If you don't understand how your camera works iages like this are easy to miss.

If you spend any amount of time reading about photography, you will probably have her at professional photographer to say that being a good landscape photographer or any photographer that matter is not about the equipment you and that is almost certainly true. However it is surprising how many photographers not totally familiar with the functions and operations of their cameras.

To take good landscape photographs doesn’t require a lot different functions to be used on an SLR or compact camera but if you are not familiar with those functions needed to capture the landscape in the way you see it then you are placing barriers for yourself and hindering chances of taking the best landscape photos you can.

It is a good idea before you go out into the field or to location to familiarise yourself with things such as different metering modes and how these will affect the final image in the way that they interpret lighting conditions. Practising things before you get into your chosen landscape such as setting the camera up for long exposures, setting the mirror lock-up even something as simple as setting up your tripod and mounting your camera will make taking great landscape photos so much easier and also it will allow you to concentrate on the landscape itself rather than constantly thinking about which settings use, which has lens to use, what strength of neutral density filter should I use.

One example of knowing how will your camera works will be imperative is in low light situations. If your rise on location before dawn and you don’t know how to setup your camera off by heart you could very well miss that moment of transient light.

Finding the best point of view in a Landscape

So much of the success of Landscape Photography depends of course on the small frame of which makes up the final image. Of course for a start you need a Landscape to take a photo of, but as is the immersive nature of outdoor photography, you can move around within the subject itself. Unlike other forms of photography such as portraiture or still life, there is a much wider range of framing and searching for the best view of your chosen landscape.

A lot of the success of capturing on film or sensor the landscape as you see it through your own eyes is down to research and planning. This can start before you even step foot out of the front door. I know before I get to location that researching beforehand will give me ideas of how I envisage the final shot. The first thing you do is research websites such as Flickr. Simply typing the name of a place or even using the map to search photographs that have been geotagged, will bring up results of the sort of landscape images that have been taken in the area. Of course you are not trying to replicate these but merely using this opportunity to formulate ideas and visulise the area before arriving.

Perhaps the most valuable exercise is to arrive at location early, walking around and taking note of scenes so when the light is right you have already done the hardest part. A lot of people I see will arrive at a scenic spot and stand at a designated viewpoint, take a snap then move on. If you really want to produce first class images take the time to move around and find that spot that makes you landscape photos stand apart from the rest.

The Dorset Coast during the Golden Hour after Sunset.

When the sun is high in the sky which is obviously pretty much throughout the whole day the light it produces is a neutral but the closer it gets to the horizon the warmer its rays become. Of course when I say warmer my meaning the colour that it produces and not the temperature. In landscape photography some the best conditions in terms of lights occur early and late in the day. These periods of time on what’s referred to as the Golden Hour being of course an hour at the beginning and one at the end of the daylight hours.

The light during the hour after sunrise and before Sunset can change the way the landscape being photographed looks dramatically. There are a variety of reasons why the Golden hour is beneficial for photography one of these is the warm, low contrast light. This soft light enables the film or sensor in your camera to record more detail in the final photo as there will be less contrast between light and dark within the frame. The low angle of the sun will cast softer shadows and mean more shape and texture in the landscape will be visible. If you refer to any landscape photographers portfolio or photo sharing websites you will notice that many of the most memorable landscape images will have been taken in the Golden hour

I have been doing a lot on my main site at the moment hence this one being left out. Take a look at neilmcdonaldphotography.com to see what I have been up to. I do have more plans to update this site so if you have any recommendations just let me know and i’m on it.

Aperture - A variable opening in the lens that controls the amount of light let into the camera

Aperture priority – An exposure function where the user controls the aperture and therefore the depth of field and the camera alters the metering and shutter speed accordingly

Anti-aliasing – Smoothing the jagged edges (aliasing) of selection or paint tools in digital imaging software.

Artefact – A defect or flaw in a digital image.

Bit – A binary digit. A digital quantity representing either 1 or 0.

Bitmap – An image made up of dots or pixels. All cameras produce these.

Buffer – This is the memory that can store images before they are written to the memory card. This means a burst of photos can be taken in a short space of time.

Burst mode (Continuous Shooting) – A feature that allows many shots to be taken in quick succession.

Camera Shake – Blurring in an image caused by movement during an exposure.

CCD – (Charge-Coupled Device) Converts light into electrical current. This is the image sensor which is the digital equivalent of film.

Cloning – A feature in image editing software that allows one part of the image to be duplicated over another. This allows blemishes or artefacts to be seamlessly removed.

CMOS – Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor. This is an alternative image sensor to the CCD.

CMY, CMYK – (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow) Colour printing model. CMYK adds black (Key) and is used for most professional printing applications.

CompactFlash – Type of digital camera removable storage media.

Depth of Field – The area in front and behind the focus point that is sharp. This is controlled by the aperture.

Digital Zoom – A feature that enlarges the central part of the image to create the effect of a telephoto lens. It is in fact just cropping the image.

DPI – (Dots per Inch). Is a measurement of the resolution of a printer or monitor.

Electronic Viewfinder – A tiny LCD screen mounted inside a viewfinder to replace an optical system.

Exposure – The amount of light falling on a CCD or image sensor. It is controlled by a combination of shutter speed and aperture.

EXIF – (Exchangeable Image Format) enables information such as the time and date of the photograph be stored alongside the exposure.

f-Number / f-stop – The f-number describes the diameter of the aperture as a fraction of the focal length of the lens. The smaller the f/number the larger the aperture and thus the shallower the depth of field.

Focal Length – The measurement that determine the magnification and field of view of a lens. Expressed in mm.

Infinity -The farthest possible distance a lens can focus on.

Interpolation – Increasing the number of pixels in an image or filling in missing colour information by sampling neighbouring pixels. This cannot add information or detail to the image.

ISO – (International Standard Organisation) this used to refer to the light sensitivity of film. So you can guess in digital terms it relates to the sensitivity of the sensor. The darker a scene then a higher ISO will be needed.

JPEG – A file format that is very efficient at storing digital photographs. It allows a large amount of information to be compressed to take up less memory. Virtually all cameras use this format.

Macro – Used to describe photographs that are very close-up but refers to a lens that can focus at close distances, usually less than 30cm.

Manual – The function where the user enters all the variables that make up the exposure, the shutter speed and exposure settings must be entered manually.

Memory Card – A form of removable storage, which stores all the information for each photograph. They come in a variety of formats (SD card, Smart Media, CompactFlash, Sony Memory Stick)

Megapixel – A measurement of camera resolution. One million pixels is a megapixel.

Noise – In digital cameras noise often occurs in low light images or where high ISO values have been used. It shows in the form of pixels that have random colours on dark areas of the image.

Pixel – (PICture ELement.) The smallest element of a picture. All digital photos are made of small squares, these are the pixels.

PPI - (Pixels/Points Per Inch.) A measurement of resolution in scanners, images and printers.

Resolution – Measurement of the amount of information in an image in the form of pixels. Often expressed as two figures representing the image width and height, such as 2272 X 1704 pixels or 4 megapixels.

RGB – (Red, Green, Blue.) Digital Cameras use a mix of R, G and B to make up the colours of an image.

Shutter Speed – The time in which the image sensor or CCD is exposed during the exposure.

Shutter Lag – The delay between the pressing of the shutter button and the picture being taken.

Telephoto – A lens that magnifies the subject making it seem closer.

TIFF – File format for high quality digital images

White Balance – Most digital cameras adjust colour balance to compensate to the light temperature or tints. This is called ‘white balance’ and means you can take photos in different types of light i.e. tungsten, fluorescent and sunlight without any colour casts.

 Phew that was a long post. If you have any others you want to contribute please leave a comment and share.

Landscapes are full of lines and patterns, and they act as the strings that tie the image together.They will also help lead the viewers eye into the photo. Natural dividing lines such as water lines and horizons, can split the image into segments. The way you frame these segments will determine the overall emphasis of the final photograph. There is no end of lines be them man-made or natural that can lead the viewers eye to a focal point in the image.

Perspective

When shooting a landscape you need to consider how your own point of view affects the appearance. Try to think about your point of view rather than just pointing and clicking the scene. If you don’t compose the image properly you may find the view is too far away so there is no sense of scale. Any foreground elements you can add to the image such as rocks, trees or bushes can give you a depth to the photograph. An unusual perspective can create very distinct images.

Small Apertures

Using a small aperture will increase the depth of field in the image ensuring the maximum amount of the image is in focus. Although the use of a shallow depth of field can be used to great creative effect, you will usually want to capture everything in sharp focus and a small aperture is the best way to do this. This brings me onto my next point.

Use a Tripod

I cannot stress this enough,although they may be cumbersome and a pain to carry it is a valuable tool. Using a small aperture to get the maximum amount of detail into the image will mean your shutter speed will be longer and any movement where your holding the camera will blur the photo. You can get away with handholding the camera when the scene is bright but for sunsets and night shots a tripod is a must.

Symmetry

Symmetry can make a crucial difference to the composition and appearance of your photographs.By ensuring objects are symmetrical in the frame you will give the photo a sense of balance. For example a rocky cliff on one side of the image and some trees on the other will appear balanced. However a deliberate lack of balance by placing elements off centre can create striking compositions

The natural world offers a infinitely diverse range of shooting opportunities that can change in matters of hours and minutes. The weather, time of year and hour of the day can alter the resulting image. A landscape doesn’t even have to look pleasant to be visually stimulating a good photographer can make the blandest subject interesting.

The key to successful landscape photography is to try and recreate in a photograph what drew your own eye to the scene in the first place is it colour, shape, texture or light.

We have all had disappointments when taking a landscape photo and the resulting shot doesn’t quite live up to how we saw it ourselves. This tends to happen a lot when you don’t give yourself time to think about composition, framing and getting the correct exposure i.e. – shooting in Auto Mode.

One of the most important aspects of landscape photography is preparation. You need to be at the location at the right time to capture the best light and setup the correct exposure. Landscapes are generally static by nature so this means you have plenty of time to get things right

What of location? What landscapes can you photograph? You shouldn’t have to travel to far from your door to find a suitable subject. As I mentioned any subject can make a good landscape image if you have a good imagination and careful planning. Over the next few posts I will give you some tips to spark some life into your landscape photos.

Another great thing about digital cameras is even the most basic usually offer some form of macro mode soyou can begin straight away, you went need any additional lenses to begin with.

5 Tips for Getting Started

Tip 1: It is vital you choose your focal point in theimage and compose therest around this.In macro mode the Depth of Field is often very shallow because of the focal distance and apertures involved, because only a small part of the photo will be ultra sharp make you’re selection wisely

Tip 2: Will busy scenes can give the viewer lots to excite them it is often the simplest compositions that are the most pleasing to the eye.Rather than incorporating lots into one photo try using compositional elemnts such as lines, colour and shape to increase impact.

Tip 3: Pay attention to the background of the photo. Even though it will be out of focus the background will have a large effect ion the main subject of the image and it is good practice to try to keep distractions to a minimum.

Tip 4: Try not to fall into the trap of thinking macro is for shooting small subjects. Using macro to capture a face can bring around whole newperspectives and creating stunning photographs.

Tip 5: Try to add variety to your macro shots by capturing action in you macro shots. Using a fast shutter speed will freeze the movments of a insects wings beating and can create dramatic photographs.

Dissecting the Frame

As a rule or maybe a guideline should I say a frame should be divided into thirds? Known as the “Rule of Thirds” you imagine the frame separated into three areas horizontally and vertically and place the focus of the image at the points where any of the four lines intersect. Placement of the horizon line for example is generally most pleasing if placed a third or two thirds down the frame. Obviously though as I say this is a guideline you can bend these rules any way you wish.

Although this is simple stuff and anyone who has read a little about photography will probably know this, it is an easy guideline to follow in composing your frame and getting results that are pleasing to the eye.

Another way to implement the Four Thirds rule can be when taking a portrait shot to line the eyes of the subject a third of the way down the frame and this will immediately draw attention to the eyes of the subject which is a good thing. One last thing, once you have got the hang of the Rule of Thirds you will very quickly want to break it, this is fine. As I said earlier these ‘rules’ are best used as guidelines and if you can create a better image by bending or ignoring rules then go for it.

Tip 1: Look at the Surroundings

When you look at the scene you are going to take a picture of, you can relate to the distance of objects behind and in front of the subject. When you take a picture it’s much harder to perceive these distances because we see in three dimensions and the picture is in two dimensions.

You can find examples of this when you look at snaps of a person in front of a tree and the tree seems to be growing out of their head. It can help when framing and taking the picture to pay just as much attention to the surroundings through the viewfinder or LCD of the camera as the subject.

Tip 2: Fill the Frame

When you look through the viewfinder you’re mind will exaggerate the subject you have chosen and you tend not to notice how small it is in the frame and this is quite a common thing to do.

It’s quite simple but an easy trap to fall into often a snapshot will not live up to the potential you saw in it because you haven’t filled the frame with the subject. Try to consider before you press the shutter whether the shot would look better zoomed in a little or take a few steps forward.

Tip 3: Shift the Camera to the Side

I think one of the most common mistakes is that you will put your subject smack bang in the middle of the frame. It is extraordinary the difference made by moving the subject to the left or right of the frame.

We shall cover more on this in a future post about the Rule of Thirds so be sure to take a look at that.