1st time landscape, may i ask procedure for settings?

[ClaudioG]

Hi all..im going to the coast in March and would like to try my hand at sea and landscape, may i ask what good procedure is from setting your camera onto tripod and finally taking the image.

I do have a polarizer and a 3 stop nd filter and a 3 stop nd grad(soft). i've never used this before. So, basically im asking..what should my camera settings be, and the one thing im not understanding, when do i focus? I'm thinking i might not be able to focus with the filters on? or am i mistaken?

if i were to focus bfor i put filter on..isnt the a chance of me losing focus when i put it on and accidently move the lens?

Thanks in advance

[Geoff F]

For me, Claudio, the first thing to consider is aperture. How much depth of field is required? Sometimes you need a sharp foreground and plenty of depth thereafter which means a slow shutter on a tripod. Other times you can open up the lens a bit.

Which means that my normal shooting mode is Aperture Priority. But also be aware of any potential movement which also needs to be taken into consideration.

This can require a slightly higher Iso setting.

If you need to include some sharp foreground, you may require manual focus.

And keep a watch on any small potential 'hotspots'. I sometimes spot meter for these then use manual camera settings based on that metering.

However, that can cause some dark areas to arise, but these are easier to fix during editing than anything which is seriously over exposed.

Some people like slow shutter speeds to create smooth silky water. But that is something which I seriously dislike. And in that case, getting a sufficiently fast shutter to keep surf etc crisp means some compromise is likely.

I'm never keen on using filters and much prefer to use some exposure compensation instead. But a graduated filter, used carefully, can be helpful; providing you have a suitable scene.

[Glenn NK]

Good comments by Geoff.

If you are using a wide angle lens (say 24 mm) be careful with the polarizer as it can (depending on sun angle) make one side of the sky a nice dark blue while the other side being less polarized will be lighter - I use a 24 mm lens, and the polarizer always causes this problem (unless you are shooting into the sun as in a sunset/sunrise in which case a polarizer is useless).

I've no experience with ND filters at all - prefer to take three shots one stop apart, and blend to cover the dynamic range. But if parts of the scene move between shots it can be a problem (water tends to do this I find - wind is not my friend but living by the sea, it's constant).

One problem that's mentioned frequently on landscape forums is a that graduated ND won't fit too well with mountains (for example) whereas multiple exposures will.

In Lightroom (which I use for PP), one can apply a graduated filter during processing to fix lighter/darker areas - but of course it won't help areas that are blown out or badly underexposed.

It's always a balancing act this process of photography.

Glenn

[ClaudioG]

Thank you both for the info and advice. May I ask though..if I do try my hand at using nd filters to get longer exposures..what is the order in which you focus? Befor I put the filter on or after? If before, is there a chance to lose the focus..if after..will it focus.. And lastly..do you all manually focus or use auto focus?

[Mike Buckley]

Focus before you put the filters on so you can see the image reasonably sharp as you adjust the position of the filters. If you move the lens in the process of positioning them, focus again. Once the filters are as you like them, focus one last time immediately before releasing the shutter just to make sure the focus is as you want it.

I normally use auto focus. However, if it's a tricky situation when I am including something up close as well as something in the distance, I might use manual focus especially if I am using a tripod. If your camera has Live View and you are using a tripod, magnify the Live View to determine if everything is as you want it before taking the photo. Otherwise, magnify the image after capturing it to determine that and shoot again if necessary.

[ClaudioG]

Thanks Mike for the heads up..I will print alll this bfor I go to the coast. Thank you!!

[Tringa]

I've moved the focussing on my camera from the shutter release to the back button which means I can focus and it is locked before I add a filter. I screw the mount for the filter on to the lens before focussing so all need to do is drop the filter in. Though I have focussed with a ND grad filter in place without any problems.

There seems to be some debate about soft and hard grads. Soft grads help (a little) where the line between light and dark is irregular, such as mountains, but soft grads are only really at their maximum strength at the one edge so are not as good at holding back the light. I've only used hard grads so can't comment myself on this.

If you are going to take sunrises or sunsets then, if you have not already got this, download -

http://photoephemeris.com/

It is free for PCs and Macs and shows the time and direction of the rising or setting sun for any day, anywhere on earth.

Again for sun rises or set make sure you allow yourself plenty of time to get to your chosen location; I have missed too many potentially good shots by being too late for the main event.

Dave

[ClaudioG]

Much appreciated Dave..downloading bud.

[Manfred M]

Claudio - Depending on the maximum aperture of your lens, autofocus could work just fine. After all, you are using a 3-stop ND, which is pretty light duty. Pop on the polarizer and you will add another couple of stops.

If the light is not too bad and you can see the LiveView screen, you can focus after the ND filter has been installed. You will have to focus manually, as the camera will not get enough light if you do this using autofocus. Just make sure that you turn off autofocus after you focus, as you don't want the setting to go out of focus as the camera "tries" to find a focus point.

As for the grad; I assume you are using the screw-in type. This will limit what you can do to some extent, based on where the gradient is versus the horizon line. Rectangular grads are more flexible that way.

In terms of slowing down the water; I find that this done right can be absolutely magical. Water flows and moves and trying to represent that at a high shutter speed does not really work that well in my opinion. That being said, slowing things down can be overdone as well. Shoot at the lowest normal ISO your camera can do, and you will probably be shooting at a very small aperture, so DoF will mostly be an non-issue.

[ClaudioG]

Thanks Manfred.. if im shooting during the day will a 3-stop and polarizer get me enuff silky water blur.. or will i have to shoot near sunset and sunrise.. to be honest i'll be shooting near those times anyway,,but just to find out.

Thanks for your advice and info btw
As you, i love those blurry silky water shots, and if i just get 1 like that i'll be happy

[rpcrowe]

I will frequently use a CPL filter when shooting landscapes because it does several things.

Given that the sun is at a correct angle, it will:

1. darken the sky and make clouds more evident...
2. decrease the exposure ratio between the sky and the foreground often reducing the need for a GND filter...
3. reduce/minimize reflections. In doing so, it will enhance the saturation of the foliage and some rock formations...
4. It can cut through haze (by minimizing reflections of dust and water particles in the air)...

Auto exposure will compensate for the exposure loss due to the CPL...

I shoot with top-line lenses and will only use top-line filters. Most of mine are B+W with some Hoya multi-coated...

A CPL can cause uneven exposure when shooting landscapes with a wide angle lens. However, I seldom shoot landscapes with wide angle lenses, and never with ultra wide focal lengths, since I usually consider the results as very-very boring. Lots of uninteresting foreground and sky with a thin strip of minuscule interest at the center of the frame...

I never hesitate to use a longer focal length to isolate portions of the landscape; such as this image shot at 200mm on a 1.6x crop camera (320mm equivalent)...



if I need wider left to right coverage, I will shoot a several frame panorama composite using a normal or slightly longer focal length...

I prefer to shoot landscapes tripod mounted but, have no hesitation to do so hand-held...

Shooting at between f/8 and f/11 (where I prefer to shoot) I have not experienced any focus problems shooting in the auto focus mode...

I will usually shoot in aperture priority mode but, I never hesitate to use auto exposure compensation when the exposures might be tricky. Using AEB is a breeze with Canon DSLR cameras. Simply select how many stops you want to compensate, set the camera in burst mode and press the shutter release. The camera will shoot three exposure compensated images and then stop until the next time you press the release. Shooting in Aperture Priority allows compositing the three AEB images into an HDR image if so desired. AEB is even easier with my Canon 7D or 40D cameras. I have one of the user selected modes set up for AEB and can select all of the necessary parameters with one twist of the mode dial...

I ALWAYS shoot with a lens hood (sun shade)...

I like to shoot with the lowest IS possible and will often use ISO 100...

I have a GND filter but consider it a PITA to use...

I have an ND filter but, use it very seldom because I don't like the cotton candy look it gives running water with super long exposures...

If I can plan it, I like to shoot in mornings or afternoons and avoid mid-day shooting. However, there are some occasions when it is either shoot at that mid-day or not at all - so I shoot!