Photography: April 2013

My first love in photography when I first got my canon SX30IS was landscape photography. There’s something about getting out in nature with the challenge of capturing some of the amazing beauty that you see. Perhaps it fits with my personality type – but I loved the quietness and stillness of waiting for the perfect moment for the shot, scoping out an area for the best vantage point and then seeing the way that the light changed a scene over a few hours.

           Landscape photography is is fun because the subject you capture are usually still and you got plenty of time to search fot the perfect angle and light. You can also play with the shutter speed to get surprising results and yet amazing shots. I’d love to hear your own Landscape Photography tips in comments below.
        Like any other photography type, the landscape photography follows the golden hour rule most strictly, without strictly following this rule, you'll never get the results the top pros do. As a landscape photographer, you can only shoot two times a day: (1) dawn. You can shoot about 15 to 30 minutes before sunrise, and then from 30 minutes to an hour (depending on how harsh the light becomes) afterward. The only other time you can shoot is: (2) dusk. You can shoot from 15 to 30 minutes before sunset, and up to 30 minutes afterward. Why only these two times? Because that's the rule. If you go out and shoot at 12 noon you wont get the required and expected result.


Follow the Given Tips and add some if you know some more in the comments:

1.) Maximize your Depth of Field

While there may be times that you want to get a little more creative and experiment with narrow depth of fields in your Landscape Photography – the normal approach is to ensure that as much of your scene is in focus as possible. The simplest way to do this is to choose a small Aperture setting (a large number) as the smaller your aperture the greater the depth of field in your shots.
Do keep in mind that smaller apertures mean less light is hitting your image sensor at any point in time so they will mean you need to compensate either by increasing your ISO or lengthening your shutter speed (or both).

2. Use a Tripod

As a result of the longer shutter speed that you may need to select to compensate for a small aperture you will need to find a way of ensuring your camera is completely still during the exposure. Tripod is not a Expensive Accessory. You can find many cheap tripods on sites like flipkart.com. Follow the link for it http://www.flipkart.com/camera-accessories. You would find investment giving you better results.

3. Consider the Sky

Another element to consider is the sky in your landscape.
Most landscapes will either have a dominant foreground or sky – unless you have one or the other your shot can end up being fairly boring.
If you have a bland, boring sky – don’t let it dominate your shot and place the horizon in the upper third of your shot. However if the sky is filled with drama and interesting cloud formations and colors – let it shine by placing the horizon lower.

4.) A great tip for shooting forest scenes, don't include the ground in your shots. That's
right, the ground in the forest is often surprisingly messy (with dead branches, and leaves,
and a real cluttered look)

5.) Never set your tripod right away:

Okay, so you walk up on a scene (a landscape, a mountain range, a waterfall, etc.) and you
set up your tripod and start shooting. What are the chances that you just happened to walk
up on the perfect angle to shoot your subject? Pretty slim. But that's what most people
do they walk up on a scene, set up their tripod right where they're standing, and they start
shooting. Instead look for a vantage point and then set your tripod.

Some Photos that I captured using canon SX30IS: