Digital Camera World » Landscape

Spring photography tips: how to photograph flowers in the wild

jmeyer — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:01:30 +0000

Taking pictures of flowers in a controlled environment such as still life photography, or even in the confines of your garden is one thing. But learning how to photograph flowers in the wild presents a whole number of new challenges. In this quick guide we show you how to think about the light and how to experiment with the look and feel of your pictures.

All words and images by Mark Hamblin

Compared to other aspects of nature photography, shooting wild plants and flowers is a stroll in the park. After all, they can’t run off and you don’t need to lug back-breaking lumps of glass around with you to get a decent shot.

What’s more, the diversity and abundance of plants means that you won’t have to venture far to find a subject, and now is the ideal time to give it a go.

How to photograph flowers with the right backdrop

There are a number of lenses that are suitable for flower photography, depending on the style of image you hope to capture. Most general purpose zooms that cover focal lengths of around 24mm to 135mm will give you plenty of options.

The wider end of this range will allow you to include the plant or flower as part of its surroundings, helping to put it into context. The use of a wide-angle also increases depth of field, so the subject and backdrop can be recorded in sharp focus.

A short to mid telephoto is useful if you want to isolate an individual flower by throwing the background out of focus. It’s also possible to reduce the minimum focusing distance of a telephoto by fitting extension tubes.

These inexpensive glass-less tubes fit between the camera and lens and are an effective alternative to a macro lens. For serious close-up work though, use a 1:1 macro so you can hone in on the fine details.

PAGE 1: How to photograph flowers with the right backdrop
PAGE 2: A step-by-step guide on how to photograph flowers in the wild
PAGE 3: How to photograph flowers in the wild – think about the light
PAGE 4: Experiment with depth of field
PAGE 5: Final spring photography tips for photographing wild flowers

Photo Anatomy: using light to create artistic landscape photography

jmeyer — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 13:00:14 +0000

In our new Sunday series on Digital Camera World, we select pictures by famous photographers and explain point by point what makes them work.

In our latest instalment award-winning landscape photographer Antony Spencer reveals the artistic choices and photographic techniques he used to create this amazing landscape image.

Composition
The whole image is built around the tree. “It adds another dimension and takes the composition up  a level, especially with the creek leading straight to it,” says Antony.

Exposure
“When shooting a scene at 280mm on top of a hill, any wind will soften the image,  so I used ISO200 to shorten the exposure time,” he says.

Selecting the right content
“I used a 70-200mm lens at 200mm with a 1.4x extender to compress the area of interest within the landscape,” says Antony. “A polariser increased colour saturation.”

Viewpoint
Antony shot this image from the top of Steptoe Butte, which overlooks the wide open landscape of the Palouse region in Whitman County, Washington State, USA.

Time of day
“Sunset was always going to be the best time of day for the light to emphasise the undulating hills and lead towards the tree,” says Antony. “The angled light was crucial.”

We say
“Photographing a large-scale landscape like the Palouse can initially be overwhelming. Using a longer lens reduces the amount of detail in the frame and compresses perspective. By selecting the right combination of elements you can create a simple, balanced composition that’s far more effective than a broader landscape.”
Chris Rutter, technique editor

Seascape Photography Tips: using your 10-stop ND filter for ultra long exposures

jmeyer — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:01:07 +0000

As the sun re-emerges we all start thinking about hitting the beach. For photographers, however, this takes on a completely different meaning. In this tutorial we offer our best seascape photography tips for using your 10-stop ND filter to shoot long exposures that tame the waves and convey a sense of movement in the clouds.

Words and images by Jeff Morgan.

We’re fortunate in the UK, where Digital Camera World is based, because we have such easy proximity to thousands of miles of beautiful coastal scenery, and most of us are within a couple of hours’ drive of the shore.

The advantage of costal photography is that such a huge variety of weather conditions can produce great images; dark and stormy overcast days can look great in monochrome, while puffy white clouds look fantastic in colour.

However, whatever the conditions, seascapes are invariably at their best when taken with a long exposure. Static waves and sea spray become a smooth, milky blur that has a dream-like quality.

Fast-moving clouds turn into impressive streaks that give the sky real texture, and distractions like birds – and even people walking along the beach – simply disappear.

But getting a satisfactory exposure is difficult in all but the lowest-light conditions and narrowest apertures, because effective exposures often need to be several seconds or minutes long.

To achieve this without resulting in over-exposed shots, the level of light hitting your camera’s sensor needs to be cut down using a neutral density (ND) filter – which is semi-opaque to reduce the amount of light without altering its colour.

While these have been available in varying strengths for many years, a more recent innovation is the super-strong 10-stop ND filter, which reduces the light hitting your sensor by a thousandth – or put another way, would increase a 1 sec exposure to more than 15 minutes! These filters are available from a number of manufacturers.

As well as an ND filter, you’ll need a tripod and midrange zoom (your kit lens is ideal). We went to Bedruthan Steps, Cornwall, for a long-exposure Masterclass. Here’s how we got on…

Seaside Photography Tips – 01 Break the rules!

We often talk about the ‘rule of thirds’ and the importance of placing the horizon at the top or bottom thirds of the frame.

However, reflections are the exception that proves the rule!

Putting your horizon dead centre makes for a dynamic composition as we’re creating interest in both the sea and sky.

The rule you don’t want to break, however, is not getting an even horizon. Use a hotshoe spirit level or Live View with the grid display to ensure your horizons are perfectly level.

PAGE 1: Seaside Photography Tips – 01 Break the rules!
PAGE 2: Seaside Photography Tips – 02 Camera settings
PAGE 3: Seaside Photography Tips – 03 Attach the filter
PAGE 4: Seaside Photography Tips – 04 How to calculate exposure (free cheat sheet)
PAGE 5: Seaside Photography Tips – 05 Beach challenges
PAGE 6: Seaside Photography Tips – 06 When to shoot?
PAGE 7: Which filter to use for long-exposure seascapes

13 ways famous landscape photographers make money from photography

jmeyer — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 23:01:20 +0000

The life of famous landscape photographers can appear to be a glamorous mix of travelling to distant exotic photo locations, taking a few photos in glorious golden light, selling them onto international clients for a fortune before deciding where to travel to next!

The reality is very different. But that doesn’t mean you can’t start living the dream now and selling a few of your best pics to magazines, publishers, calendar companies and more. They might even help you pay for your next lens!

All images and words by Lee Beel

In order to make a success of your landscape photography and to increase the chances of your work being published you should always ask yourself one question when you’re out in the field: how can I photograph the scene before me in order to maximise its earning potential?

Of course, you should strive to capture the scene looking at its best but different clients want different things. Over the next few pages we’ll give you advice and tips for how to really make the most of every photographic opportunity.

How famous landscape photographers make money from photography: 1-3

1 Shoot in the middle of the day
Photographers know that the best light for landscape work occurs in the ‘golden’ hours around dawn and dusk when the low angle of the sun reveals contours and texture in the scene and bathes it in glorious light.

But if you only work for a couple of hours a day how do you expect to make a living? Colours look rich and saturated in harsh light under a blue sky.

It’s worth getting in touch with local interest magazines to see if they can use any of your pictures or if they’d like to keep them on file for future use.

2 Shoot vertical and horizontal
Most of the images published in magazines are in the vertical format. It seems obvious that upright images will be in demand when you know that an A4 page is this shape too.

However, if you look at the vast choice of calendars that are available you’ll notice that most of the use images that are shot horizontally.

This is not to say that each of these markets don’t use images that are shot in the other format. Of course magazines also use horizontal photographs and some calendar companies like to use vertical shots.

So, in order to increase the chances of your work being used you should try to capture a scene in both formats if it’s possible.

I don’t suggest you record both just for the sake of it – only if the scene you’re photographing works in both ways.

3 Compose with text in mind
If you browse the shelves at your local newsagent you’ll notice that most, if not all, magazines (and books for that matter) have the title in a prominent position along the top of the front page and various other text positioned around the cover image.

For this reason it can be a good idea to leave a bit of extra space at the top of your composition and around the edges of the frame so that text can be added if you work is to be considered for the front page of a magazine.

PAGE 1: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 1-3
PAGE 2: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 4-6
PAGE 3: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 7-9
PAGE 4: How famous landscape photographers make money from photography – tips 10-13

Professional Photographer to the Rescue: seaside sunset photography made easy

jmeyer — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:01:31 +0000

In our latest Professional Photographer to the Rescue post our pro takes our apprentice on a quest to capture brilliant seaside sunset photography.

Meet our professional photographer

Tom Mackie is a world-class landscape photographer with over 30 years’ professional experience. Since 1985 he’s lived in East Anglia, and enjoys capturing the beautiful British coastline and countryside with his pro Canon kit. Tom also runs photographic workshops in the UK, Europe and US. For more info and to see his gallery, go to www.tommackie.com.

Meet our apprentice

Jim Huntsman is a support worker who’s been a keen amateur photographer for the past seven years. Not long ago he upgraded to his first DSLR, an EOS 400D, and enjoys photographing landscapes. He’s asked for our help to improve his scenic and night shots of Blackpool – his hometown.

Technique Assessment

Jim began shooting as he would normally, then Tom suggested a few ways he could improve his DSLR techniques

Use raw power
“Jim was shooting in JPEG, so I encouraged him to shoot in raw format as it’s the best image quality, and ideal for landscape shots when you may want to accurately adjust exposure and tones afterwards in Adobe Camera Raw software,” says Tom.

“As Jim hadn’t processed raw files before, we set his 400D to capture both raw and JPG files, so he had both formats of each shot to work with.”

Control the DoF
“Jim was relying on his Full Auto mode, which sets everything automatically and restricts him from controlling the depth of field (DoF). I got Jim to use the Av (Aperture Priority) mode, as it enabled him to control the aperture, while his camera took care of the shutter speed,” says Tom. “Then, by setting a narrow aperture (f/16-f/22), he controlled the DoF to ensure his shots were sharp from foreground to horizon.”

PAGE 1: Meet our professional photographer and apprentice
PAGE 2: Seaside sunset photography tips from our professional photographer
PAGE 3: Final tips from our professional photographer
PAGE 4: Our professional photographer’s recommended gear
PAGE 5: Shot of the Day

Decisive Moment: how nature photographers can make the most of it

jmeyer — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:00:40 +0000

Henri Cartier-Bresson famously coined the term ‘decisive moment’, but anticipating and capturing decisive moments doesn’t only apply to street photography. In this tutorial we’ll show you how you can make the most of decisive moments as they appear in nature to create landscape or wildlife images with more impact for the viewer.

Images by Mark Hamblin

Really great images that stand out from the crowd all have one thing in common – they capture a unique moment in time when everything has come together to create the perfect picture.

These images rarely happen by chance, however. Instead, they are a combination of good planning, persistence, anticipation, fast reactions, technical ability and sometimes a small slice of luck.

It’s these skills that will help you improve as a photographer and raise your images from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

Unfortunately, many photographers fall into the trap of thinking that if they take hundreds of images then they are sure to capture a few great ones.

And while this might be the case in some situations, it usually simply means that you have lots of mediocre images to wade through but none that really stand out.

Instead, you need to think in terms of quality rather than quantity and set out to produce a small number of images that capture decisive moments to make your pictures special.

These are the moments when the subject reveals something extra. It may be something quite subtle like a catchlight in the eye or the slight turn of the head, or conversely it could be explosive action, unusual behaviour or exquisite lighting.

It’s very unusual to just stumble upon decisive moments to photograph. Forethought and planning are crucial and will increase your chances of being in the right place at the right time.

And the more time you spend out in the field the ‘luckier’ you will become.

When photographing landscapes it often comes down to going the extra mile or taking a chance. This might mean pulling yourself out of bed at 4am to get to a location for a dawn shoot or hiking for a couple of hours in the dark.

Sometimes it’ll pay off, sometimes it won’t, but you can’t catch a glorious sunrise if you’re asleep in bed. To capture these unique moments you have to be in position, set up and ready to go.

Capturing the decisive moment with wildlife relies as much on patience as anything else. There can be long periods of inactivity during which you may have to stay still for hours but remain ready to react very quickly to an event that might only last a few seconds.

PAGE 1: What is the decisive moment in nature?
PAGE 2: Reacting quickly to the decisive moment
PAGE 3: 7 top tips for capturing the decisive moment in nature
PAGE 4: Decisive moments – photographing birds in flight

Tripod Tips: using a tripod to shoot from unusual camera angles

jmeyer — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:00:52 +0000

Want to take more creative photography? Shooting from unusual camera angles is a tried and tested technique for adding drama to your shots.

But doing so requires knowing how to use a tripod like an expert. Follow these tripod tips to find out how to set up your camera to shoot from every angle possible.

Image by Mark Hamblin

Your tripod is just as important as your camera kit, and without one it would be impossible to take many shots at all.

A lot of the time, you’ll just use your tripod at a comfortable height, but to capture something a little different you need to think beyond using the tripod as a mere camera support. Instead, use it to shoot from unusual angles that give your images a creative edge.

Tripods come in many styles and configurations, but most have the option for the legs to splay right out.

This reduces its height, which is great for low-level shooting – an ideal way to accentuate foreground interest in your landscape images and get unusual perspectives on ground-dwelling wildlife subjects.

Centre columns can be a real pain if you want to get really low though, so consider buying a model without one. Alternatively, most can be removed and reinserted to mount your camera upside down.

Sometimes the best shooting position can be very awkward to get to, on uneven ground or higher than you can reach. But there are ways around this.

For example, two legs can be extended to full height and the third kept short to enable working on very steep ground.

In some cases, one leg can be redundant altogether, with the tripod resting on two legs and leaning against a vertical surface such as a fence. Or to gain height you can bring the legs much closer together or even hold the tripod high above your head.

Tripod tips for shooting from unusual angles

Get down low
Keep the legs at their minimum height and adjust the locking clips so the legs can be splayed out. There are often a couple  of positions that the legs can be locked into to optimise the height. The absence of a centre column is best for ultra-low shooting.

Reverse the centre column
If your camera has a centre column, remove it and re-insert it the other way. You can now mount the camera upside down and position it close to the ground. Adjust your settings before positioning the camera and use Live View to compose the shot.

Handhold your tripod
A tripod can sometimes be used to good effect by holding it high up with your camera attached for an elevated view or unusual angle.

Set a high shutter speed of around 1/250 sec or faster to prevent camera shake and fire the shutter using a remote release.d re-insert it the other way.

You can now mount the camera upside down and position it close to the ground. Adjust your settings before positioning the camera and use Live View to compose the shot.

Flat Light: how to bring your dull images back to life

jmeyer — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:51:35 +0000

Is flat light killing your landscape photography? These great camera tips from a seasoned professional photographer will show you how to take control of flat light and use it to your advantage.

All images by Mark Hamblin

If you’ve heard a landscape picture described as ‘flat’, you may be wondering what that actually means. Well flat images are those that look rather lifeless and uninteresting, not because of the content, but because they lack contrast, depth, detail and colour. And this is often down to flat light.

Flat light is light that is diffused, such as on an overcast day, or is illuminating the scene from the same angle as the picture is being taken – when the sun is high behind the camera, for example – will produce landscapes that lack interest.

No one wants to take dull landscape pictures, so here’s how to ensure you achieve scenic success.

How to use flat light to your advantage

Avoid grey skies
For some subjects such as waterfalls, overcast light from a grey sky is exactly what you need, but for big landscape vistas it’s a curse. As a rule, if the sky looks insipid and lacks any interest then so will your landscape images, so shoot something else instead and return on another day.

Try side-lighting your landscapes
You need shadows to add character to your landscapes and to bring out shape and form. If the sun is behind you, shadows will be minimal and hidden. Instead, orientate the camera so the landscape is lit by sunlight coming in from either side of the frame.

Shoot when the sun is low
The periods early and late in the day are often referred to as the golden hours for landscape photography, and for good reason. Not only is the light much warmer at these times, but the sun is also at a low indirect angle, which creates long shadows and adds depth, vibrancy and interest.

The professional photographer’s camera bag: the perfect kit for versatile landscape photography

jmeyer — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 14:00:21 +0000

Professional photographer Guy Edwardes shows us what’s in his camera bag that allows him to be so versatile with his photography. From flash extenders to super-telephoto lenses, here is what one successful pro uses day in and day out.

Of course it’s not just the gear that you that makes one’s landscape photography successful. It’s how you use it. In this photography cheat sheet Guy tells us why each piece of equipment is vital.

To see the larger version of this cheat sheet, click on the infographic or drag and drop it to your desktop.

Camera Filters: the only cheat sheet you’ll need for beautiful, balanced exposures

jmeyer — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 12:41:51 +0000

Camera filters can be a bit of an enigma for many photographers, both new and experienced.

There are many types of camera filters, for starters, and knowing when and how to use them isn’t always so clear-cut.

Why use camera filters?

Different camera filters, especially circular polarizers and Neutral Density filters, can dramatically reduce the amount of light that enters the lens, and this will have a profound effect on the exposure setting.

The good news is that your digital camera’s internal light metering system – which measures light ‘through the lens’ – will automatically correct for camera filters in the vast majority of cases.

However, a little fine-tuning is often needed, so it’s best to review shots on your camera’s LCD screen, dial-in any Exposure Compensation required, then re-shoot your subject.

In our infographic below we’ve produced a handy cheat sheet that takes you four of the most common problem areas for photographers when it comes to using camera filters.

Our flow chart will show you how to choose the best ND grad filter; how to get perfect exposures with a solid ND filter; the secret to using a circular polariser and troubleshooting the common problems with camera filters.

To view the larger version of this cheat sheet, simply click on the infographic or drag and drop it to your desktop.

And don’t miss pages 2 and 3 of this article, where we discuss the camera filter options available to you and the old question of do you go with square or round filters?

PAGE 1: Using camera filters effectively – free cheat sheet
PAGE 2: Camera filter options
PAGE 3: Square vs Round camera filters