Camera College
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Part travel, part fine art and part documentary, landscape photography is an addictive mix of a few different photographic genres. And with all the hours of waiting around until those heart-pumping moments when the sun breaks and you frenetically burn through frames, it’s fair to say that it has a hint of sports photography, too. That being said, there are some techniques that are always useful, whatever your preferred approach is.
The first step to better landscapes is to avoid using your camera’s Landscape mode, as this gives you only limited options during the picture-taking process. For full creative control, you should switch to Aperture Priority or Manual, both of which allow you to choose the aperture setting. The aperture size is important in landscape photography, as it plays a crucial role in the amount of depth of field – or the depth of sharpness – you can see through the image. Narrow apertures (represented by high f-numbers, such as f/16 and f/22) give you more depth of field than wide apertures, and increase the amount of the scene that appears sharp from the foreground to the horizon. Avoid the narrowest setting, though: despite the increased depth of field you’ll enjoy, this will give you softer shots overall due to the effects of diffraction.
To record an image with a narrow aperture requires a longer exposure time, which is one of the reasons that a decent tripod and tripod head
are standard accessories for landscape photography. Stabilised lenses and in-body image stabilisation, found in cutting-edge mirrorless cameras such as the Canon EOS R6, have changed the game somewhat, allowing sharp images to be taken handheld at much slower shutter speeds. But a tripod offers consistency between shots and allows you to fine-tune the framing and composition. It’s essential if you’re using a strong ND filter to extend the exposure into minutes to blur the movement of clouds and water.
A tripod that gets the camera to your eye level without having to raise the centre column is going to provide a more stable platform. But it’s worth considering a model that doesn’t have a centre column at all, so you can easily get down to ground level as well. A camera that has a flip-out and rotating rear screen is going to make it easier to get low, worm-eye shots too.
If you’re a DSLR user, it’s worth activating the Live View display regardless of the angle you’re shooting from. Not only does it show you the full scene captured by the sensor (some optical viewfinders show a slightly cropped version), but you can take advantage of the live histogram to help manage the exposure, and
The Live View display can be hard to see in bright light, but this is where mirrorless cameras have an advantage over DSLRs
magnify the image to focus and check for sharpness. The display can be hard to see when you’re shooting outdoors in bright light, though. This is where mirrorless cameras have the advantage: their EVF (electronic viewfinder) is essentially a miniature Live View display, streaming the image from the sensor with in-camera processing settings such as white balance applied.
We typically recommend recording your images as raw files rather than JPEGs for most types of photography – but it’s particularly relevant advice for landscapes. High-contrast scenes that include a bright sky and dark foreground have a dynamic range that may be too great to record in a JPEG, but a raw file can hold more detail in the highlights and shadows. Shooting raw also gives you the opportunity to try different treatments when you process the file, such as alternative crops, white balance settings and colour adjustments, without affecting the original image file.
There are many different creative effects you can apply in-camera, though, that will have an impact on a raw file – often with fantastic results. Traditional filters you attach to the front of the lens still have their place, for example.
There are many different creative effects that you can apply in-camera which will have an impact on a raw file
A strong, 10-stop ND filter will give you the long exposure times that add an epic degree of blur to moving features in the landscape, and create images that are impossible to see with the naked eye. Then there’s a circular polarising filter, which can be used to remove glare, boost colours and add contrast, giving a more dynamic look to the landscape.
You can also achieve a dynamic image by moving the camera during a longer exposure. Intentional camera movement or ICM is a technique employed by a number of popular outdoor photographers, and it’s a great way to create Impressionistic and distinctive interpretations of familiar views. If your camera has a multipleexposure mode, you can also experiment with that. Try using it in a forest setting to emphasise the density of trees in an expressive way, for example, or use it in combination with ICM to combine sharp and blurred shots.
Why not use the images you capture as the starting point of a larger landscape work? Creating a panorama in photo-editing software such as Affinity Photo is simple, but there are a few decisions you’ll need to make when you shoot your source images that will make your job easier. Shoot with the camera positioned vertically rather than horizontally, as this will give you a higherresolution panorama, and allow an overlap between each shot of around a third to make it easier to stitch them together. Frame-to-frame consistency is key, so set as many of the controls to manual to prevent the camera making adjustments as you move it. Base your exposure on the brightest part of the scene to ensure this area isn’t blown out, and manually focus the lens before you start.