Читать книгу 100 Ways Take Better Landscape Photographs - Guy Edwardes - Страница 6

Landscape photography basics

1

Keep your equipment portable

When travelling long distances on foot, it is best to keep your photographic kit as light and compact as possible, so that it neither hampers you nor deters you from traversing difficult ground. It is easy to be tempted into replacing or adding to your camera system with the very latest, and reportedly better, cameras, lenses and accessories. However, you should consider carefully how these upgrades and new items might benefit your photography, and whether they will help you to produce better images. They may very well provide little more than additional ballast to your camera bag! Good-quality modern zoom lenses can replace several prime lenses, saving both weight and cost without sacrificing image quality. However, as many landscape images require the use of a small aperture for sufficient front-to-back sharpness, heavy and expensive fast zoom lenses are both unnecessary and rather impractical.

The Storr

When travelling longer distances by foot over rough ground, I take only a basic camera set-up. On this occasion, I had only one camera body, a wide-angle zoom lens and a telephoto zoom lens, a basic filter system, spare batteries, film and a carbon-fibre tripod. The total weight of a little over 6kg (13lb) meant that I wasn’t deterred from climbing the steep 300m (1,000ft) ascent in pre-dawn light in order to reach the top of a rocky outcrop in the Scottish Highlands in time for sunrise. The backs of these rocky pinnacles on the Isle of Skye are lit by beautiful warm light only in early summer, when the sun rises at the easternmost point of its yearly cycle.

Canon EOS 5, 28–105mm lens, polarizer filter, 1-stop neutral density graduated filter, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/2sec at f/11

2

Get to know your camera

It is surprising how many photographers are not totally familiar with the functions and operation of their camera. Landscape photography doesn’t require a great many of the functions available on a modern SLR, but you must familiarize yourself with those that are necessary. Find out how to set the different metering modes, and learn how the metering system reacts to different lighting conditions. Set the custom functions that you might need and make a list of ones that you access regularly. Know how to replace the battery. Practise attaching the remote release and setting the camera up for long exposures. Learn how to set the mirror lock-up and self-timer function. Order your filters and adaptor rings in one easily accessed and well-labelled wallet. Memorizing these functions and procedures will help you to work quickly in order to catch moments of transient light. It will also allow you to work far more efficiently in low light situations.

Inquisitive sheep

I was returning to my car after shooting a sunrise over this mist-filled valley when a flock of sheep ran along the ridge past me. The last two paused inquisitively against a wonderful backdrop. I hurriedly set my tripod down and changed to a longer focal length lens, composed the scene, focused, metered the exposure, set an aperture small enough to record the background sharply, set mirror lock-up and self timer and hit the shutter. Without knowing exactly how to set the functions on my camera I would almost certainly have missed this shot as I managed to fire off only two frames before the sheep decided to catch up with the rest of the flock.

Canon EOS 1Ds, 70–200mm lens, ISO 100, 1/30sec at f/22

3

Include a sense of scale

It is often essential, although not always easy, to illustrate scale in a landscape photograph. Take, for example, California’s Giant Sequoia forest: without including an easily recognizable object, it would be impossible to show just how massive these magnificent trees are in reality. The same is true of many other subjects – towering cliffs, vast sandy beaches, waterfalls and the like. The easiest option may be to include a human figure within your composition. If this doesn’t appeal to you, or if it simply isn’t practical, then look for another easily recognizable object that will fit naturally within the scene – perhaps a building, an animal or a plant. Whatever you use to illustrate scale must be placed close to the main subject, otherwise the effects of perspective may counteract your efforts. A wide-angle lens used close to a foreground element can exaggerate scale very effectively and will often result in a very dramatic and eye-catching image.

Fishermen at sunset

The fishermen on the beach exaggerate the size of the sun due to the compressing effect of a 400mm telephoto lens. This may look a little unnatural, as it is not the way we would see the scene in reality. However, the compressing effect produces an image with far more impact than would have been possible had I shot the same scene with a 50mm lens. In breezy conditions I used a beanbag to support the lens. I placed a second bag on top of the lens and used the mirror lock-up function, along with a cable release, to minimize the chances of vibration spoiling the final image.

Canon EOS 5, 400mm lens, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/15sec at f/16

4

Invest in a tripod

A sturdy tripod is an essential piece of equipment for landscape photography. Some shots are impossible to achieve without one, but every image will benefit from the use of one. Unfortunately not all tripods are up to the job, and those that are, tend to be quite expensive. Try not to be lured by cheap lightweight models even if you shoot with a basic 35mm camera system. Look for one that extends to at least head height and also allows ground-level shooting by splaying the legs at right-angles. Again, you must buy a high quality head if it isn’t to become a weak link in your set-up. Although less versatile than a ball and socket head, a three-way pan and tilt head will offer independent adjustment of each axis, which can be a great help in fine tuning composition. It is easy to miss moments of transient light when you are fumbling to screw your camera on to a standard tripod head. A quick-release head will cost a little more, but the benefits over years of photography make the initial investment worthwhile.

Dawn from Eggerdon Hill

I spotted this distant scene from a roadside gateway. The crops inside the gate were so tall that I had to extend the legs of my tripod to maximum height in order to gain a clear vantage point. Although my tripod has no centre column I still needed a small stepladder to be able to see through the viewfinder. Centre columns are a weak link in any tripod set-up and should only be used when there is no other option. It is perhaps best to buy a tripod that doesn’t have a centre column – then you won’t be tempted to use it!

Canon EOS 3, 400mm lens, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/4sec at f/16

5

Learn good tripod technique

A sturdy tripod will help to ensure consistently sharp results, but only when combined with good technique. Never extend the leg sections of the tripod any further than necessary, and make sure that all tripod controls are fully tightened before making your exposure. Position your tripod on firm ground or push the legs into softer ground. Matted grass, moss and woodland debris all act like springs under the legs of a tripod, amplifying any vibration. Hanging a beanbag, or even your camera bag, from the tripod as additional ballast can be quite effective when using longer focal length lenses. By using your camera’s mirror lock-up feature, in combination with a cable release or self timer, the vibration caused by the action of the mirror can be allowed to die away before the exposure is made.

Waterfall

There are many situations in which it would be impossible to obtain a sharp image without using a tripod to support your camera. This shot of a waterfall in Briksdal, Norway, was taken in overcast light with a telephoto lens, a combination that always calls for the use of a tripod. I also wished to record movement in the water, for which an exposure time of 1/4sec was required. Fortunately I was able to set up on a firm surface, and I placed a beanbag on top of my lens to help minimize the effects of any shutter-induced vibration. I also locked the mirror up before making the exposure – mirror lock-up is a camera feature that I could not live without.

Canon EOS 5, 400mm lens, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/4sec at f/11

6

Research your destination

Whenever you travel to an unfamiliar place it is vital to carry out as much research as possible before you depart if you intend to make the most of the photographic opportunities available. The internet is perhaps the best source of information prior to departure. Maps are the landscape photographer’s best friend so buy the best you can find with as much information on them as possible, ideally before departure so that you have a chance to study them carefully. Those that accurately show the lie of the land can be used to predict lighting conditions – such as which side of a valley will be in shade at a certain time of day. Upon arrival, head for the nearest tourist information centre for inspiration. You are certain to find postcards, calendars and guidebooks depicting local landmarks and characteristic views of the area. This will provide further insight into the region’s photographic potential and may reveal more locations that could be worth exploring. In poor weather use your time constructively to search out and explore new sites. Try to find compositions that would be worth returning to in good light and consider precisely when to revisit – morning or afternoon, or at high or low tide, for example.

Ålesund

The panoramic view from this hilltop just outside the town of Ålesund on the Norwegian coast is depicted in just about every tourist brochure and guidebook about the region. Even though the prospects of getting a unique shot are relatively slim at a location that is this well photographed, a visit is still worthwhile even if it is just a matter of getting your first shots ‘in the bag’. A clear haze-free day is essential when you are photographing distant, highly detailed scenes. Here I used a polarizing filter to intensify the colours and remove reflections from the foliage and rooftops.

Hasselblad XPan, 45mm lens, polarizer, centre-spot filter, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/15sec at f/11

7

Use a polarizing filter

The polarizer is a very important filter for the landscape photographer. On sunny days, it can be used to deepen the colour of blue skies, accentuate clouds and saturate other colours within a scene. This can reduce the contrast between land and sky and increase the overall impact of the shot. A polarizer is most effective when used at right-angles to the sun and when the sun is low in the sky; however, it isn’t always necessary to apply the full amount of polarization – a half turn of the filter may be all that is required. A polarizer can also be helpful on overcast days (see page 27) when it can be used to remove unwanted reflections from grass, foliage, rocks and other surfaces, thereby improving colour saturation and the definition of fine detail. Polarizers reduce the amount of light reaching the film by 1–2 stops. In-camera TTL exposure systems will take this into account, but you will need to compensate for this if you are using a hand-held light meter.

Oil-seed rape fields

White clouds set in an otherwise clear blue sky provide the perfect opportunity to exploit the effects of a polarizing filter. The blue sky becomes highly saturated, making the clouds stand out clearly. The filter has also removed reflections from the vegitation and saturated the colours throughout the image. I normally avoid using a polarizing filter on wide-angle lenses when photographing scenes that include blue sky, as I dislike the uneven darkening of the sky that can result.

Canon EOS 5, 50mm lens, warm-tone polarizer, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/45sec at f/16

8

Search for the best vantage point

One of the most important lessons in landscape photography is not to arrive at a location and instantly fix your camera to your tripod. A tripod-mounted camera is very restrictive and discourages you from moving very far or from altering the height from which you shoot. This often results in images that lack both depth and an interesting or well-conceived foreground. Always explore the location first. Step off the path and walk around, keeping an eye out for interesting foreground elements or lead-in lines. Once you have found a likely shooting position hold your camera up to your eye and consider how to compose the scene. Try both vertical and horizontal format to see which might work best. Only once you are happy with what you see should you reach for your tripod, which then becomes a perfect aid for fine-tuning your chosen composition.

Seaton Bay at sunset

Upon arriving at this pebble beach at Axmouth, in Devon, England, I walked up and down the shoreline with my camera in hand, searching for the best position from which to shoot. This was obviously a wide-angle shot so I was looking for a nice arrangement of boulders to include in the foreground. The freedom of movement that a hand-held camera provides allowed me to quickly find the best position and height from which to shoot before setting the tripod in place. This technique both speeds up the image-taking process and can also increase the compositional impact of your shots. On this occasion, the clouds overhead reflected the colours of the setting sun. A layer of haze in front of the sun prevented any problems with flare. I selected a small aperture to ensure sufficient depth of field, and added a 2-stop neutral density filter to increase the exposure time to help smooth out the surface of the sea and to record the movement of the swirling water in the foreground.

Canon EOS 3, 24mm lens, 2-stop neutral density filter, 2-stop neutral density filter, Fujichrome Velvia, 10sec at f/16

9

Learn to use neutral density graduated filters

Neutral density graduated filters (also known as ND grads) are an indispensable tool for the landscape photographer. Neither film nor digital capture is able to record the same range or brightness that we can see with our own eyes, and if you ignore this limitation you are likely to be disappointed with many of your landscape photos. We can decipher detail within a brightness range of about 13 stops, whereas transparency film can only record detail within a range of 5 stops (a little more with digital) before either highlights burn out or shadows block up. Therefore, if you photograph a scene that includes a broad range of brightness and expose for the highlights, the shadows will lack detail; if you expose for the shadows, the highlights will burn out. Expose for somewhere in between and the whole image is likely to look wrong. This is where neutral density graduated filters come in. Their 50/50 split of clear and grey (neutral density) glass or optical resin allows us to reduce the contrast between light and dark areas (often the difference between the sky and the landscape itself), helping to retain a full range of detail in our images. If there is more than a 5-stop difference between the correct exposure for the brightest highlights and the deepest shadows, you will need to control this contrast in order to preserve detail throughout the image. Even if the scene is within the 5-stop range, you will probably wish to reduce the contrast for a more balanced result. To aid precise positioning of the filter, set your shooting aperture and hold down your camera’s depth-of-field preview button (if it has one). The viewfinder image will be dark, but it will show the transition line of the filter more clearly. Slide the filter up and down in the holder to achieve perfect positioning. Remember that the smaller the aperture you use, the sharper the transition line of the filter will appear in your image. Neutral density graduated filters come in different strengths (normally 1, 2 and 3 stops) and in both hard- and soft-edged versions. Hard-edged filters are most useful when photographing a scene with a relatively straight horizon, such as a seascape, whereas soft-edged filters are of more use when the horizon is interrupted by hills, trees or buildings.

Loch Tummel

Part of this Scottish scene was illuminated by late afternoon sunlight, but the rocks that I wanted to use to provide foreground interest were in the shadow of the hillside behind me. I took a spot-meter reading (with a polarizing filter in place) of 1/15sec at f/16 from a mid-toned area of the sunlit hills, and another reading of 1sec at f/16 from the foreground rocks. This difference of 3 stops meant that I needed to position a neutral density graduated filter across the top half of the image in order to record sufficient detail throughout. I decided to use a 2-stop ND grad in order to maintain some contrast between the two areas. When you are using an ND grad to hold back a bright sky always make sure the sky records as a lighter tone than the foreground, otherwise the resulting image will tend to look unnatural. There is nothing to stop you combining two or more neutral density graduated filters to help retain detail in a very high-contrast scene, or perhaps to hold back both the sky and the foreground when shooting a snow scene.

Canon EOS 3, 24mm lens, polarizer, 2-stop neutral density graduated filter, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/4sec at f/16

Canon EOS 3, 24mm lens, polarizer, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/15sec at f/16

10

Understand reciprocity

Reciprocity is the relationship between shutter speed and aperture and the way they both affect the exposure of film. Your choice of shutter speed affects the exposure of your image, as does your choice of aperture, and by the same amount. A 1-stop increase in either shutter speed or aperture would reduce the exposure of your image by 1 stop, and vice versa. You can rely upon this reciprocal relationship between shutter speed and aperture settings working in unison to allow the right amount of light to reach the film for the metered exposure to be correct. However, during very long exposures, this relationship begins to breakdown. This break down is known as reciprocity failure and the result is an underexposure of the image. Reciprocity failure only occurs in exposures of over 2 seconds, in which case the film will need to be exposed for slightly longer than your meter reading suggests in order to compensate for the film’s reduced light sensitivity during extended exposure times. Some films may also require a colour-correction filter to be used to compensate for the colour shifts that can also occur. Until you’re confident in the way your chosen film handles long exposures you would be wise to bracket your shots to ensure a good result.

Jurassic Coast sunset

It was worth the effort it took to reach this rather inaccessible section of Dorset coastline as I discovered this small west- facing pebble beach – a perfect location for a sunset shot. I use Fujichrome Velvia whenever I need to set a long exposure. I have learnt how this film reacts to extended exposure times and how much compensation is required to make up for the effects of reciprocity failure. I find that it needs less compensation than Fuji suggest; about + 1/2 stop at 10sec, + 1 stop at 20sec and, as on this occasion, + 1 1/2 stop at 1min. I have often exposed it for up to 15min (at + 2 1/2 stops) with no adverse effects. When shooting sunsets I never try to filter out any colour shifts that occur as they often enhance the mood of the image.

Canon EOS 3, 24mm lens, 2-stop neutral density graduated filter, Fujichrome Velvia, 1min at f/16