i need some tips for landscape/architecture photography
 

hi..
i'm just a beginner for dslr (also for this photoradar)....
can someone gives me some tips and setting to shoot landscape/ architecture photo? for your info, i'm just using canon 500d with kitlens (18-55mm) and use normal UV filter....and dont have flashgun....

i need all advice from how to shoot, setting etc....^_^

thanks.....

Welcome to the forum.

These are two very general broad questions you have asked here, the best advice I can give is to go and have a go and see what issues you hit (if any) likely issues for lanscape are going to be compositional, exposure of sky and depth of field. Similar with architecture if you are shooting from outside plus converging verticals.

Some snipptes of advice though:-

Before shooting both I would get familiar with AV (aperture priority) mode on your camera, setting exposure compensation and use a tripod if you have one if you don't then try and find some other means of keeping the camera still and stable.

Compostion wise look for foreground interest and think about how far into the distance you want the shot to be sharp if you want it to be sharp as far as possible then choose a high F number such as F16 and focus 1/3 in to the scene which should give you a sharp image back to front.

Read up about the rule of thirds there are plenty of articles about that google is you friend (you need to understand this rule before you can break it;)) , if you want to get serious about landscapes then you will need to consider graduated filters or you may consider taking multiple exposures of a scene (i.e. 1 exposed for the sky and 1 exposed for the land) and combining them with software.

Another great bit of advice is to walk around the area to get a feel for it and try to imagine what it would be like at different times of the day and different weather conditions (so you may return another time). Also based on what you see think about what elements would make up your perfect shot at that scene for example slightly cloudy with light shining on that rock in the corner of the lake etc.

As I said earlier just have a go if you want feedback on your photos or advice then post on the forum that's why we are here.

Most important advice is keep yourself safe of course;)

I am sure others will be along to offer there great advice also.

Ohh and neraly forgot (bad me) take inspiration from others, look at the landscapes others have taken and work out what you like as that will give you a better understanding of what you are trying to achieve.

Hi and welcome to the forum :)

For landscape and architectural photography, the use of a tripod is your best bet. This enables you to keep the camera perfectly still, allowing you to use slower shutter speeds without camera shake / blur.

There's no hard and fast rule for shooting landscapes / architecture as the settings to use will vary according to what you are photographing and how you want the photograph to look. For example, if you were shooting a landscape scene that had a waterfall, cascading down the side of a cliff, you may choose to use a fast shutter speed to capture the individual droplets of water (freeze framing). You may also choose to use a slow shutter speed, to give a more soft, blurred effect on the water.

For a landscape where everything is static, IE no rivers or waterfalls, depth of field is likely to be more important. The depth of field changes according to the size of the aperture of the lens you select. Wide open, it will be shallow, so that if you focused on a tree a few meters away, it would be in focus but everything infront and behind that would be blurred. Generally, for static landscape shots, smaller aperture values are used (f/16, f/18/, f/22, etc.) This is so that more detail in the background is brought into play. Landscape photographers sometimes use a technique [URL="http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/hyperfocal-distance.htm"]called hyper focal length[/URL], whereby at a certain lens length, at a given aperture, the lens is at its sharpest.

For architecture, the same as above applies. In general you want as much detail in the image as possible. More detail means smaller apertures. Smaller apertures mean slower shutter speeds and slow shutter speeds are your friend when it comes to busy landmarks.

By using a very slow shutter speed (usually requires the use of a neutral density filter with a value of 8 to 10), any moving objects get blurred into obscurity. Provided the people or cars in the shot, are moving, they will not get recorded to the image and your shot will be people free.

If you are very new to DSLR photography (and for the purposes of this explanation I will take the liberty of assuming you are, apologies if you are already proficient) and aren't familiar with things like the affect of aperture and shutter speed, I'd suggest you do some experimenting.

Set up some coloured pens on a table in a staggered line, spaced about 6 inches apart or more. Mount your camera on a tripod and select aperture priority mode (think that's Av on a Canon). Adjust the zoom so that all the pens are visible through the viewfinder. Focus your camera on the nearest pen and open your aperture to its widest value (It might be an idea to swich to manual focus mode before you do this so that the camera doesn't accidentally AF onto something else). Depending on the zoom length of your kit lens, this aperture value will be anywhere between 3.5 - 5.6.

Take a photograph. Keeping the focus on the same pen, reduce the aperture size gradually. Try f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 and beyond if you can. Then compare all the images. You won't have changed the zoom or focus of the camera but, you should find that the pens that were 6", 12", 18" and 24" away from the first pen, gradually become more and more in focus / detailed in the shot.

Next you could experiment with mounting the camera on the tripod and photographing water coming out of the kitchen sink. Put the camera into shutter priority (think that's Tv mode on a Canon) and take a series of shots from 1 sec, up to say 1/2000 sec. You may find that you need to use the popup flash or have a lamp on a nearby counter top, shining on the tap, as the shutter speed goes up as the faster shutter speeds will result in darker images if there is insufficient light. What you are looking for is the difference in appearance of the water.

Once you understand the basic concepts of this, you can apply it to all aspects of photography, whether is portraits or still life, to landscapes or sports/action shots.

Hope that helps :)

thanks wavemachine
 

dear wavemachine,
thanks for some tips about the suitable mode and filter types information....i'll try experimenting it first soon......thanks so much for your time..really appreciate it. ^_^

to amk1977,
thanks for your tips and information sharing especially about the shutter speed setting...i'll try it soon..thanks for the advices....have a nice day ^_^