Essential Guide To Landscape Photography – P1: Camera Equipment
Forest Giants by Kris Lamba
So, the mail man’s just delivered your shiny new digital SLR camera and you’re eager to get started in the wilderness, or perhaps it’s still just a hobby you fantasise about whilst updating those spreadsheets in the office at work. Either way, landscape photography is one of the most rewarding things you can do with a camera and for those already keen on outdoors type activities it can add a whole new dimension to walking and hiking. This short guide is a great starting point and will help you gain the skills required to take beautiful pictures for years to come!
1. Choose the correct camera
You might think that the only difference between DSLR’s (besides manufacturer) is image quality. This is far from the truth and it pays to research your camera purchase (if you haven’t already got one) thoroughly! A DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera is the logical choice when starting out in landscape photography. It offers full manual control as well as the ability to change lenses depending on the distance from the subject and the desired framing. There are several features often only included on more expensive DSLR cameras such as:
- Depth Of Field Preview – This feature sets the camera to the actual aperture selected enabling you to check focus on your foreground. It is, to many landscape photographers, an indispensable tool. The depth of field preview button is usually located just below the lens on the camera body.
- Full Frame Sensor – Some cameras (such as the Canon 5DmkII) offer a full frame digital sensor to record your images on. This has several advantages; firstly, it offers a wider viewpoint so that a 24mm lens offers an actual 24mm viewpoint, not 36mm as it might be rendered on an aps-c sized sensor.
- HD Video Shooting – Previously reserved for professional cameras this feature is slowly making it’s way across the prosumer line of DSLR’s as well.
Ultimately no matter which DSLR camera you choose, it will be possible to produce stunning results in the field, although as a general rule of thumb: the more expensive the camera, the better the image quality and the richer the features.
2. Choose a good selection of lenses
Without going into too much detail, the lens on your camera is the single most important element of your photography kit. Ultimately you will always be let down by the weakest link in your kit and a common misconception is that any lens will do so long as your camera is of a decent quality. If you only had £1000 / $1500 to spend on your entire kit, we’d recommend spending at least half of it on a high quality lens.
Lenses generally come in two categories: Fixed focal length i.e. “prime” or zoom . Prime lenses are generally of a higher quality, offering faster apertures and smoother “bokeh” but there are many zoom lenses available today which can rival even the highest quality fixed focal length “prime”. The Canon ef 24-70mm f2.8 L is a great example.
It is useful to have several focal lengths at your disposal and this could be achieved with just 2 zoom lenses. We suggest a wide angle for those wide sweeping vistas of mountains and lakes, a telephoto for capturing details and a macro lens for small wildlife.
3. Accessorise
You’ve bought the essentials and now it’s just a case of rounding off your kit with a few must have items. First on your list should be a decent camera bag, after all how else do you plan on transporting all your gear? Camera bags come in hundreds of shapes and sizes, but you should choose one that can carry your camera plus three lenses, is waterproof, shock resistant, and most importantly, is comfortable whilst worn.
Next up is a tripod. Again, these are available in a plethora of designs but which ever one you choose should be sturdy enough to support a heavy DSLR in slippery conditions. Luxury tripods are made of high strength carbon fibre which offers extreme strength combined with a very light weight. We suggest adding a ball head to the tripod as this will enable very quick changes in viewing position. Two key makes for tripod are Manfrotto and Gitzo (for some reason the Italians are just unbeatable when it comes to tripod design…)
Finally, you should grab some filters and a filter holder. With the advent of Photoshop and digital photography many filters that change the colour tone or offer special effects are now redundant. There are however a couple which should be in every landscaper’s kit bag. The circular polarising filter is essential and the effect it offers is un-replicable in any editing application. Put simply, the polarising filter filters out light polarised perpendicularly to the axis of the filter. This has three applications in photography: it reduces reflections from some surfaces, it can darken the sky and it saturates the image more by eliminating unwanted reflections. You should also invest in a couple of neutral density graduated filters. These filters darken one half of the image gradually and can be used to decrease the f-stop gap in diferent parts of the scene. It can be used, for example, to photograph a landscape with one part in deep shadow (the land) and one part brightly lit (the sky), where otherwise either the shadows would have no detail or the highlights would be blown out.
4. Go out and shoot
Now it’s time to go out and shoot. We will be covering this in parts two and three (shooting landscapes and advanced landscape techniques) but the following advice will give you a good starting point:
- Light looks best at dusk and dawn so either get up early, or be prepared to stay until closing time! A torch may be a sensible investment if you plan on sticking around after dark!
- Pick out details – try to look for unusual image compositions and frame subjects against both landscapes and skyscapes.
- Ignore all “composition rules” – don’t get hung up on the rule of thirds, just use your instinct and press the shutter when you are confident things are looking good!
- Be prepared to wait – once you have your image framed, don’t be tempted to just shoot and move on. Sometimes the best weather conditions and lighting effects present themselves when you least expect it. I remember setting up full large format kit once whilst waiting for a sunset. I got bored waiting as it seemed it would never present itself, but then of course on the drive home…the most spectacular sunset I’d ever seen!
- Above all else HAVE FUN SHOOTING LANDSCAPES!
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