your camera on its side and take some vertical format wide-angle shots as well. Doing so gives you the power to put the height of a landscape element, like a tree, mountain or waterfall, on full display because you can capture its entire length in the shot, even from relatively close up. What’s more, a vertical wide-angle shot gives you a unique result in which the viewer can see the scene from the extreme foreground to very high in the sky. Learn more about scenery photography on our website PhotographyTalk.com.

This trick in action: In the image above, note how the vertical format offers a pleasing view of the landscape. We’re afforded a view of the rocks in the immediate foreground, which adds some texture and shape to the image. But we’re also given a full view of the sky extending above the mountain peaks in the background. Note as well how there are no lines in the shot to be distorted. That’s an important consideration if you want to create a more life-like image (more on distortion below).

Beware of Too Many Elements

Though the broad angle of view a wide-angle lens provides is often a blessing, it can also be a curse. By incorporating so much of the landscape into a single image, it’s easy to get too much visual interest, leading to a photo that seems chaotic and distracting. In other words, just because you have the ability to photograph everything in the scene doesn’t mean that you should.

In fact, using a wide-angle lens requires you to pay greater attention to the objects in the landscape that provide the most visual interest. Everything in the shot should be there for a reason - to add texture or color, to help frame the primary subject, or to help you tell a better story about the landscape. Check your composition for any distractions - elements in the foreground or background that take interest away from the primary subject - and work to frame them out of the shot as best you can.

This trick in action: Look at the image above and notice how there are branches sticking up in the bottom left corner. These branches are in the frame because of the wide-angle view, and they are precisely the type of thing you must be vigilant of when composing your shots. Had the photographer noticed the branches, they could have taken a few steps forward, excluded them from the shot, and it would be easier for the viewer to focus on the subject - the gorgeous waterfall. In short, seek to simplify your compositions and they will be much stronger.

Show Off the Sky

If you happen upon a landscape scene that’s got a dramatic sky, a wide-angle lens is an ideal choice. Just like a wide-angle helps you convey the space of a landscape, it helps indicate the volume of space too. And, because of the wide-angle of view means you can incorporate the landscape and the sky, it gives you opportunities to create a single image with a dramatic foreground and a dramatic sky at the same time.

This trick in action: In the image of the iceberg above, you can see how the foreground and background work together to create a more dynamic composition. The glistening ice is on full display, but with the backdrop of the dramatic sky behind it, the image becomes far more compelling. Notice as well how the photographer sought to include only what was important - they are close enough to the ice to frame out any other foreground elements, but the wide-angle view still gives us clues as to the relationship between each element in the shot.

Watch Your Angles

Because wide-angle lenses often create distortion around the edges of the frame, straight lines can appear to converge inward. Though this can be used as an artistic tool, keeping the camera level with the horizon will help minimize these distortions.

This trick in action: In the image above, note how the tree trunks all appear to be straight. This is because the camera was kept level to the ground. The resulting image looks normal, as though we are viewing it with our own eyes. This can make a landscape image seem more familiar and help the viewer connect with it on a deeper level.

Then again, angling the camera upwards will distort straight lines, as seen in the image above. Compared to the previous image, you can see just how much the straight lines of the trees converge as they extend toward the top of the frame.

This trick in action: Note as well that angling the camera upwards allows you to frame the foreground out of the shot. This might be advantageous if the foreground is distracting or if there are elements that just don’t fit the scene. If there is a compelling sky, angling the camera upwards can also be advantageous.

Get In Tight Spaces

Some landscapes aren’t wide open vistas, but are instead tiny spaces by comparison that pose a significant challenge to photographers. In these situations, a wide-angle lens is an ideal choice because, again, the wider angle of view allows you to capture more of the scene, even though you’re in tight quarters.

This trick in action: In the image of Antelope Canyon, you can see how the wide-angle lens is beneficial. Both sides of the canyon are in full view, giving us insight into the textures of the canyon walls. It also gives us an indication of just how narrow the canyon actually is, while also allowing the photographer to incorporate some of the sky to indicate how deep the canyon is as well.

With that, you’ve got seven solid tips that will help you make the most out of your wide-angle lens. Next time you venture out to photograph a landscape, test one or two of these tricks to see how they can improve your images. Keep practicing each one, and with time, they will become second nature.

This article about the topic "7 Tips and Tricks for Photographing Landscapes With a Wide-Angle Lens" was first published on our website here https://www.photographytalk.com/landscape-photography/7163-7-tips-and-tricks-for-photographing-landscapes-with-a-wide-angle-lens

iPhone Photography Tips: 5 Tricks to Master Landscapes With Your iPhone

I enjoy shooting landscapes, so many of the tips I'm sharing with you here cross over from what I use with my Nikon D850 when I'm out looking for that next amazing shot...

At the time of this writing, my smartphone - an iPhone X - has 19,189 photos on it.

As you can see, I take a lot of photos!

Over the years I've taken many, many more photos than that, a good portion of which were taken with my smartphone.

Here's a few tips I've learned along the way that will help you get all the juice you can out of your phone to take better landscape photos.

Landscapes Are All About Going Wide

Out of the box, my iPhone X isn't bad in the camera and lens departments.

But, let's face it, it does have its limitations.

The challenge, then, is to find the right lenses to use with your iPhone.

I've tested a number of iPhone lenses over the years, and most of them have had poor optics, required huge cases to attach to the phone, or both.

Recently, though, I got my hands on a set of iPhone lenses from Sandmarc, and, well, they've certainly won me over!

A couple of things right out of the gate really impressed me.

First, the build quality of these lenses is second-to-none. The lens is constructed from premium multi-coated optics so you get clear, sharp images with minimal flare, ghosting, and other aberrations.

The wide-angle lens gives you 2x the field of view, too, so you can incorporate more of those gorgeous landscapes into a single shot. You can see the difference between the field of view with the iPhone X's native lens (above) and with the Sandmarc wide-angle iPhone lens (below), which has an effective focal length of 16mm.

Second, the lens has a low-profile case, so you don't feel like you're carrying around a brick phone with a bulky and clumsy case that gets in your way.

In fact, not only is the case the world's thinnest lens case mount, but you can also simply clip the lens onto your phone if you already have a case or don't need a case at all.

The only bummer is that the case was a bear to remove from my phone.

But after speaking with the fine folks at Sandmarc, I've been assured that in a couple weeks, a new case will be released that specifically addresses that problem.

Just as an aside, I know that the sun is blown out in the previous two images, but in my defense, I was just taking a couple of quick snaps to show the difference in the angle of view while I set up my gear for a long exposure later that evening.

You can see that shot above, which, lucky for me, happened to include a guy skim boarding in the foreground!

You Need the Right Apps

Having the right apps on your phone can make the difference between your photo being a success or a flop.

And I don't just mean post-processing apps, either...

These days, there really is an app for just about everything. Here's a few of my favorites.

My Sunset

As I noted earlier, I went to the beach to snag a long exposure shot of the sunset, and to ensure I was there at the right time, I used the MySunset app (available for iOS and Android devices).

This app gives you a five-day forecast for the sunrise and sunset, including an analysis of how good the sunset will be.

In other words, the lower the number displayed on the app (i.e., 58%, as shown in the green box in the upper-left part of the screenshot above), the less colorful the sunset will be.

Conversely, the higher the number, the greater the likelihood that you'll have a color-filled sky to serve as a backdrop for your landscape photos. 

 

My Tide Times

My Tide Times is another app that I use a lot so I'm sure to plan my photo-taking adventures just right.

With a detailed forecast of the tides, My Tide Times allows you to pinpoint a location and get accurate times for the tide coming in and going out.

It'll even tell you how high (or low) the tide will be so you can plan your shoot safely.

It's available for iOS and Android devices.

VSCO

One of the best photo-editing apps out there is VSCO.

And if you recognize the name, its because VSCO has been around forever, but back in the day, it was film they produced.

Their experience with film photography led to the development of a suite of filters you can apply to your landscapes that give them all sorts of looks, from bright, clean, and simple to dark and gritty.

The app includes camera controls as well, which let you make manual adjustments to exposure settings, shoot in RAW or HDR, and much more.

Download VSCO here.

Use a Polarizer

I know it might sound crazy to use a polarizer with an iPhone, but trust me, it can be done!

As it turns out, Sandmarc not only makes lenses for iPhones but they also make a polarized filter.

I tested their polarizer out, and it worked like a charm.

I noticed an increase in the contrast of the sky and clouds, less glare off the ocean surface, and less atmospheric haze, too.

The build quality of this filter is top-notch as well.

It's easy to snap on and off, so using it is a breeze.

My only complaint is that the filter isn't compatible with the Sandmarc wide-angle lens, so to use it, I had to remove my wide-angle lens and go with the iPhone's native lens.

But, if you ask me, that's a small price to pay for getting better landscape photos with this handy polarizer!

Find Ways to Add Depth

One of the troubles that you encounter as a landscape photographer is conveying the depth you see with your eyes in the photos you take.

But there are several tricks you can use to give your landscapes that needed depth, including leading lines.

As you can see in the photo above, the lines created by the roadway help move your eye from the foreground to the midground to the background.

That movement allows you to inspect each "layer" of the shot, thereby giving it the impression of being three-dimensional.

Another popular trick you can use to create depth is to frame the primary subject in some way.

As shown in the photo above, by composing the shot such that the landscape is viewed through the rock formation, we get a sense of the spatial relationship of the elements in the shot. In other words, we have a better understanding of how far away the background elements might be from those in the foreground.

Using a frame within a frame is also a handy trick when you want to create a more intimate look at the landscape, or even if you want to crop unwanted elements out of the shot.

Find Shadows

If you shoot during Golden Hour, you'll find beautifully long shadows cast by the low sun.

These shadows not only give your smartphone photos improved dynamic range, but they also help create more visual interest in the photo.

There's different ways to incorporate shadows into your shots, too.

As seen above, you can simply use shadows to highlight a texture or pattern, as you see in the sand dunes.

But you can also use shadows to create a little mystery with silhouetted figures, as the photo above demonstrates.

This gives you a little more creative freedom for making gorgeous photos, and in the case of this shot, it also allows you to include a person in the image.

People and landscapes are great complementary subject matter, so whenever you have a chance to include a person in your shots, do it!

This blog post about the topic "iPhone Photography Tips: 5 Tricks to Master Landscapes With Your iPhone" was first published on our website here https://www.photographytalk.com/landscape-photography/8244-iphone-photography-tips-5-tricks-to-master-landscapes-with-your-iphone

How to Photograph Lightning: Lightning Activated Shutter Release Buying Guide

If you ask me, lightning is one of the ultimate of nature's wonders to capture in a photograph.

Of course, the difficulty with photographing lightning is getting the timing just right so that you can take spectacular photos like the one you see above.

There are a million tutorials out there on how to photograph lightning.

But what I want to discuss in this article is the one piece of photography gear that will help you get better quality photos of lightning more often - a lightning activated shutter release (LASR).

In this LASR buying guide, you'll learn all about the must-have features you need to get the best shots.

It's All About Detectability

When you observe lightning with the naked eye, even though it might seem quite close, it might actually be many, many miles away. You even might see a brightly lit summer thunderstorm with dark clouds and brilliant ground flashes that you wish you could capture in pixels. 

That can cause problems for low-grade LASRs (even high-priced ones), which can't detect lightning in the bright daytime, nor detect lightning flashes at a distance.

Investing in a good, quality LASR means that you get the ultimate in sensitivity for unsurpassed performance.

In fact, some LASRs can detect lightning flashes up to 25 miles away during the day and a whopping 40 miles away at night.

Now that's going to help you get some awesome shots!

LASRs Should Have Fast Response Times

The whole point of using a LASR is to enable your camera to snap a photo of lightning as it occurs.

Yet, some devices don't do a very good job of the very thing they were built to do!

For the best results, you want a LASR that's lightning fast - pardon the pun.

The best LASRs money can buy are the Lightning TriggerⓇ LT-3 and LT-IV by Stepping Stone Products, LLC.

In fact, these triggers are up to seven times faster than other devices due to their patented stepped leader-ground flash detection.

Not only do these triggers have fast response times, but they're accurate too - single and multi-pulse modes reduce intracloud and out-of-field-of-view responses.

With that accuracy, that means you have a much better chance of getting those high-quality lightning photos that you're after. 

Look for Something That Offers Compatibility

Sure, you might shoot primarily with a Sony a7R II at the moment, but in a couple of years, you might upgrade to whatever the big, bad Sony camera is (or you might even switch to Canon, Nikon, or another brand).

The point is that you don't want to invest in a LASR that is only compatible with your current camera.

Instead, do your research and buy a LASR that's future-proof and that will work with whatever rig you use.

In many cases, all you have to do is buy the release cable for your specific camera and you're ready to go!

Automatic Settings are a Plus

Sometimes you'll be out during the daytime to photograph lightning, other times you'll be out at night.

What you don't want is to have to make manual adjustments to your LASR.

Instead, opt for a LASR with automatic gain control, which allows the trigger to sense the light level at any time of day automatically.

What's more, devices that allow automatic metering will help activate the system to maintain the correct exposure as ambient light is changing with minimal shutter lag time.

That's a combination of automatic camera settings that will help you take your lightning photography to the next level!

You Want Quality

Obviously, when buying a LASR you don't want to spend your money on something that's going to fall apart after a few uses...

Some companies offer 1-year warranties on their rigs; others offer 5-year warranties.

But Lightning TriggerⓇ bests that by a longshot with a full 15-year warranty on their LT-3 and LT-IV triggers.

That's the kind of peace of mind you want when you're out in the rain, wind, and hail with your gear!

Better still, Lightning TriggerⓇ has a long-standing reputation for having one of the best technical support teams in the business. Just let them know what problems you're having, and they'll work with you to find a resolution!

So, don't buy the first LASR you come upon. Instead, do some research and invest lightning photography gear that's intelligently designed, easy to use, durable, and affordable!

This blog post about the topic "How to Photograph Lightning: Lightning Activated Shutter Release Buying Guide" was first published on our website here https://www.photographytalk.com/landscape-photography/8591-how-to-photograph-lightning-lightning-activated-shutter-release-buying-guide