landscape photography

see also:

• photography and camping main index page
• https://www.photocascadia.com/creative-applications-of-color-theory-in-landscape-photography/

• great landscape photography is a challenge as it generally requires:
  • a nice landscape scene with nice composition
    • what is the focal point for the viewer's eye to keep coming back to?
    • compositional elements - walk around and search of a point of view that gives the ambience you want
    • water or cloud movement - freeze it or let it flow
    • pre-visualise the scene - perhaps it will work better in monochrome?
    • level horizon and where do you put it - 1/3rd from top, from bottom or in the middle?
    • planning - when is the best light direction for the location? do you need to worry about tides?
    • think creatively for plan B if weather doesn't turn out as expected - go with the flow
    • safety - don't get struck by lightning, fall off a cliff, get caught by rising tides, step on a snake, break an ankle or get lost or mugged
    • protect your gear from the weather
  • nice lighting
    • this requires planning, timing and patience
    • many photographers only shoot the “Golden Hour” around sunrise and sunset
  • a complimentary sky - this requires planning, timing, patience and some luck
  • avoidance of subject blur unless it is flowing water:
    • minimal wind is usually desirable to avoid plants and trees moving
    • camera tripod or at least an image stabiliser or a fast shutter speed
    • self-timer or remote control to reduce camera shake further if using a tripod
  • maximal detail across the whole image including foreground to background:
    • lots of depth of field (DOF)
      • relatively small aperture
      • consider focusing one third into the scene, although some consider focusing on the distant subject gives the better subject detail
      • tilt lens may be an option
      • focus stacking may be required
    • avoidance of too small an aperture that diffraction effects reduce image sharpness
    • avoidance of camera shake
    • avoidance of noise reduction - use base ISO where possible
    • excellent optics with minimal aberrations edge to edge at the desired aperture
    • avoidance of internal lens flare - coated lenses, the best filters, lens hoods, etc
  • management of high contrast scenes, options include:
    • shoot in RAW mode to attain best control over high contrast and tweak white balance if needed
    • avoid high contrast scenes (eg. eliminate a featureless cloudy sky from the composition)
    • use a camera with the best dynamic range (eg. the latest full frame or medium format camera)
    • use ND gradient filters to darken the bright sky - but avoid if tall objects such as mountains
    • HDR techniques although rarely give realistic, nice landscape imagery - can the camera do exposure bracketing such as 5 or 7 shots at 1EV increments?
• professional landscape photographers can generally afford to resort to super expensive medium format digital cameras or perhaps wide panoramic medium format film cameras or even large format film cameras

• best image quality for studio and landscapes as long as you don't need high ISO
• super expensive (>$50,000)
• heavy and large, and requires heavy, expensive tripods and tripod heads as well as expensive, large filters and filter holders
• requires mirror lockup
• no 16:9 panorama option other than by cropping
• not an option for backpacking overnight unless you have a team of sherpas
• not an option for including in cabin luggage on air flights - you will need expensive, special insurance to cover this kit
• see medium format digital camera systems

• expensive (>$10,000 for kit), large, heavy and requires relatively heavy, expensive tripods and tripod heads as well as relatively expensive and large filters and filter holders
• travel issues as for medium format digital
• only get a few shots per roll of film - shots are expensive and you need to change rolls of film on location
• potential issues with film - eg. airport Xrays, need to process professional film as soon as possible, cannot change film to another type mid-way, cannot check to see if you got the shot while on location, etc
• requires a special central ND filter to address the severe vignetting which occurs
• see medium format film camera systems

• expensive (>$10,000 for kit), large, heavy and requires relatively heavy, expensive tripods and tripod heads as well as relatively expensive and large filters and filter holders
• requires mirror lockup
• requires aperture f/11-f/22 to maximise depth of field (DOF)
• no 16:9 panorama option other than by cropping
• not an option for backpacking overnight unless you have a sherpa
• see digital SLR cameras

• as for full frame dSLR but a little smaller and does not require mirror lock up
• eg. Sony a7R II full frame mirrorless camera

• has major advantages in terms of:
  • cost (kit can cost < $2000 eg. Olympus OM-D E-M5 II plus Olympus mZD 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro weatherproof lens)
  • size
  • weight
  • airline travel
  • backpacking
  • your health
• can use a smaller, lighter, less expensive tripod and tripod head as lower weight
• smaller, less expensive lens filters
• more portable size encourages one to seek out alternate points of view and perspectives - the flip out live view allows easier, more comfortable, camera on close to ground shots
• potentially better edge-to-edge image optical quality
• can use faster shutter speed (and less wind blur) at base ISO as best aperture to use is f/5.6-f/8 rather than f/11-16 as on full frame (full frame can address this by increasing ISO 2 stops but that defeats some of the advantages of sensor image quality)
• can use slower shutter speed hand held as they generally have the best image stabiliser
• can use automatic in-camera focus stacking to increase depth of field (DOF)
• Olympus cameras have awesome weathersealing - heavy rain is not an issue
• disadvantages include:
  • slightly less sensor dynamic range but similar to color film - use a ND gradient filter or be careful with composition
  • less megapixels although the latest Olympus cameras can get you to 50mp in HiRes mode but this requires a static scene and tripod
  • smaller camera controls can make use with gloves in cold weather difficult
  • smaller battery means battery life in cold conditions can be problematic - may need to take a few!
• see Micro Four Thirds system