MULTIMEDIA

70 Ways To Take Better Photos (Part 2) - Improve your vista shots

8/20/2012 2:40:25 PM

Improve your vista shots

Shoot a starry landscape

A landscape doesn’t just have to be taken during daylight or the golden hours. A long exposure during a bright, moonlit night can result in some fantastic starry landscape scenes. Work with slow shutter speeds around 1/60 sec to capture star trails and don’t forget to up your ISO.

Description:  Do you have a favourite place you love to shoot landscapes?

 Do you have a favourite place you love to shoot landscapes?

High dynamic range

Maximise your exposure by taking three separate shots of your scene. First, correctly expose your landscape and then adjust the EV setting by +2 and then -2. You can bring all three together in Photoshop to create an exposure blend or HDR image.

Capture dramatic skies

Don’t shy away from shooting in bad weather. A dark, cloudy sky can add lots of drama and depth to what could otherwise be a dull scene. Clouds can also help to balance the exposure and avoid bright, bleached skies.

Balance your exposure

Grad ND filters are perfect when you need to balance the exposure in bright sunlight, particularly when the sky appears bleached. Use a soft blend grad for natural results. Place the grad over the lens so that it covers the sky. You can then expose for the land.

Description: This is just your typical "balance your camera on an overpass railing to take a long exposure" shot.

This is just your typical "balance your camera on an overpass railing to take a long exposure" shot.

Invest in sturdy equipment

A tripod is an essential tool for shooting landscapes. It will enable you to take longer exposures without motion blur or camera shake, just ensure it’ s weighty enough to stand securely against the wind.

Find a focus point

When shooting a landscape, focus your camera one third of the way up into the scene. This will help increase the depth of field in the foreground and extend it further into the background. If, however, you have a focal point in the foreground, make sure it is this that your camera is focused on.

Description: How to find a focus point

How to find a focus point

Find a new perspective

Change your angle. By getting down low you can capture more foreground detail, which will help lead the viewer into the image. A higher vantage point can also capture abstract shapes for interesting results.

Avoid motion blur

Description: Avoid motion blur

Avoid motion blur

Use a cable release or remote shutter to completely eliminate the possibility of blur. If you don’t have either of these, set up your camera’s self-timer to shoot.

Frame your scene

Finding unique ways to frame your scene gives you a different perspective on your landscape subject for a more dynamic composition. Shooting through windows or archways is a great starting point.

Putting it into practice

1.    Settings

An ND filter is ideal when shooting a seascape image as it can turn water into atmospheric mist. Select a good gradient and then attach it to the end of your camera lens. You can now set your desired aperture with a slower-than-normal shutter speed.

2.    Setup

As you will be shooting with a slow shutter speed, ensure your camera is set up on a sturdy tripod. A remote shutter release will also be handy here as it can help to prevent you from capturing camera shake as you release the shutter.

3.    The results

The ND filter has prevented light from flooding the exposure. This enables you to use a slow shutter speed, transforming the water movement into mist.

Other  
 
Top 10
Nikon 1 J2 With Stylish Design And Dependable Image And Video Quality
Canon Powershot D20 - Super-Durable Waterproof Camera
Fujifilm Finepix F800EXR – Another Excellent EXR
Sony NEX-6 – The Best Compact Camera
Teufel Cubycon 2 – An Excellent All-In-One For Films
Dell S2740L - A Beautifully Crafted 27-inch IPS Monitor
Philips 55PFL6007T With Fantastic Picture Quality
Philips Gioco 278G4 – An Excellent 27-inch Screen
Sony VPL-HW50ES – Sony’s Best Home Cinema Projector
Windows Vista : Installing and Running Applications - Launching Applications
Most View
Bamboo Splash - Powerful Specs And Friendly Interface
Powered By Windows (Part 2) - Toshiba Satellite U840 Series, Philips E248C3 MODA Lightframe Monitor & HP Envy Spectre 14
MSI X79A-GD65 8D - Power without the Cost
Canon EOS M With Wonderful Touchscreen Interface (Part 1)
Windows Server 2003 : Building an Active Directory Structure (part 1) - The First Domain
Personalize Your iPhone Case
Speed ​​up browsing with a faster DNS
Using and Configuring Public Folder Sharing
Extending the Real-Time Communications Functionality of Exchange Server 2007 : Installing OCS 2007 (part 1)
Google, privacy & you (Part 1)
iPhone Application Development : Making Multivalue Choices with Pickers - Understanding Pickers
Microsoft Surface With Windows RT - Truly A Unique Tablet
Network Configuration & Troubleshooting (Part 1)
Panasonic Lumix GH3 – The Fastest Touchscreen-Camera (Part 2)
Programming Microsoft SQL Server 2005 : FOR XML Commands (part 3) - OPENXML Enhancements in SQL Server 2005
Exchange Server 2010 : Track Exchange Performance (part 2) - Test the Performance Limitations in a Lab
Extra Network Hardware Round-Up (Part 2) - NAS Drives, Media Center Extenders & Games Consoles
Windows Server 2003 : Planning a Host Name Resolution Strategy - Understanding Name Resolution Requirements
Google’s Data Liberation Front (Part 2)
Datacolor SpyderLensCal (Part 1)