Shallow- focus landscapes James Paterson

www.patersonphotos.com A solid stock- exposure setting for landscapes is to use aperture priority at f/16, ISO 100. This way there’s usually enough depth of field to ensure front-to-back sharpness, and the low ISO ensures maximum image quality. However, like all stock settings, it shouldn’t always be the default. At times f/16 is unnecessarily narrow. When there are no objects too close to the camera, f/8 may suffice. And as a bonus, a mid-range aperture will often be closer to your lens’s sweet spot for maximum sharpness. What’s more, there could be times when minimising the depth of field results in a more creative image by allowing you to isolate parts of the frame and blur the rest.