8 Landscapes

Just you and the scene

Kevin Meredith

The Idea

Landscape photography is one of the more relaxing types of photography. You don't have to worry about people adversely affecting your images; it's just you and the big wide world.

The Ingredients

• ▶ Any camera
• ▶ Tripod
• ▶ Shutter release
• ▶ Wide open space
• ▶ Good pair of walking boots

The Process

Composition

Composition is really important for landscapes, so spend some time considering it. If the horizon is going to be obvious in your image, don't put it in the middle of your composition unless there is a really good reason to. It's better to give more weight to either the land or the sky, I usually line my horizon one-third or two-thirds of the way down the image, following the rule of thirds. (You can read more about the rule of thirds under Composition on page 282.) With open landscapes it's good to have something for the viewer to focus on-a hut or a tree stump, for instance-otherwise their eye will wander. Having a point of interest, especially in the foreground, helps to give a sense of depth to an image.

An alternative to a single point of interest is to make use of lead-in lines. These are elements in an image-a road, a row of trees, a line of footprints-that lead the viewer's eye through the image to a specific point.

Sussex Downs This image shows a good application of the rule of thirds: the horizon line is two-thirds of the way down.

Dust Storm at Burning Man Make the weather a feature of your landscapes, I added emphasis to the sky, and therefore the dust storm, by placing the horizon two-thirds down the image.

Depth of field

For the most part, when you are trying to capture a landscape, you want as much of it in focus as possible, from what is right in front of you to what is way off in the distance, so it's best to select a small aperture (which means a big f-number-around f/11). With this setting you will get as much in focus as possible, Landscape pictures need to be sharp; people are willing to forgive a blurry street portrait that was caught in the moment, but there is no excuse for not capturing a mountain in super-sharp detail, as it is not going anywhere! As I mentioned before, a small aperture will help you get your images as sharp as possible, but don't be tempted to close your aperture right down to the smallest it can go: your images might start to get more blurry due to something called diffraction.

Dungeness Railway The gentle curve of the track draws the viewer's eye into the image. This is referred to as a lead-in line

When it comes to lens selection for landscapes, the wider the better, as wide lenses have a greater depth of field, but avoid lenses that are so wide they cause barrel distortion, as this will leave you with a curved horizon line. There is no easy rule regarding how wide a lens you can use without getting this distortion-it all depends on the quality of the lens.

Camera shake

If you are shooting with a small aperture, less light will enter the camera, so you will need a slower shutter speed, which increases the risk of camera shake. To avoid camera shake, hard-core landscape photographers always use a tripod. One of my top tips for buying a tripod is, get the lightest one possible. At the time it felt like I spent quite a bit on mine, but with hindsight I wish I had spent a little more and got the superlight carbon-fiber version, Remember, when you are lugging your tripod, you will be carrying your camera gear too!

If you don't want to shell out lots of money or lug a big tripod around, there are many good mini tripods that will fit into you camera bag. One of the popular options is the Gorillapod, which is available in small versions for compact cameras and bigger ones for SLRs.

If you don't have a tripod, try to find something sturdy to rest your camera on, like a fence or a tree, Failing that, I love getting down and dirty and shooting from the ground.

As an extra insurance against camera shake, it's a good idea to use a cable release. If you don't have one, you can always use your camera's Self-Timer mode; this will remove the need for you to press the shutter button and the consequent risk of camera shake.

The horizon

Getting the horizon level by eye can be tricky and, even though it is easy to fix on computer, it's good to get it right first time round. A really cheap, but handy photography accessory is a hot-shoe spirit level. It is designed to slide into the flash hot shoe of your camera and will help you to get your camera level.

The sky

Landscapes can be made or broken by a killer sky. One way to get the blue to pop out of the sky is to use a circular polarizing filter to cut out reflective light. There is a lot of reflective light from water particles in the air, which we see as haze. If you cut that out, the sky will appear a deeper blue.

Yosemite National Park Using a circular polarizer will give you deep-blue skies