Category: Photography

10 Step Guide to Improving Your Photography Without Buying New Gear
Will buying that new camera or lens or travel to iconic places automatically result in beautiful images?

Landscape photographers often dream about the latest gear or traveling to far away places to capture great images. For example, places like Iceland, Patagonia, Lofoten Norway, or Tuscany. The problem is that we spend too much time in front of our computers seeing all those great images on social media platforms and dreaming about photographing those vistas ourselves.

We believe that going to iconic places or buying the latest gear will automatically make us better photographers, or that this is the only way of capturing great imagery. As with any craft, you need to practice, practice, and then do some more practice. This way you’ll have the greatest possibility of taking that fantastic photo, either close to home, or once you finally go away on that travel adventure of your dreams.

Here are my 10 tips for how to improve your photography without buying new gear:

1) Learn the basics about your camera and photography

Start by reading your camera’s user manual. Yes, it’s very basic and should be obvious to everyone, but you would be surprised how often people buy a new camera and start using it right away, thinking that the camera is going to do all the work. Many camera stores also offer beginner courses. Ask your local camera store about this option before deciding to buy from them.

Learn about topics like leading lines, the rule of thirds, exposure compensation, and the relation between aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. I will not go into this in more detail as it would merit a whole book, but these topics are available in printed books, e-books and here on dPS.

Read more here:
- How to Use Leading Lines Effectively in Landscape Photography
- 5 Simple Techniques for Leading the Viewer’s Eye in Your Images
- How to Use Exposure Compensation to Take Control of Your Exposure
- Mastering the Exposure Triangle for Newbies
- Understand Exposure in Under 10 Minutes
Using leading lines.

Using the rule of thirds.

2) Do your photography under the right conditions

A word photography literally means drawing with light (from the Greek photós meaning “light”, and graphê meaning “drawing, writing”). I would say that at least 80 % of your most successful images will be taken during the sunrise or sunset when the quality of light is the best. The other 20 % will be taken during cloudy days when the light is much softer than days with direct sunlight.

Many photographers don’t consider this second aspect enough. When starting out, I would often photograph during sunny days with clear blue skies with hard light that produced too much contrast. Today I try to do as much photography when there’s a shift in the weather pattern from high to low pressure or vice versa. The reason is that during this period there’s often a build up of dramatic clouds and the weather shifts between rain and sun creating more drama in your photos.

I suggest that you regularly check the weather forecasts and try to plan your photography for these days.

3) Scout for new locations and return multiple times to the same place

The majority of my best photos are from places very close to home. Most of the time they were not taken on my first attempt, but rather I had to come back many times to the same location before the conditions were right.

Google Earth is a great tool for your initial location scouting as are social media platforms like 500px, Instagram, or Google+. Remember that you should use these sites for inspiration, and not try to copy the same images that have already been taken numerous times before.

4) Change your vantage point

Have you ever considered the vantage point of your photos? The majority of photographers always take photos from the exact same position as they are standing – at eye level. This creates boring photos that all look the same. It’s also the same vantage point from which your viewers see the world.

By crouching down low or shooting from a higher position, like a hill or even from the top of a rock, it will drastically improve your photos. The visual appearance of your photo can dramatically change by just placing your camera a couple of meters in another direction. You should “work the scene” by looking for different viewpoints and not be satisfied with your first choice.

Taken from a low vantage or view point.

Shot from a low view point.

Taken from a high vantage point.

5) Use your lenses creatively

Use your wide-angle lens for creating depth in your image and your telephoto lens to compress the landscape. Both techniques are very effective and create totally different effects. By trying to pre-visualize how your want your photo to look, your choice of lens will be much easier. This takes time and comes more naturally as you gain greater experience.

For landscape photography, you often want to maximize your depth of field by taking photos between f8 and f/16. You could go higher than that but then you risk having softer images as most lenses have a “soft spot” between these parameters.

You could also try to zoom or move your lens during the exposure. This technique is more a trial and error basis and often you need to take many photos before you’re satisfied. Luckily all your frames in digital photography are free.

Use of a wide-angle lens.

Use of a longer or telephoto lens.

Created by intentionally moving the camera or lens during the exposure.

6) Use the elements in your surroundings to your benefit

Is there is a rock, a tree, strong colors, some leading lines, etc., that you can use to create interest in your image and lead the viewer’s eyes throughout your image?

Because we are fed daily with thousands of images, it becomes important to immediately catch the viewer’s attention and make sure that their mind is stimulated. Therefore, the image should have a clear object, this could be a person or a landmark, which the viewer can quickly identify.

If the photo is too busy with too many conflicting elements, the viewer will become confused and move on to the next image. Less is often better than more. Consider excluding elements that do not add to the image. It could be annoying things like tree branches entering the photo from the corner, paper bags and other waste in the photo, etc.

7) Invest in good quality accessories instead of buying the latest camera or lenses

There are some camera accessories that are more important than the latest camera or lens.

The single most important one is a good quality tripod. You should not waste your money buying a cheap aluminum tripod that will shake every time you put your camera on it, resulting in useless blurry images. In the end, you’ll be forced to buy a more expensive tripod anyway, adding unnecessary extra costs. Instead, spend the extra money on a quality tripod from Manfrotto, Gitzo, 3 Legged Thing, or any of the other top brands. Trust me, in the end, you will end up saving money.

Another very important accessory for us landscape photographers are filters. You definitely need a good polarizing filter to reduce the reflections on water and other shiny surfaces. Polarizing filters work the same way as your sunglasses.

Cameras are also limited in their ability to handle dynamic range. In short, this means the ability to register the darkest and lightest tones and everything in between. An example of this cis when you’re photographing a landscape and the foreground looks good, but the sky is too bright. This is where the graduated filters come into play. They have a dark and light part with a soft or hard transition in between. Generally, you should use a hard transition filter when photographing seascapes, as there is a clear definition between the sky and the water. A soft transition filter is preferred when photographing landscapes where there are trees, hills or mountains.

I’ve tested many different brands and would highly recommend LEE filters, They are expensive, but in my opinion are worth every penny. Lee also produces two neutral density filters called Little Stopper and Big Stopper. These filters enable you to slow down your shutter speed. When you see those photos with silky smooth water or clouds, most likely the photographer used such a filter.

While these accessories will cost you some money, they will be more of a one-time expense. Taking good care of them means you can use your accessories for many years to come.

8) Photograph in RAW format and learn to use a photo editing program

When photographing in JPG mode you let the camera do all the processing of the image. This means you have less control over the final outcome. It’s better to photograph in RAW format and then use a software like Adobe lightroom to post-process them yourself.

For me, the main reason for shooting in RAW is to have a greater dynamic range so that I’m able to save many images that are otherwise too light or too dark. Of course, it’s important to get the exposure correct from the start, but RAW files definitely give you some room for errors. There is a lot of information about RAW format and post-processing, read; RAW Versus JPG – Why You Might Want to Shoot in RAW Format and How to Use Adobe Camera Raw and Photoshop to Make Your Landscape Images Pop.

9) Learn to focus manually

This is crucial for landscape photography. As mentioned above, you’ll hopefully be taking most of your photos in low light during the morning or evening. You will also be using a tripod to avoid camera shake.

During long exposure photography, it becomes very important to focus manually in order to avoid having the focus move during your exposure as is the risk when using autofocus. You should use a small aperture like f/11 and focus about a third of the way into the scene if you desire to have sharpness throughout the frame. Make sure you use your camera’s Live View mode or focus peaking if you own a mirrorless camera, for manual focus assistance.

10) Think before you shoot and study your photos afterward

Often I see photographers arrive at their location, take out their gear, and do the “machine gun “photography approach, taking dozens of photos from the same location over and over again. It’s important to work the scene, moving around looking for the best viewpoints.

The same applies when you’re done editing your photos at home. Try to study your photos and look for improvements. Compare your work with other established photographers to see how you can do things differently next time. This takes time, but after a while, you’ll certainly notice better quality in your work.

Conclusion

These 10 points are just the very basics to get you started. Make sure you search dPS for more information, study photography books, and feel free to leave a comment below or ask any question you might have. Good luck!

The post 10 Step Guide to Improving Your Photography Without Buying New Gear by Jacek Oleksinski appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 17, 2017
6 Practical Tips to Instantly Make Travel Photography Easier

Documenting exotic places, capturing priceless memories, and recording once-in-a-lifetime experiences are just a few of the pleasures travel photography affords us. But it can also throw up challenges. Time constraints, logistics, and lack of portable storage can make getting the perfect shot far more difficult. Here are a few tried-and-tested tips to help you make those challenges a little more surmountable.

1. Eliminate the unnecessary

Lack of storage, dubious safety, and the sheer weight of equipment may put the kibosh on your plans of bringing two DSLRs and five lenses to adequately capture your trip. By thinking about how you tend to shoot, you may be able to hone down your kit to just one camera and lens.

Some photographers opt for a fixed focal-length camera like the Fuji X100T. It’s compact, versatile, and good for all-round shooting. But for a photographer who shoots at long focal lengths, it would be a constant source of frustration.

Bridge cameras may provide an alternative, with their versatile zoom ranges in one neat package. Consider your individual needs based on your preferences and narrow down what kit you really need to have with you from what you merely want.

If you just can’t decide, try this; take one entry-level DSLR with a lens that has a varying zoom length from wide-standard to telephoto and a constant aperture of f/2.8 which is ideal for most situations.

2. Pick a lens with IS or VR

Each lens manufacturer offers some form of in-built stabilization. Canon has Image Stabilization (IS); Nikon has Vibration Reduction (VR). Choosing a lens that has in-built IS or VR helps when you can only shoot handheld.

When traveling, there are so many times when the perfect shot can only be captured on-the-fly. Unpacking a tripod and fiddling with camera settings may even be entirely out of the question. For moments when the light is low and shooting handheld is all you can do, IS or VR can help reduce shake and potentially save a photo.

3. Carry a mini-tripod

Slinging a folded down Manfrotto over your back may not be possible, but it also might not be something you’d want to do if you are taking photos in between relaxing moments on your family vacation. Having a portable, mini-tripod in your pocket or bag is a cheap and easy way to get around that issue. A flexible option like the Joby GorillaPod can even help get stable shots from unusual angles without adding too much undue weight to your bag.

4. Invest in memory and charge those batteries

Don’t come back from your holiday with 700 amazing shots from the first three days and absolutely nothing to show for the remaining week and a half because you ran out of memory. It’s now easier than ever to get lots of data and a fast write speed on one reasonably-priced SD card, so hoard a few of them before you go!

Do the same with batteries. Planning to re-charge every night is a great habit to get into, but don’t rely on that alone. When you end up in a hotel that has no power sources or you realize that you left your adapter in the last place you stayed, you’ll wish you’d invested in a few extra batteries and charged them before you left home.

5. Shoot for post-processing

We all want great results straight out of the camera. But if you don’t have all the equipment that you need or the time to nail your exposure by toying with intricate histograms, shooting a certain way to enable post-processing can be what helps you get the shot.

Bracketing your exposures and post-processing the final image into HDR when shooting the dimly lit walls of medieval ruins might be the only way to save the deep blue of the hot Mediterranean sky outside the cracked windowpanes. Without that, the blown-out highlights may not be salvageable.

If you don’t have a tilt-shift lens on hand and you can’t sprout wings and fly, shooting wider than usual and then correcting perspective in post-processing may be the only way to save that great shot of the iconic tower you visited.

6. When in doubt, take the shot

There are many times when you feel that it’s not worth taking the shot. A thousand other photographers may have captured the same view before; you may not have the equipment you need to get the results you want; the weather may have turned sour on the one and only day you got to visit. But regardless of how you feel, take the shot.

If it turns out to be a dud, you just delete it when you get home and you’re in the exact same position as if you hadn’t taken it. But if it turns out to be better than you’d thought, you could have a hidden gem that you hadn’t been expecting. Don’t miss a shot because you feel trapped by circumstance. Just shoot, and the magic will happen.

Conclusion

I hope these 6 tips have given you some ideas for your travel photography to make your next trip a bit easier.

Do you have any others to add to this list? Please share in the comments below.

The post 6 Practical Tips to Instantly Make Travel Photography Easier by Laura Hexton appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 17, 2017
Switching from LEE to NiSi Filters: Was it a Mistake?

Filters are rapidly becoming an essential piece of equipment in most photographer’s camera bag. However, as the demand grows so does the number of suppliers; Lee, NiSi, Formatt-Hitech, Wine Country Camera, and more.

Choosing the right filters isn’t as easy as it sounds. High-quality filters are rarely cheap and many of us can’t afford to spend hundreds of dollars on a product that doesn’t meet our expectations. The price of ND Filters varies from $ 10-200+ which means that you don’t need to buy the most expensive (even though the price in many cases does also reflect the quality).

About one year ago I was contacted by a Chinese brand named NiSi and invited to test their products. Initially, I was a bit skeptical as I knew little about them and I haven’t had a great experience with Chinese equipment previously (unfortunately). This is my experience with their filter system and filters one year later.

First Impression

The NiSi Filter System provides a positive impression straight out of the box. The filter holder is contained in a beautiful leather box, just like the filter pouch.

I won’t spend too much time talking about the packaging, as I believe the filter quality is more important. Still, it is worth mentioning that the presentation is beautiful and it looks exclusive right away. The only drawback to these beautiful leather boxes is that they are a bit large and they take up a lot of space in your backpack compared to smaller pouches such as LEE’s. However, if it takes too much space you can just remove the holder and leave the box at home.

The NiSi Filter Holder and Circular Polarizer Box

The Filter Holder

During the first couple of weeks using the NiSi Filters, I wasn’t quite sure whether I preferred their filter holder or the one made by LEE (which I had been using for more than two years). The NiSi holder is made of metal compared to LEE’s which is made of plastic, but it also seemed slightly less stable. Since the clips are so small I was afraid that the filter holder would fall off the adapter.

After having used the system for nearly one year, however, I’m no longer in any doubt that the NiSi holder is better. I’ve had no problems with neither the V5 Holder (standard for most lenses) or the larger holder for my Nikon 14-24mm.

NiSi Filters on my Nikon 16-35mm f/4

Also, the NiSi Filter Holder has one of my all-time favorite features. It has the possibility of having a Circular Polarizer behind the Graduated Neutral Density (GND) or ND Filters, and it is easily adjustable using a small wheel.

I’ve always found it hard to combine a Polarizer and Graduated or regular ND Filters. Either you need to screw the Polarizer on the lens and attach the holder outside, which usually results in vignetting. Or you need to purchase an adapter and a huge Polarizer to place in front of the lens (which also often leads to vignetting). NiSi has completely removed this problem and it’s never been easier to combine these filters. I’ll come back to the NiSi CPL in a bit.

It’s also worth mentioning that you are able to use other brands’ filters in the NiSi holder. I’ve tested with both Singh-Ray and LEE filters and it works perfectly fine, though it can be a little tight to insert them.

The Filters (ND, GND, CPL)

So, the filter holder proved to be of high quality but what about the actual filters?

NiSi 6-Stop Neutral Density Filter on the Nikon 14-24mm Holder

When I evaluate filters there are two main things I look for; colorcast and quality of the glass. This was my biggest worry in the beginning since, as I mentioned, I was already pleased with my current system.

NiSi Neutral Density Filters

One of my biggest frustrations with the majority of filters I’ve tested so far is the color cast. Worst of them all, despite being a great filter otherwise, is LEE Filters. I had used LEE Filters for years and had gotten used to the heavy blue color cast. Even though it’s fairly quick to fix in Adobe Lightroom or Camera RAW, it feels unnecessary to repeat this step each time you bring out a six or 10-stop ND filter.

To the left: No filter – to the right: NiSi 10-stop ND filter.

Even though I initially had no intent of switching from LEE. But I would consider it if I found the color cast to be significantly less and the quality of the glass to be no less. My biggest surprise when taking the first image with my new NiSi 10-Stop ND Filter was that there was absolutely no color cast. Nothing. Nada. I honestly had to rub my eyes a few times to make sure I saw it correctly. No heavy blue color cast, no bright yellow. Nothing.

This is a big reason why today, more or less, I only have NiSi Filters in my camera bag.

Another benefit of the NiSi filters is that the filters are of glass, not resin. This makes them more durable, harder to scratch and (most importantly…) easier to clean! All the ND Filters (regardless of strength) have a soft foam/sponge on the back to avoid any light leaks. This is similar to LEE’s Big Stopper and Little Stopper but NiSi also has it on their lighter ND Filters.

NiSi Graduated Neutral Density Filters

The NiSi Graduated Neutral Density Filters have a slightly warmer color cast compared to LEE. However, the color cast is so little that it’s hardly worth mentioning. The same goes for LEE; the GND color cast is hardly noticeable at all.

Again, the NiSi filters are glass, not resin, which makes them harder to scratch and damage. This is great for outdoor photographers who often find themselves in less than ideal situations. After a year of using these filters regularly, I still haven’t got any scratches besides the few on the edges as a result of being placed in and out of the filter holder. These scratches aren’t visible on images, though, and are completely normal for any brand.

While I do like the NiSi GND Filters, my only issue is that the color cast of the 175mm (for my Nikon 14-24mm) is more visible than on the V5 holder. I only recently received this filter so I haven’t been able to do extensive tests on it yet. But at the first glance, it was a yellowish cast in the upper part of the filter.

NiSi Circular Polarizer

As I mentioned in the introduction, the NiSi Filter Holder has one of my all-time favorite features of a filter system; the possibility of placing a Circular Polarizer inside the holder.

Compared to most other brands, NiSi’s Circular Polarizer is extremely slim. I was actually surprised by how thin it was when I first saw it and, honestly, that gave me a negative first impression.

NiSi Polariser inside the V5 Holder

Being able to insert the CPL within the holder and adjust it by turning a tiny wheel is a brilliant solution, though. Despite the fact that I felt like the filter was a bit too thin and perhaps not as high-quality as the other filters, it’s a more convenient solution than stacking a huge CPL outside of the other filters (and a more affordable option as well).

After testing the CPL for a while I concluded that the quality is in fact as good as my current B+W CPL and the color cast is, again, not a problem.

The biggest drawback is that you’re not able to use only the CPL without the Filter Holder. Since the CPL is placed in a special thread inside the holder you can’t place it on the lens without the holder. I often prefer to keep my CPL on the lens when walking around a city or going on a hike. This isn’t a good option with the NiSi CPL, unfortunately, so I still bring my B+W filter with me.

Besides the fact that it’s not as portable as other options the quality meets my demands. Therefore, I hope that they make an extra option where it’s easy to leave it on the lens at any given time.

Was it a mistake switching from LEE?

It’s been almost a year since I got my first NiSi Filters now and every week I’m asked what I think about their filters and if it’s worth switching systems.

I think it’s important to state that I never considered switching from LEE and I was very satisfied with their filters and I still believe that they are among the best available on the market. However, I do not regret switching and I love using filters that have little-to-none color cast, while still being of a high quality.

The post Switching from LEE to NiSi Filters: Was it a Mistake? by Christian Hoiberg appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 17, 2017
Lighting 103: When Not to Gel Your Flash

Abstract: Don't bother gelling a scene that is completely lit by a single flash. But if a second light is involved—even ambient light—it's always better to control color at the source.

PIctured above is Midwest Camera President Moishe Appelbaum. He wandered into a lighting class I was teaching at Midwest last fall, so we pulled him aside and shot him. He's lit by a single LP180 speedlight, fired through a white bed sheet.

(Pro tip: A speedlight fired through a bed sheet will rival the light of the most expensive octabanks in the world—in quality if not in quantity. It all comes down to square inches in the light source. And a bed sheet has a crap ton of square inches.)

After our previous lesson, you might think that this photo is an ideal candidate for a warming gel: caucasian skin, warm background, warm-colored clothing. Why not unify this with a little added warmth?Read more »
Strobist

March 16, 2017
Wedding Portraits – 5 Tips for Getting Out of a Creative Rut

As a professional photographer, it is normal to take a fair amount of pride in your work. In an ideal world, everyone would take pride in their work; but photographers in particular are usually people who own their business, who are doing something they love and who are creative by nature.

It can be particularly frustrating when you feel that you aren’t doing your very best work. Even if the customer is happy, you want to keep doing your best and you want to keep growing and learning in your craft. Getting compliments or rave reviews are great, but that feeling when you take your latest and best image is unforgettable.

Wedding portraits is something that is particularly challenging in this regard. Your job is to capture the newlywed couple on the happiest day of their lives, which usually means photographing them face-on while they grin into the camera. Maybe you’ll ask them to embrace, to hold hands, or to stand in front of one another. But ultimately, you’re essentially doing the same thing in every photo. There is less freedom to be creative and to have a vision; which makes it easy to get into a creative rut.

How can you grow and expand when all these photos are essentially the same thing? As they say, the devil is in the details. Actually, it is precisely the limitations that this type of photography places on you that will allow you to challenge yourself to become even more creative.

Here are five pointers that will help you get out of that creative rut and take some truly memorable wedding portraits.

#1 – Look for Inspiration

Tip number one is to look for inspiration on the web. Social media like Instagram and Pinterest are excellent for this. Just take a look at the ways in which other photographers have handled their wedding portraits and see if there is anything you can learn or borrow from them.

As Steve Jobs famously said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” Don’t be afraid to try and improve on what has come before you. Save some screenshots on your phone, or print out a list or shots you’d like to go for. Trying something brand new usually means failing a few times, but that’s what makes it an adventure!

#2 – Get a Second Shooter

Our second tip is to find a second shooter. If you feel that your creative juices are running a little dry, then how about inviting another cameraman along for the day? Get them to have a go at the same shots and you might find that they give you some fresh ideas that you can try. Even if you don’t end up taking their advice directly, this will help you to step out of your comfort zone and that’s when new ideas start flowing!

Ask your second shooter for some advice on locations. Try and find someone familiar with the venue, or maybe a photographer that has some ideas about great locations to shoot. Let him take the lead, and if you see him start something, see if you have a finishing flourish to take your portraits to the next level.

#3 – Remember the Basics

When you’ve been doing this gig for a long time, it’s easy to forget the most basic aspects; things like composition, framing, and lighting. Our third tip encourages you to bring it back to basics and remember some of the tips you learned when you were first starting out. You’ll often find you can inject fresh inspiration into your shoots.

Try going for a classic or timeless look. Forget the props, crazy locations, special effects, and confetti canons. Try and see what you can do with your best lens, and most basic posing. You may find yourself asking why you’re trying to take the same photo that’s been taken by every wedding photographer before you. And the answer may just astound you!

#4 – Work With Your Resources

For our fourth tip, let’s talk about your environment. Every wedding is different, whether that is because of the weather, the dress code, color scheme, or the crowd around you. Don’t fight it – work with it! Rain or clouds can be a dramatic backdrop for a photoshoot for example. A big crowd of onlookers can make for an interesting new perspective.

But the biggest resource you have at your disposal during your wedding sessions is the couple! No doubt they have a lot of ideas and suggestions for their photos – after all, they’re the ones paying the bills. Don’t be the snobbish professional who knows best. Listen to your customers and you may just find they can teach you something. At the very least, it may bring some fresh new ideas to the table.

#5 – Leave Your Ego at the Door

This final tip is really the point you need to focus on here; your job is to make the subjects of your photos happy. You might be tired of taking the same old shots over and over again but if that’s what the couple wants, then it doesn’t really matter.

It’s an easy mistake to think that you need to be more creative and dramatic with your photography, while forgetting that the customer actually just wants a nice picture that will look good on their bedside table.

Your creativity here should serve a purpose, and that purpose is to make your customers happy. Forget about showing off what an original and inventive photographer you are – at least for the portraits. If you want to be creative, then you can always get in a few artsy shots of the bride’s shoes and the wedding rings. Letting go, and giving the client what they want should always come first.

Closing Comments

So there you have it – five tips that can help you rediscover the fun and creativity for your wedding portraits; look for inspiration, get a second shooter, get back to basics, use what you have, and focus on the customer. Let us know in the comments below what you do when you find your creative juices are running dry.

The post Wedding Portraits – 5 Tips for Getting Out of a Creative Rut by Michael David Reichmann appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 16, 2017
Prime Lenses: Can you really zoom with your feet?
There’s a common maxim touted in photographic circles, especially in online forums and message boards. It states that some of the limitations of shooting with a prime lens can be overcome by simply moving your body around. The idea of “zoom with your feet” or SneakerZoom, as it’s sometimes called, is often used as a panacea for those who think prime lenses are limiting in terms of what they can do compared to their zooming counterparts.

To a certain extent this is true. If you want to get closer to your subject you can just physically move your body if you don’t have a zoom lens, but doing so results in images that are not at all the same as using a zoom lens. Zooming with your feet is somewhat of a misnomer because zooming implies a change of focal length. But when you move around with a prime lens you are not changing the focal length at all. Instead, you are recomposing with your feet. In this article I’ll explore why this is a simple but significant difference using a few examples below.

How lenses work

To understand how lenses work it’s important to know a few things. The focal length is a measurement of the distance between the optical center of the lens (the point at which incoming light converges) and the image sensor of the camera to which it is attached.

Many cameras come with what’s known as a kit lens. Most of those cover a relatively modest range of focal lengths, with the most common being about 18mm to roughly 55mm. At 18mm, the lens bends light in such a way that the incoming light converges on a point 18mm in front of the image sensor. This results in a field of view that is about 76 degrees wide. (Assuming you are shooting with a crop-sensor camera like a Canon Rebel or Nikon D3300. On a full-frame camera like a Canon 5D Mark IV or Nikon D810 it would be about 90 degrees.)

At 50mm, the angle of view changes to roughly 31 degrees. The practical implications for this are that you can simply fit more in the frame when shooting at a wider focal length versus a longer one. Take the example of photographing a tree, as you can see in the following illustration.

Angle of view versus moving your feet

Shooting at 18mm would allow the photographer in this example to fit the whole tree in the frame, but unfortunately this photographer is using a 50mm prime lens that does not zoom in and out. At this point, you might be thinking, “No problem, just walk backwards to get the whole tree in the frame”. My good friend Bob Slydell from the movie Office Space would respond, “Just a second there, professor.” While it’s true the photographer could walk backwards and reposition himself such that he could fit the entire tree in the picture, there are two problems with this solution:
1. There is a pond filled with crocodiles right behind him
2. He would still have a 31 degree viewing angle
No matter how far backward, forward, or sideways the photographer in this example repositions himself, the angle of view with the 50mm lens will still be the same. Theoretically, he could construct a raft and float across the pond in order to fit the entire tree in the frame. But doing so would result in a dramatically different picture than if he just uses a wider lens to begin with. Zooming with his feet, or in this case with a boat, will work to get a picture of the tree, but doing so will alter the other compositional elements of the photo.

An example

To see how this works, here’s a revised version of the image above wherein the photographer has retreated far enough to get the entire tree in the frame. In this example, there are five pinwheels behind the tree that are well contained in the wide-angle shot. While moving backward has solved the issue of getting the tree in the frame, the narrow viewing angle means that not all the pinwheels fit in the shot.

The only way to solve this problem using a Zoom With Your Feet solution would be for the photographer to move way back such that the tree and all the pinwheels could fit in the frame. At which point the original subject (the tree) would be so diminished that the image wouldn’t be the same at all.

Real life examples

Of course, this is a theoretical example, but watch what happens when the same type of scenario is replicated in the real world. I shot the following three images using my 70-200mm lens. Watch what happens as the focal length, as well as the distance to the subject, changes.

Shot #1 – 70mm, from far away

70mm, f/4, ISO 100

Can you tell what the subject is in this picture? It’s supposed to be the artwork in the middle–a boy fishing with his dog, carved from the trunk of a fallen cypress tree. The angle of view in this picture is about 34 degrees (I shot this on my full-frame Nikon D750), which is enough to capture lots of scenery in the frame. Notice how in addition to the boy and his dog you can also see trees, a building, and even some foreground elements such as a pond and grass.

Shot #2 – 200mm, from far away

200mm, f/4, ISO 100

Standing in the exact same spot as before but zooming into 200mm has had a dramatic impact on the picture. Now the viewer’s attention is focused squarely on the carving, and the field of view is now limited to a much narrower 12 degrees. Note where the head of the carving is in relation to the building in this image: it is framed between two columns on the first floor above the ground, which is quite different from the next picture.

Shot #3 – 70mm, shot from close up

70mm, f/4, ISO 100

This final photograph was made by zooming with my feet, I repositioned myself to be much closer to the tree carving. The resulting image is similar, in that the carving itself is roughly the same size as in the 200mm shot, but the field of view is 34 degrees because I shot this at 70mm. Even though the subjects are similar in shot #2 and shot #3, the pictures are entirely different!

The wider field of view in shot #3 resulted in an image with a lot of background elements that distract the viewer. The boy’s head is now positioned near the top of the building, despite the fact that my camera was the same distance above the ground. While the classic SneakerZoom technique has certainly worked to get my subject looking how I wanted, the end result is quite different from actually using a proper zoom lens.

Zooming with your feet is NOT the same

These examples show that while you certainly can zoom with your feet, doing so is not the same at all as zooming with a telephoto lens. When you move around you are not really zooming but recomposing. While this is not a bad thing, it is something to be aware of when choosing lenses or honing your photography technique.

As another example of this phenomenon, here are two pictures from a recent session I did with a local family. I shot the first one with my 70-200mm lens. It’s a traditional portrait-style image with a blurred out background with the focus squarely on the faces and upper bodies of both women.

200mm, f/2.8, ISO 100

I then zoomed all the way out to 70mm in order to get a closer, more personal image of the two women. After changing to a 70mm focal length I had to walk much closer to the ladies, essentially zooming in with my feet, in order to get them to appear the right size in the frame. The resulting image feels entirely different, not just because they are sitting on the ground showing off their matching wrist tattoos, but because you can see that they are sitting in the middle of a green field strewn with autumn leaves.

70mm, f/4, ISO 100

Shooting at 200mm meant a highly compressed field of view with only a small slice of the trees and background visible. Whereas in the bottom picture you can once again see the effects of the wider viewing angle afforded by shooting at 70mm.

Different planes

One final example that’s necessary to illustrate this phenomenon, is when you and your subject are not on the same horizontal plane. In these situations, changing your focal length can bring you much closer to what you are trying to shoot, whereas walking around will significantly alter the scene, based on the foreground and background elements, as well as the angle from which you are viewing the subject.

Shot #1 – 70mm, from far away

70mm, f/4, ISO 100

This image looks decent, but I didn’t like how the flags shared the frame with the building behind them, especially the chimney in the corner with the radio antenna. Since I shot this at 70mm I had a couple options to improve the shot; including zooming into 200mm or zooming with my feet to get closer to the flags. I started with the first option and was very happy with the result.

Shot #2 – 200mm, from far away

200mm, f/4, ISO 100

Zooming with my lens gave me a much better picture. One that focuses entirely on the flag pole with no distracting background elements and a nice cloudy sky to help the flag pop out of the frame. One tradeoff is that the Oklahoma flag is no longer visible. I could have zoomed in only partially to 135mm if I wanted to include it, but I decided that the picture would be more impactful if it just had a single subject instead of two flags. After getting this shot I zoomed in with my feet to see if I could get a decent picture at 70mm by moving much closer to the subject.

Shot #3 – 70mm, shot close up

Look at how different this final image is compared to the 200mm version! While I was able to get the United States flag much larger in the frame, I ended up shooting from such a low angle that the flag pole itself draws almost as much attention as the banners it is holding. The Oklahoma flag is also visible in this version, which has the unfortunate side effect of creating an image that is unfocused and busy. There are now two subjects in the frame (three if you count the pole.) This leaves the viewer with a sense that the image is cluttered and unfocused. Zooming with my feet did allow me to get closer to the subject, but it altered the composition so significantly that the resulting image is unusable.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these examples will help you start to visualize why moving around is not at all the same as changing your focal length. Please understand that I’m not saying you should sell all your prime lenses and rush out to buy a zoom lens, though. I use prime lenses all the time, and by far my most-used lens is the Nikon 35mm f/1.8 for its size, weight, and sheer versatility.

My goal is simply to help you understand that when you are shooting with a prime lens you need to know that moving closer to, or farther away from, your subject does not have the same effect as actually changing the focal length. Once you understand that, you can start using this knowledge to your advantage. You can structure your photo techniques around this important limitation of prime lenses, and hopefully, take much better pictures as a result.

The post Prime Lenses: Can you really zoom with your feet? by Simon Ringsmuth appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 16, 2017
Review of the New Formatt Hitech Firecrest Filter Holder and Neutral Density Filters
This article is an overview of the Formatt Hitech Firecrest Filter Holder system and their neutral density filters.

Long exposure is one of those magical types of photography that once people start doing it, they nearly always fall in love with the technique. They then begin their quest for the right conditions to take those photos, along with the right gear. The filters you use are important and, so is the holder for them.

Sunset at St. Kilda Pier, this was taken with the Formatt Hitech Filter Holder and their 10-stop ND filter.

Long exposure photography is becoming so popular, but with it come lots of issues to deal with. The most important one is light and stopping any from getting into the camera that may ruin your images. Another one that you hear many complaining about is color casts caused by the filters they are using.

Have the right gear to get what you attempting is so important. Formatt Hitech has been listening to their users and has come up with a new holder system for their 100mm filters that addresses many of these problems.

Formatt Hitech Filter Holder

The new filter holder from Formatt Hitech is designed to completely enclose the filter so no light can get in around it once the filter is in place. It removes the need for the foam gasket on the back of the filter, as the holder has one on it to help seal the filter into place.

Formatt Hitech has put a great deal of thought into what you will need for long exposure photography, and along with the holder come some other surprises.

The Formatt Hitech filter holder in use at Docklands.

What’s in the box

This company does produce some of the loveliest packaging that I’ve seen. The boxes have a soft, almost suede feel. It is hard to throw them away, in fact, I haven’t been able to.

When the package arrives and you open the box you will see the holder, but you will also see an 82mm adaptor ring and a series of step-down rings. So often in the past when buying the adaptor rings you have had to make a choice about which lens you will fit it to and get the ring to fit that one. Formatt Hitech gives you the adaptor ring for the largest possible filter size and the step-down rings to fit other lenses.

Wrapped in paper, you will find a polarizer that fits into the adapter ring. This filter fits in the back of the holder system very neatly, and your neutral density filters then fit in front of it. There is a geared control wheel that allows you to turn the filter as needed.

The added benefit here is the ability to use the polarizer in the adapter ring on its own. You don’t have to attach the holder at all.

Everything that you get with the Formatt Hitech filter holder. Photo courtesy of Formatt Hitech

Using it for the first time

When you first open the box it can seem a bit overwhelming and when you try to use the system, it’s a little confusing. It feels like you will break it when you try to pull it apart, but it is designed for rough use.

If you still can’t work it out Formatt Hitech has a video which they recommend that you watch (see below). The brackets around the holder are often a little stiff to begin with, but they do get easier and loosen up with use. Watching the video will help you get past that.

Attaching the holder onto the adaptor ring can take some getting used to as well. It is bit fiddly, but with practice, you will get better at it, and faster. You can do it with one hand, it simply clicks onto the ring. It is quite durable and will take a lot of handling. The holder stays very firmly on the adaptor ring.

Using the filter to get a long exposure of Pyramid Rock.

Why is it good to have a filter holder like this?

If you looked at the old filter holder that was available, even with the foam gasket, you could see gaps where it was possible for light to get through. When you want to create a perfect long exposure you need to make sure that there are no leaks. The benefits of this particular filter holder system is that it removes the possibilities of those gaps and creates a more light tight cocoon around your filter.

City of Melbourne from across the river. Taken with the new Formatt Hitech Filter holder and their 16-stop ND filter.

Using it

Out in the field, the system does work well. But, having to remove both brackets around the holder just to the change filter, or add one, is a bit harder and takes more time. The benefits the brackets provide in other ways (light tightness) certainly make up for it, though.

There have been a couple of instances of vignetting, but it is very slight and only seems to happen when the lens is very wide, for example at 24mm.

When you first use the bracket it seems like you can’t use graduated filters in the holder. However, there are sections at the top and bottom that can be removed that will allow you to use 100x150mm filters. There are vented end caps that allow the filters to poke through, while at the same time helping to retain that light seal.

Wonky Pier at Sullivan Pier. Long exposure using the new holder and the Formatt Hitech Firecrest 13-stop ND Filter.

The Format Hitech filters

It is logical that if you are going to use the holder then you should also use the Formatt Hitech filters as well. Their Firecrest series are very neutral and have no color cast, even when underexposing.

They are made in the UK using high-quality optical glass that is bonded together, so the coating is sandwiched between them. This helps to protect the filters and also makes them much harder to scratch. If you do scratch them then you are just doing it to the outside and not the coating itself.

Tenby Point and tree with the tide coming in. Using the holder with the 10-stop ND filter.

Cost

Formatt Hitech filters aren’t cheap, with the filter holder retailing around $ 170 USD, but you do get quite a bit for your money. The filters are pricey, but if you love long exposure photography then it’s worth it. Plus, if you look after them, don’t drop them, you could have them forever.

They also sell kits, which can help you save money on the initial outlay. They all have the filter holder and various filters depending on what you are looking for.

Long exposure taken at Princes Pier using the new holder and the Formatt Hitech Firecrest 10-stop ND filter.

Conclusion

Long exposure photography is an addictive style and many who start can’t stop. If you love it and want to get the best possible photos, then you have to consider the new Firecrest Filter Holder from Formatt Hitech. A holder that stops light from entering through your lens is a great start. Combined with the filters, you are on your way to creating some magical images.

If you want to compare to other systems have a look at these as well:
- Review of the Wine Country Camera Filter Holder System
- Switching from LEE to NiSi Filters: Was it a Mistake?
The post Review of the New Formatt Hitech Firecrest Filter Holder and Neutral Density Filters by Leanne Cole appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 16, 2017
An Overview of Lightroom Web – What is it and who is it for?

Lightroom CC subscribers can access Lightroom in three places; on a computer using the desktop app, on a tablet or phone using Lightroom Mobile, or through an internet browser, using Lightroom Web (go to the url https://lightroom.adobe.com/ to check it out for yourself).

Lightroom web is probably the least talked about of those three options. So I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at it to see what it can do and who might find it useful.

But first, let’s talk about Smart Previews. A Smart Preview is a highly compressed DNG file that measures 2540 pixels along the longest edge. Smart Previews are a fraction of the size of Raw files (as little as 2%). If you get into the habit of building Smart Previews when you import your images into Lightroom you will enjoy the following benefits.

1. You can develop photos when Lightroom can’t find the originals

If you save your Raw files on an external hard drive (recommended, so they don’t clog up your internal drive) then without Smart Previews you can only develop those photos when the hard drive is connected to your computer.

When the hard drive isn’t connected Lightroom uses the Smart Previews. This is helpful if you’re a laptop user who likes to travel. You can work on your photos while away from home, wherever you are in the world, without access to your Raw files.

2. Smart Previews make the Develop module faster

Using Smart Previews in the Develop module helps Lightroom run faster. Lightroom works quicker with the smaller Smart Preview than it does with the full-size Develop module preview.

Lightroom now gives you the option to automatically use Smart Previews in the Develop module. Go to the Performance tab in Preferences and tick the Use Smart Previews instead of Originals for Image Editing box.

This feature appeared in Lightroom CC 2015.7 and Lightroom 6.7.

3. Smart Previews enable Lightroom Mobile and Lightroom Web

Smart Previews are used by Adobe to enable Lightroom Mobile and Lightroom Web. When you sync a Collection, Lightroom uploads the Smart Previews for the images in that Collection to Adobe’s servers.

Lightroom Mobile and Lightroom Web then pull those Smart Previews from the servers so you can access your photos on your mobile device or in a browser. Adobe calls this CreativeSync.

What can you do in Lightroom Web?

There’s a lot you can do in Lightroom Web:

1. You can view your photos

You can view any synced Collections in Lightroom Web as well as in Lightroom Mobile.

This is the Lightroom Web interface. Synchronized Collections are shown on the left. The photos in the selected Collection are displayed on the right. All of this is done using Smart Previews.

2. You can share photos

You can create online galleries and share the link. If the viewer has an Adobe ID they can favorite photos and leave comments.

This gives you an easy way to show photos to friends or clients. You can disable the link whenever you like, giving you complete control. The links can also be shared on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +.

3. You can flag and rate photos

In Lightroom Web you can flag and rate photos, but you can’t apply color labels.

4. You can develop photos

Most of the developing tools available in Lightroom mobile are also available in Lightroom Web. You can see the histogram, crop images, apply Clarity, adjust exposure and White Balance, convert to black and white and apply a split tone. There are also 25 built-in Lightroom presets.

But there are limitations – you don’t have access to the HSL / Color / B&W tools, and you can’t make local adjustments.

I can make basic adjustments in Lightroom Web to this landscape photo, but I can’t apply a Graduated filter to darken the sky. You can, however, do this in Lightroom Mobile (iOS version only at the time of writing).

5. You can create new Collections

You can also move photos around between Collections.

6. You can download photos

You can download a JPEG of any photo in Lightroom Web. The maximum size is 2540 pixels along the longest edge (the same dimension as the Smart Preview).

7. You can send photos to Behance and Adobe Portfolio

You can send up to 50 photos to Adobe Portfolio or Behance. Adobe Portfolio is a free service that lets you build a portfolio web gallery for your images.

Who is Lightroom Web for?

If you build Smart Previews for every photo in your Collection you can view those photos using Lightroom Web from anywhere in the world. All you need is a web browser and your Adobe password.

The question of who is Lightroom Web for is a little tricky to answer. If you are away from home and have a choice between using Lightroom Mobile on a tablet and Lightroom Web, then you should use Lightroom Mobile. It has more options, especially when it comes to developing photos. It is also quicker to use if you download the Smart Previews to your device.

Lightroom Web may be useful if you work on two computers, say a desktop and a laptop. You can do most of your work on the desktop, and view photos, apply flags or star ratings and do some developing in Lightroom Web on the laptop.

If you are away from home and don’t have a mobile device, or want to see your photos on a bigger screen, the ability to access your synchronized Collections using Lightroom Web may come in handy. It’s a good to way to show your photos to people. Professionals may find it handy for handling last-minute client requests while away from home.

If you enjoyed this article and would like to learn more about Lightroom then please check out my Mastering Lightroom ebooks.

The post An Overview of Lightroom Web – What is it and who is it for? by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 16, 2017
How to Photograph a Real Estate Interior or Property
Are you or someone you know thinking of selling or renting out a property? Whether it’s a house, an apartment, a restaurant, or a hotel; the key to successfully marketing it is with captivatingly well exposed, and well-composed photographs. Here are a few tips on how to successfully photograph a clear, bright interior with visible exterior showing through the windows. Learn how to stack your bracketed photos so that your finished photographs show the outside and the inside of your rooms clearly and perfectly balanced.

The problem with interiors

Here is what it looks like when you expose for the inside or interior of a room.

This is what it looks like when you expose for the outside.

This is a big problem, right? You can very rarely get a well-balanced shot of the interior of a room without blowing out the windows. The trick is to take several bracketed exposures of each room and stack them, in order to get a clear, evenly exposed photograph.

Here is what you want your final photo to look like.

Equipment needed

This is what you will need to shoot interiors:
- DSLR with auto bracketing feature.
- Tripod – I like to use a tripod with a bubble level on the head to ensure straight horizontals.
- Wide-angle lens – Depending on your camera’s sensor, use the widest angle lens that you have available.
- Shutter release – Not essential, but quite useful to reduce camera movement (resulting in a blurry image) when pressing the shutter.
Quick and easy steps to achieve the perfectly exposed shot

Firstly, it’s recommended to do a little home staging of the rooms that you want to photograph. Having it clear of clutter and clean definitely makes for better photographs. You can arrange some flowers and some fruit bowls to warm up the interior space, and make it look inviting. Clearing the floors of clutter will also make the rooms look more spacious.

You don’t need to redecorate or go through a whole moving process, but definitely, a little planning beforehand will make your photographs look more professional. Sometimes just moving a few pieces of furniture around or putting things away in another room will suffice. Turn on all lights that you feel will give depth to the room and open all curtains and blinds. I always like to show the outside, but of course, if the view is not a very nice one, you may want to shut the blinds partly.

A wide-angle lens is best for this type of photography because you will want to get most of the room into your shot. I often find that shooting from corners of the room and getting three walls into my shot will help the viewer get a better feeling for the size of the room. Sometimes shooting from the doorway also works well if the room is very small.

You often have to squeeze and make yourself small to get behind your tripod. I sometimes find myself in some pretty strange positions in order to get the perfect shot. You may even develop some contortionist skills doing this type of photography. Move around the room to find the perfect angle that showcases the best features of the room. Also, try not to shoot directly at windows. Instead, if possible, try to shoot at an angle.

Setting up and shooting

You will want to set up your camera on a tripod and shoot at waist level, not eye level. The verticals need to be straight and by lowering your camera and shooting straight you will achieve a better-composed photo with a better angle. Look at the view from your camera and try to assure straight vertical lines when looking at cabinets or tall furniture.

Set your camera’s auto bracketing feature (AEB) to shoot several shots. Depending on the amount of light in each room, you will need to shoot between three to nine bracketed exposures at 1 to 1.5 stops between each. I prefer to use natural light as much as possible, so timing the photo shoots with the time of day is essential. Usually, the more light you have in a room, the more brackets you will need.

A shutter release will assure that the camera will not move during the bracketed shooting. You will want to shoot quickly and have the camera as steady as possible if you’re not using a shutter release.

Blending exposures

There are several different techniques to stack your photos in order to blend your bracketed exposures together. I personally use a stacking software called Photomatix Pro 5. I am satisfied with the results I can achieve with minimal adjustments and I enjoy the time-saving quality that it provides.

You can search for other HDR software and choose the one that best suits your needs and budget. You usually get a trial period or a trial version that includes watermarks. This will allow you to test with your own photos in order to see if you like it before you purchase it. Recent versions of the most popular photography software like Photoshop and Lightroom now have a HDR merge feature to perform HDR processing and tone-mapping.

Your photos are ready when you feel like the room is evenly exposed and you can see the outside view clearly through the windows.

Conclusion

Have fun experimenting with your photography and showing your friends and family what great, professional looking interior photographs you took of your property! They may even ask you to photograph their properties if ever the time comes when they are contemplating selling or renting.

Don’t hesitate to show me your photos in the comments section.

The post How to Photograph a Real Estate Interior or Property by Sandra Roussy appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School
March 16, 2017
How to Plan and Prepare for Landscape Photography

Autumn morning in the Alaska Range. Colors peak in late August or early September, if you are planning to catch the fall colors, plan accordingly.

The best images rarely come together on accident. Yes, I know, sometimes serendipity will place you at the perfect spot in the perfect light with all the gear you need and you are able to click away. But that is a darn rare thing. Good images, particularly landscape photography, almost always require a bit of planning. The season, times of day, weather, and your location, should all be considered before you head to the field. Though this is particularly true on multi-day trips, planning can be useful even for shoots around your local area.

Seasonality

I once got an inquiry about one of my private photo workshops from a gentleman who wanted to photograph the northern lights in the mountains of northern Alaska. This is an area I know well and a place I regularly lead photo tours, so I was eager to send along the information he requested. Until I got to his last sentence; he was planning his trip for July.

A curtain of aurora over the Dalton Highway and Brooks Range of northern Alaska. If you want to see the northern lights, it’s best to not plan a visit in the summer.

In northern Alaska, far north of the Arctic Circle, the sun never sets in midsummer. The northern lights only come out at night. You can see the problem, right?

Though I laugh about it now, I have to give credit to the guy. He contacted me before making his plans, and I was able to set him straight before he bought some expensive plane tickets and ended up on a very disappointing (and likely mosquito-infested) trip to the arctic.

I realize that’s a dramatic example. It’s not as though endless daylight during the arctic summer is a well-guarded secret. That said, for every location you might visit, there are things about seasonality you should know in advance.

Late autumn in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska means early September.

Research your destination

Do your research. Most parts of the world have cold, wet, dry, or hot seasons and the success of your photos could depend on the season you choose. Think of the types of shots you are hoping to make, and then find out what time of year is best suited to those images. Seasonality is pretty intuitive for most photographers. We generally have a good understanding of how spring, summer, fall and winter relate to our photography. But within those seasons things get a bit murkier.

Let’s return to my aurora borealis example from earlier. Yes, if you want to shoot the northern lights, you’ll need to make your trip to my neck of the woods during a time of year when it gets dark. But there are better and worse times between September and April. Arrive in mid-January, and you may encounter nighttime temperatures of -40 degrees; not a fun photo temp. In addition to being warmer, the times around the spring and fall equinox also coincide with the usual peak of auroral activity. And in the spring, there is less chance of cloud cover. I reiterate – do your research!

Time of Day

Side light adds drama to the mountains around Haines, Alaska.

This is a big one that often goes overlooked. Most landscape photographers are happiest in the hour or two surrounding dawn and dusk. The light is low and sweet, throwing long shadows across the terrain. But those times vary based on your location.

What are the sunset/sunrise times? Depending on where you are and the time of year, that sweet light may occur late, or early (even the middle of the night here in Alaska during the summer). Long before you head out, look up these times and plan accordingly. A simple Google search will provide this information, as will many GPS devices and smartphone apps.

Morning fog lifts off the forest and pastures of Chiloe Island, Chile.

How will the light fall on the landscape? If you want to capture the mountains with a certain kind of light (backlight, sidelight, front light) then you need to know not only the time of the sunrise or sunset but where it will set in relation to your subject. More than once, I’ve been shooting in the evening and found my subject draped in bland, gray shadows and wished the light was coming from the opposite direction.

Look at maps, see how your locations are situated, and keep in mind both time of year AND time of day, since both will impact how the light falls.

Weather

Bad weather isn’t always bad. During a winter storm, a break in the clouds allowed this patch of sun to hit the mountains of southeast Alaska.

This is a short-term planning tool, but can help a few days out from your shoot. Honestly, I’m hesitant to include weather in this article because forecasts are occasionally wrong enough, and besides, thelandscape photography opportunities in bad weather can be amazing. Usually it’s best just to go out anyway and see what you can find.

However, by paying attention to the forecast, you may be able to moderate your expectations or plan around any undesirable weather. Trips I lead to go shoot the aurora are perfect examples of this. Clouds are bad when it comes to astral photography, but the weather isn’t uniform across a big landscape. Just because it is cloudy locally, doesn’t mean an hour away that it isn’t clear. By paying attention to weather forecasts and conditions, you can plan to adjust locations or change dates.

Location Scouting

Once on your site, it’s never a bad idea to go out for a hike, or drive and check out the good compositions before the sweet light of evening hits. Sadly time, commitments, and life in general may not allow you to get out and scout. Fortunately, there is a digital solution that can help: GoogleEarth. Using GoogleEarth you can check out the places you’d like to shoot, get driving times, and (my favorite part) use the street-view function to get an idea of how the landscape will look from the ground. Using this, I’ve actually found the exact spots and compositions for images I hoped to make.

I went out for an ill-advised hike in a thunderstorm in Denali National Park, but it resulted in the brightest rainbow I’ve ever seen hanging over the tundra below.

Resources

The internet is full of information, and a few well-worded searches will get you much of what you need to know. But the internet will never be better than personal experience. Reach out to photographers familiar with the area you hope to visit. Social media is a great way to find shooters who know your destination. From there it is a simple matter of sending some questions via email or a message. It’s extremely rare that someone isn’t willing to share what they know, provide advice, and point you in the right direction. This can also be a great way to make connections, and even friendships.

Conclusion

Northern lights over the mountains of the Brooks Range, Alaska.

Consider your photographic goals for the location you are planning to shoot, then do your research. Ask the right questions of the people who know, and you’ll have a much better chance of success when you hit the field. Plus you won’t feel foolish when you show up in the middle of the arctic summer to photograph the northern lights.

The post How to Plan and Prepare for Landscape Photography by David Shaw appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 16, 2017