Tips for taking better photographs...
I’ve been taking landscape pictures for many years. My still point in a turning photographic world was one robust camera (Nikon FE), three prime lenses (24mm, 50mm & 90mm), and one consistent and consistently good film (Fuji Velvia, 50 ISO, the preferred film for landscape photographers). I was loathe to swap these known quantities for a new technology I didn’t understand.
I wanted to spend my time out in the landscape, rather than hunched over a laptop. If i started making changes to digital images in Photoshop, I wasn't sure I would know where to stop.
I’m a recent convert to digital photography, though I’ve known for years the way the wind has been blowing. Kodak stopped making films, which is a bit like Coca Coca deciding to stop making brown, fizzy drinks. My favourite film processor stopped all their ‘wet’ processes and switched wholly to digital. Worse, when Fuji stopped making Velvia, I realised the end of film-based photography was nigh.
Though feeling like a Luddite, I was reluctant to abandon film. After 150 years of innovation and revision, film was better than it had ever been. But if the only film I used was being discontinued, I knew I had a decision to take. So I took a deep breath, read a few hardware reviews and plumped for a new camera (Nikon D200), and a couple of lenses (18-70 & 70-210).
I was apprehensive, wondering – in an ‘old dog, new tricks’ kind of way - if I’d take to a different way of working. I had simplified my film-based photography to the point where it was second-nature to make minor adjustments and shoot, without having to think about what I was doing. I could concentrate, instead, on what was ‘out there’. I worried about having to unlearn everything I had learned about photography.
Most of my worries proved to be unfounded. Digital photography is great! My only regret is that I didn’t ‘take the plunge’ sooner. Old habits die hard, though, and the first couple of times I swapped cards, I made sure the camera was out of the sun!
Digital photography: the pros...
Being able to review pictures instantly.
Being able to shoot more heavily, at no extra cost, and delete the so-so shots while still in the camera.
No more film. No more costs of development. No more days in the darkroom, up to my elbows in luke-warm chemicals. Hooray!
Picture files can be cloned as many times as is necessary, without any deterioration in quality.
The cons...
The feeling that all your digital photographs could one day vanish into the ether. You back up your files, but still...
Many people take up digital photography and, thanks to their desire for instant gratification, expect to take great photos straight away. More than a century ago, Kodak coined the slogan, ‘you press the button, we’ll do the rest’. This specious promise is still being made to photographers today, though in more sophisticated terms. The new cameras are marvels of technology, no doubt about it, but photographers who let their cameras make all the decision for them are unlikely to progress to producing good pictures on a regular basis... which is what professional photographers have to do.
So here are a few simple tips to improve your landscape and location photography...
Take control. Don’t let your camera choose the ‘correct’ aperture and shutter speed. Having a load of different programs on your camera is like having a load of different reverse gears on your car: how many can you possibly need? There are basically only two controls: the size of the lens aperture, and the length of time it’s open to let the light in.
All programmes, not matter what they called, do nothing more than pick an ‘appropriate’ combination of f-stop and shutter speed. On the D200 I’ve settled on shutter-priority, and then fine-tuning the aperture by spot-metering. There are literally dozens of other ways to get similar results with a camera as complicated as the D200. It’s good to keep things simple.
Scrutinise every corner of the viewfinder. Learn all the compositional 'rules' until they become so familiar that you can forget all about them.
Relax. Be patient. Don’t rush. Try to be aware of your surroundings, rather than stressed about having to take good pictures. Don’t ‘chase’ the sun. Get to where you want to be and wait, instead, for the light to change.
People see a dramatic shot and say “Wow, that was lucky”... But you make your own luck by being in the right place at the right time. This means, quite often, that you’ll spend some time being at the right place at the wrong time. These wasted trips - those dull, drizzly days - are the ‘rent’ you pay for the good days, when the light is perfect.
Carry a tripod (or, at least, keep one in the boot of the car). Though it may seem cumbersome, a tripod offers total freedom: to choose the aperture/shutter speed combination of your choice, without compreomise. Thirty seconds at f22? No problem. With a tripod you can shoot at dawn, or in low light, long after sunset. The results can be magical.
Take your camera with you as often as you can. If you see ‘a picture’, stop and take it then and there. Don’t promise yourself to come back another day. You won’t. Anyway, the light is perfect now...
If the conditions are good, shoot lots of pictures. If the conditions are poor, don’t bother taking any pictures at all. Post-production editing techniques can help to make a good shot ever better... but can't rescue a crap picture. If you get it right 'in the camera', you won’t need to spend hours on your computer, messing around with Photoshop.
Get up earlier. Walk further. Work harder. Don't expect to take great pictures just because you've got a fancy camera. And, most importantly, point the camera at something interesting!
I wanted to spend my time out in the landscape, rather than hunched over a laptop. If i started making changes to digital images in Photoshop, I wasn't sure I would know where to stop.
I’m a recent convert to digital photography, though I’ve known for years the way the wind has been blowing. Kodak stopped making films, which is a bit like Coca Coca deciding to stop making brown, fizzy drinks. My favourite film processor stopped all their ‘wet’ processes and switched wholly to digital. Worse, when Fuji stopped making Velvia, I realised the end of film-based photography was nigh.
Though feeling like a Luddite, I was reluctant to abandon film. After 150 years of innovation and revision, film was better than it had ever been. But if the only film I used was being discontinued, I knew I had a decision to take. So I took a deep breath, read a few hardware reviews and plumped for a new camera (Nikon D200), and a couple of lenses (18-70 & 70-210).
I was apprehensive, wondering – in an ‘old dog, new tricks’ kind of way - if I’d take to a different way of working. I had simplified my film-based photography to the point where it was second-nature to make minor adjustments and shoot, without having to think about what I was doing. I could concentrate, instead, on what was ‘out there’. I worried about having to unlearn everything I had learned about photography.
Most of my worries proved to be unfounded. Digital photography is great! My only regret is that I didn’t ‘take the plunge’ sooner. Old habits die hard, though, and the first couple of times I swapped cards, I made sure the camera was out of the sun!
Digital photography: the pros...
Being able to review pictures instantly.
Being able to shoot more heavily, at no extra cost, and delete the so-so shots while still in the camera.
No more film. No more costs of development. No more days in the darkroom, up to my elbows in luke-warm chemicals. Hooray!
Picture files can be cloned as many times as is necessary, without any deterioration in quality.
The cons...
The feeling that all your digital photographs could one day vanish into the ether. You back up your files, but still...
Many people take up digital photography and, thanks to their desire for instant gratification, expect to take great photos straight away. More than a century ago, Kodak coined the slogan, ‘you press the button, we’ll do the rest’. This specious promise is still being made to photographers today, though in more sophisticated terms. The new cameras are marvels of technology, no doubt about it, but photographers who let their cameras make all the decision for them are unlikely to progress to producing good pictures on a regular basis... which is what professional photographers have to do.
So here are a few simple tips to improve your landscape and location photography...
Take control. Don’t let your camera choose the ‘correct’ aperture and shutter speed. Having a load of different programs on your camera is like having a load of different reverse gears on your car: how many can you possibly need? There are basically only two controls: the size of the lens aperture, and the length of time it’s open to let the light in.
All programmes, not matter what they called, do nothing more than pick an ‘appropriate’ combination of f-stop and shutter speed. On the D200 I’ve settled on shutter-priority, and then fine-tuning the aperture by spot-metering. There are literally dozens of other ways to get similar results with a camera as complicated as the D200. It’s good to keep things simple.
Scrutinise every corner of the viewfinder. Learn all the compositional 'rules' until they become so familiar that you can forget all about them.
Relax. Be patient. Don’t rush. Try to be aware of your surroundings, rather than stressed about having to take good pictures. Don’t ‘chase’ the sun. Get to where you want to be and wait, instead, for the light to change.
People see a dramatic shot and say “Wow, that was lucky”... But you make your own luck by being in the right place at the right time. This means, quite often, that you’ll spend some time being at the right place at the wrong time. These wasted trips - those dull, drizzly days - are the ‘rent’ you pay for the good days, when the light is perfect.
Carry a tripod (or, at least, keep one in the boot of the car). Though it may seem cumbersome, a tripod offers total freedom: to choose the aperture/shutter speed combination of your choice, without compreomise. Thirty seconds at f22? No problem. With a tripod you can shoot at dawn, or in low light, long after sunset. The results can be magical.
Take your camera with you as often as you can. If you see ‘a picture’, stop and take it then and there. Don’t promise yourself to come back another day. You won’t. Anyway, the light is perfect now...
If the conditions are good, shoot lots of pictures. If the conditions are poor, don’t bother taking any pictures at all. Post-production editing techniques can help to make a good shot ever better... but can't rescue a crap picture. If you get it right 'in the camera', you won’t need to spend hours on your computer, messing around with Photoshop.
Get up earlier. Walk further. Work harder. Don't expect to take great pictures just because you've got a fancy camera. And, most importantly, point the camera at something interesting!