Improve Photography » Landscape Tips

“Cheap” Aerial Photography with the DJI Phantom

Jim Harmer — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 22:16:36 +0000

DJI Phantom quadrocopter with GoPro Hero 3 mounted underneath.

Tomorrow, Improve Photography is going to take delivery of a DJI Phantom. It’s a $700 remote controlled helicopter that is capable of lifting a small camera in the air to take aerial photos and video. Needless to say, I’m not going to be sleeping much tonight, knowing that a new gadget is in a box waiting for me somewhere.

Often, when I’m shooting landscape photography, I see patterns or areas on the ground that I think would make for an amazing aerial photo. Aerial photography has always intrigued me, but it’s not exactly practical to rent a helicopter for my photo shoots

In the last few years as technology has advanced, more and more RC enthusiasts are finding that some remote controlled helicopters are now capable of lifting cameras. As soon as I saw this possibility, I went out and bought an RC helicopter to begin learning how to fly. I started with small Walmart helicopters, which I crashed into oblivion, and eventually stepped up to much more feature-packed helicopters, such as the Blade 120sr.

Now, I’m taking my aerial photography to the next level by moving up to a DJI Phantom.

Why Should Photographers Care About the DJI Phantom?

Most RC helicopters have only one rotor. While single-rotor helicopters can be very fast and lift a heavy camera, the vibrations caused by the one rotor destroy the sharpness of the photos or steadiness of the video. The DJI Phantom, however, is a quadrocopter, meaning it has 4 rotors. Having 4 rotors makes for a MUCH more stable flying experience.

There are certainly other quadrocopters available on the market, but the DJI Phantom is powerful enough to lift a GoPro Hero 3 camera. The new GoPro camera, which I bought a few months ago, is significantly sharper and does better video than previous versions. In fact, it’s good enough that the footage or photos from a DJI Phantom are actually quite good.

In fact, this is the first RC helicopter that is practical for photographers to use for aerial photos and videos.

Why Choose the DJI Phantom Over Other Quadrocopters?

The Phantom includes many features that make it practical for newer RC helicopter pilots. For example, it comes with GPS built in. In fact, you can even fly the Phantom so high that it’s just a tiny speck in the sky and then simply turn off your remote control. When the copter loses connection with the remote, it automatically flies itself back to where it took off and lands itself.

Also, the Phantom is reasonably steady in the air. While some quadrocopters couldn’t dream of lifting the weight of a camera and flying steadily, the Phantom is made for use with the GoPro camera. It does take some tweaking to get rid of the jello effect in the video, but with some minor tweaks, the Phantom can produce jello-free video and sharp stills.

One of the main draws to the Phantom is that it uses many standardized RC parts, which means you can add on and tweak the Phantom as much as you like.

Here goes nothing….

I’m anxious to try out the DJI Phantom for aerial photography. I really think this will open up a new set of possibilities for my landscapes and provide me with a fresh way to see the world around me. As I test out this new technology, I’ll periodically update the site with the photos I get and my results.

If you’re interested in the DJI Phantom, Amazon is currently selling it for $680.

Have any of you tried aerial photography? Interested in the DJI Phantom? Leave a comment below and let me know about it.Further Reading:

How to Photograph the Milky Way

Jim Harmer — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:30:21 +0000

Last week, I took a photo of the Milky Way above an old schoolhouse building in Idaho. I posted the photo on our Facebook page, and it received 1,548 likes, 177 comments, and was shared 84 times. I was pretty happy (okay, fine… I was ecstatic) that so many of you said such nice things about my picture.

MANY of you asked how the photo was taken, and wanted a tutorial on photographing the Milky Way. Your wish is my command.

If you are subscribed to this website via email and don’t get the videos associated with my posts, be sure to check out the on-location video of me photographing the Milky Way here.

Milky Way in Idaho

Camera Settings for Night Photography of the Milky Way

Shutter speed – 30 seconds: For this photo, I shot most of the night using a 30 second shutter speed (meaning that a professional tripod is necessary to keep the camera rock solid). I find that if you use a shutter speed that is too long, the stars in the sky start to look oblong because of Earth’s rotation. 30 seconds of shutter speed only makes the stars look BARELY oblong, and you really only notice it if you zoom way in on the computer.

However, don’t take 30 seconds as the perfect answer for taking pictures of the stars that aren’t star trails. The longer the lens you use, the shorter the shutter speed will need to be. If you shoot on a crop sensor camera with an 18mm lens, you probably won’t be able to use a shutter speed longer than 15 or 20 seconds, because the stars will appear larger in the frame, so the streaking is far more noticeable.

Aperture – f/2.8: Normally, you would want to use a high aperture for landscape photography to achieve maximum depth-of-field. Photographers often get tricked into thinking they need a very high aperture since the stars are far away, but remember that depth-of-field is about how much of the picture is sharp, not where the sharpness appears.

So the correct aperture for this photo is–the lowest f-stop you have available to you on your lens. By focusing on the stars, you’re focused to infinity (the furthest out the lens can focus), so you can use a low f-stop to capture the dim star light.

In this photo, I had a lens (the Nikon 14-24mm lens) that could go down to f/2.8, so that’s the aperture value I used to take this picture. The trouble with using such a low aperture value is that I chose to take this picture with a large foreground element, the old schoolhouse, so when I used f/2.8, the house was blurry since I was focused on the stars. Knowing that it would be impossible to shoot a photo in such low light with an f-stop like f/16 that would have afforded me more light, I chose to shoot one picture of the stars at f/2.8 and one picture focused on the house at f/2.8. Then I simply combined the two in Photoshop. If you’re a “get it right in the camera” zealot, this may not sound like an attractive way to take this photo, but I promise you that it is also the ONLY way to take this photo. Yep, the only way. You need a high f-stop for the depth-of-field, but a low f-stop for light gathering… so you have to use post-processing.

If you take a photo out in the woods or the desert or another open location with nothing in the foreground to worry about, then you could easily just shoot at f/2.8 and forego the Photoshop bit. But if you’re shooting a photo just like mine, there is no other way with current technology.

ISO – 3200: Normally, photographers like to keep the ISO as low as possible to prevent the photos from becoming grainy. However, many types of night photography require high ISO values. Such is the case here, where I shot with an ISO of 3200. If you have a camera made in the last couple years, it will likely allow you to choose an ISO as high as 3200 or even higher (I shot some photos this same night at ISO 6,400).

Since I shot at ISO3200, there is definitely some noise in the picture I took. Frankly, that is unavoidable with current technology, but there are quite a few things you can do to at least mitigate the noise in the photo caused by the high ISO and long shutter speed. One of those methods is long exposure noise reduction.

Long exposure noise reduction is available on all DSLRs (that I know of, anyway) that were made in the last few years. On a Nikon, you’ll find “Long Exposure NR” in the shooting menu of the camera. On Canon cameras, go to your menu, then go to custom functions, and browse through them until you find long exposure noise reduction (it’s a different custom function on each Canon model). This feature uses a technology called dark frame subtraction that I explain in the video associated with this post.

This photo was made for those of you who are kind enough to pin my stuff on Pinterest.

How to Focus for Night Photography

All autofocus systems require some amount of contrast in order to find proper focus. When shooting at night, there is rarely enough light outside for your camera to autofocus properly. The best way to solve this problem is to look around you for a street light or other light that is the same distance away from you as where you want the focus to be. Then, autofocus on that light, and slide the focus mode switch on your lens to “manual” this will keep the focus where you last set it as long as you don’t accidentally twist the manual focus ring at the front of your lens.

If you’re taking a picture of the stars and don’t have to worry about focusing on anything in the foreground, then you may want to rack your focus all the way out as far as it will go, and then come back just a slight bit. This will focus your lens to infinity (as far as it focuses), which is always the proper focus for shooting the stars. If the moon is bright enough, you could also focus on the moon and then you’re set.

If I need to focus on something closer to the camera, like how I focused on the schoolhouse for one of the photos, then shining a bright flashlight or laser pointer on the building will help your camera to find focus. One other technique is to simply show up to the location where you’ll be shooting before it’s actually night time. Then you can adjust your composition before it gets dark, and lock down your focus while there is still enough available light.

How to See the Milky Way

Most people never see the Milky Way with their naked eye. Usually, the artificial lights from houses and streetlights are too bright for our eyes to see the faint glow of the ring around the Milky Way at night. However, by using the amazing light gathering ability of newer DSLRs, the Milky Way can usually be captured in a picture.

I intentionally waited to take this picture until a night that did not have a bright moon. This lessens the amount of light in the sky to make the Milky Way less visible. Also, I drove 1.5 hours away from the nearest major city to get rid of all of the city lights. In this rural location, I could see the Milky Way with my naked eye, which was intensified when I took a picture and gathered the light with a 30 second exposure.

Frankly, I’m not much of an astronomer to tell you if the Milky Way is visible, or even to point you to a resource where you might find out when and where the Milky Way will be visible. But in Idaho, I find that it’s visible most all of the year for most of the night. I just go out and shoot a couple times to know where it will rise and set, and approximately what time of night. For this shoot, I knew the Milky Way became visible as soon as it was FULLY black outside, and was directly overhead around 2PM. Perhaps someone in the comments can point us to a good resource to check the sunrise time/location for different parts of the world.

Conclusion

Photos like this don’t happen by accident. It takes a lot of practice and planning to take a photo of the Milky Way, but the payoff is huge! Although it was quite cold outside taking this picture since I didn’t bring a proper jacket, the time I got to spend out in the middle of nowhere looking at the brilliant stars for a few hours last week was incredibly soothing. Not to editorialize too much, but seeing the galaxies and stars and planets so far away, it made me laugh at the thought that a big bang could have caused it all.Further Reading:

How the Contest-Winning Fireworks Photo Was Taken

Jim Harmer — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 19:20:54 +0000

Winning fireworks photography contest entry

I ran an informal contest last week on our Facebook fan page where we invited all of the members of the community to upload their best fireworks photos. We received over 200 entries in the contest, but the winner of a $50 Amazon gift card was Adam Agushi, who is a regular in our community.

Also, one note on the editing. In every contest on ImprovePhotography, we do not limit the amount of Photoshop/Lightroom/other photo editing that is done on the photos. Why? Because post-processing is FUN, and part of the creative process. If you like to keep your photos “natural” and not post-process, that’s fine, but we think it’s fun, challenging, and another creative tool for photographers to master.

I asked Adam to explain a little of his process in taking the picture. Here’s Adam…

My fireworks photo was honestly a bit of an accident. I had already decided against fireworks shot this year and was taking a relaxing day at the beach at Lake Thunderbird, Ill. Soon enough, the rocks around the shoreline had enticed me knee-deep out into the water to try some long exposure shots.

The people showing up with lawn chairs soon informed me that there were actually going to be fireworks there. Looking at the area, I thought this was a great opportunity to try something different. My previous fireworks shots had all looked similar with a single or even multiple bursts against a black sky.

I moved around, trying not to fall on the slippery rocks, and positioned my tripod and Canon 5D Mark II over the water as close as I dared. I tried to position the rocks as a foreground element leading to the area from where the fireworks would be coming. I was also hoping the longer exposures would cause a nice smooth look to the water and help illuminate the foreground.

In the first few shots the fireworks were the only thing that came through. Eventually I thought it would be a lot easier with digital to fix a bit of overexposure with Photoshop than underexposure. So I waited for a gap in the fireworks and started taking much longer shots.

The final photo was 43 seconds at f/16 and ISO 640.

In Adobe Camera Raw, I pushed the exposure a little further and just a little bit of highlight recovery brought the fireworks back. I made an adjustment brush for a bit more exposure in the foreground, coupled with some clarity and contrast and some very, very liberal noise reduction. A bit warmer white balance and that was about it!

An interesting effect that happened with each shot were the weird flares to the right. I still have no idea how they happened. It amused me and I just left them in the photo. That, along with the multiple lines around the horizon, and the softness from the noise reduction were my only problems now, but I never really expected to win! So, thank you to everyone for your kind words. I’m glad that Jim and Improve Photography had this challenge to motivate me to try, and just from doing it I have a few interesting ideas for next year…Further Reading:

Circular Polarizing Filter

Christine Larsen — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 21:23:30 +0000

There are three essential kinds of filters we recommend for landscape photographers: the Graduated Neutral Density Filter, the Neutral Density Filter, and the Circular Polarizing Filter.

Some really useful things to note about a Circular Polarizing Filter:

In most cases, you can’t replicate what this filter does in Photoshop
If you are shooting water and there is a glare on top of the water, this filter will cut through the glare
A polarizer has two little rings on the front, and you have to spin it once it is on the lens to see where the effect maxes out
It works great if you’re shooting landscapes and there’s a lot of vegetation because it takes the shine off the leaves
You will get richer colors because you cut through the glare
It works great when it’s a little brighter during the day as it cuts down on that brightness
You can get the sky bluer and the clouds whiter (this you can replicate in Photoshop)
It’s like putting a pair of sunglasses onto your lens

How do you know which brand of filter to buy? There are so many out there that it can really be hard to know what you should get. Really, all you care about is the filter thread size – it doesn’t matter what brand you get. Any brand can work on any lens as long as the filter thread size is correct. To find the filter thread size, look at the front of your lens where it has the small white text and it will usually state the filter thread size. (If you don’t find it on the lens itself, just google it.)

There are lots of good quality brands out there – Canon, Nikon, Sony, or B+W. If you’re looking for a little bit less expensive filters, you can get LEE filters, though they aren’t in stock much these days. Hoya and Tiffen are much cheaper (and will therefore be lower quality), but if you’re just starting out it’s better to get these $20 filters than have no filter at all.Further Reading:

The Grad ND Battle: Physical vs. Digital Filters

Jim Harmer — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 23:06:21 +0000

Capturing high dynamic range images like this can be accomplished with an ND grad filter

Recently, I wrote an article on outdoor landscape photography in the mountains. In that article, I mentioned that I brought a graduated neutral density filter for the shoot and used it heavily. It was mentioned in the comments of that post that a grad ND is useless because the same effect can now be accomplished in post.

So today, I thought I would respond with an explanation of why I use a physical grad ND filter instead of doing it in post. Also, I argue against my own argument (in a totally non-schizophrenic kind of way) to help you to understand why many photographers have stopped using a physical grad ND filter.

What is a Graduated Neutral Density Filter (ND Grad)?

Grad ND is landscape photographer code for a “graduated neutral density filter.” If you have ever seen a car’s windshield, you have seen a grad nd. At the top of most windshields, there is dark tinting that fades to clear. The purpose of the tinting on a windshield is to block out some of the bright sunlight coming from above while not darkening the driver’s through the windshield toward the middle of the window.

A graduated neutral density filter works in the same way. It is simply a glass filter that has dark tinting on the top of the filter and fades to clear.

Grad ND filters are most often used by landscape photographers to hold back the bright sky without darkening the land portion of a scene. This helps to balance the exposure and produce a dynamic range that is within the recordable range of a DSLR.

Landscape photographers use ND Grads constantly. In fact, it is rare that I go through a landscape shoot without breaking out the Grad ND at some point. I use Grad NDs frequently because I have recently fallen out of love with HDR. In fact, I haven’t fired up Photomatix in several months. Using a grad ND is a method for me to average out a dynamic range without the loss of image quality inherent in the HDR process.

I had to use Photoshop to apply the Grad ND filter effect on this picture. A physical filter simply wouldn’t be capable of darkening the sky without affecting the jagged rock face.

Advantages of Using a Physical Grad ND Filter

Advantage #1: The photographer can see the Grad ND effect immediately, which allows her to adjust the effect to match the scene. This way, you can completely avoid the horrible sinking feeling of going home, loading your pictures on the computer, and seeing that you totally messed up the shoot because you can’t fix something in post. If you make a mistake in the field, you can change it immediately. If you realize the mistake at home, you may have to re-shoot if you can’t Photoshop it.

Advantage #2: Time. It takes about 5 seconds to hold a graduated neutral density filter in front of the lens. While it can also be easy to apply a grad ND effect in post-processing, it can also be somewhat time consuming if it is a tougher fix.

Advantage #3: Physical grad ND filters work somewhat better for scenes with complex shapes covering part of the sky. Suppose you have a bright sky in front of a rocky landscape in front of you. The rocks throw deep shadows on the land. This scene has much too high of a dynamic range than can what can be capture in one traditional photo. To complicate the matter, there is an aspen tree on the side of the scene that towers above the horizon.

With a physical graduated neutral density filter, the light in the sky can be held back without creating any unnatural look on the leaves of the tree.

If you tried to approach this scene by using a digital grad ND, it could become quite difficult to properly expose the tree and darken the sky without creating an unnatural ring around the tree. In my experience, the physical grad ND filter works much more effectively in this situation.

Advantage #4: Applying a grad ND effect in post usually requires that the photographer brackets the photos to have an underexposed version to add to the correct exposure. This is how the digital grad ND effect is applied. Bracketing causes problems when there are moving items in the scene, it increases the amount of photos you need to store on your computer, it complicates the workflow, etc. It is significantly easier to manage one correct photo instead of 3 photos that need to be smashed together to produce a clean file.

Using Photoshop or Lightroom to Create a Grad ND Effect

If you look very carefully, you can see that this guy is applying a grad ND effect with Photoshop (totally not true).

Advantage #1: You can customize the gradiation of the ND effect to perfectly match the scene. Most photographers only have one or two different Grad ND filters and sometimes you want more or less darkening at the top of the photo. Applying the effect in post allows for that customization of how quickly the neutral density fades to clear. It also allows for more complex-shaped skylines (such as when hills or mountains cover part of the sky).

Advantage #2: Cost. Cheap grad ND filters can be purchased for as little as $20, but most of these filters cause ugly color shifts in the graduated nd part of the picture. A quality grad ND from a company like Lee or Singh Ray (my personal choice) can cost from $80 – $150 US Dollars.

Conclusion

There are a few good reasons to use a physical graduated neutral density filter rather than a digital grad nd filter effect. If you are a serious landscape photographer, then purchasing a physical grad ND filter would be the recommendation of 90% of landscape photographers. If you only rarely shoot landscapes or you just love pushing pixels in Photoshop, then purchasing a graduated neutral density filter may be an unnecessary expense.

If you enjoy these daily photography tips, then LIKE ImprovePhotography on Facebook so you don’t miss any of these great photography tutorials.Further Reading:

A Complete Guide to Time Lapse Photography

Jim Harmer — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:46:01 +0000

Time lapse photography is when a photographer takes several hundred pictures while locked down on a tripod over the course of about half an hour. Then, the pictures are replayed in fast forward so time is compressed. You have undoubtedly seen time lapse videos before, but you may not be sure how to do it. Have no fear… this handy little guide will show you how.

How far apart should the pictures be?

I know people hate it when I give the “it depends” answer, but in this case it totally depends on the situation. If I am standing on top of a high mountain and the clouds are moving quickly, I will set my camera to take a picture every 2 seconds. If I’m just taking a picture of a sunrise, I’ll often set the camera to 8 seconds between pictures. The key here is to choose a time that won’t be too many pictures for the time lapse, but enough pictures that your time lapse lasts more than 15 seconds (like my sad one in the video above).

How do I get my camera to take a timelapse?

“It depends” Okay… this time I was just joking with the “it depends”… except it really does depend. Some cameras have timelapse functions built straight into the camera, and other cameras need some help to be able to take a timelapse automatically.

Time Lapse on a Nikon Camera

Step 1: Click Menu > Shooting Menu > Interval Timer Shooting.

Step 2: Then, you have a series of options. You can delay the start of the timelapse by setting a timer, or you can press the right arrow to start one now.

Step 3: The next screen asks you to decide how long you want the camera to wait between pictures. Decide how many hours, minutes, and seconds between shots and dial it in. The formatting on this screen is really funky, but you’ll want to put in the number of seconds between shots in the second set of numbers (of the three sets). This is to choose hours, minutes, and seconds between shots. For a general timelapse, you might choose 00:05′ 00″.

Step 4: After pressing the right button to get to the next option for your timelapse, you see a screen asking how many shots to take total, and how many pictures to take between intervals. So, the first number is how many total shots you want in the timelapse. I always set this to 999 (the highest you can choose) because I can just stop the timelapse at any time when I decide I have enough shots. The next number is how many pictures you want the camera to take between intervals. For this number, choose ONE. So, it will look like this: 999 x 1 = 0999.

Step5: Now click to the right to get to the next option. This one is easy, just go up to START and your timelapse will begin immediately.

Time Lapse on a Canon Camera

Sorry, you’re out of luck (sorta). This is one of my major complaints about Canon cameras. Canon is usually very slow to add in little features like timelapse, GPS, and bracketing more than 3 photos. It was irritating…. so I switched to Nikon.

Anyway, Canon doesn’t have timelapse functionality built into their cameras. Your only options are to (1) be extraordinarily patient and sit there for 30 minutes pressing the shutter at regular intervals, or (2) buy a cable release that has time lapse functionality built-in,like this one for $25.

How Do I Process the Pictures Into a Time Lapse?

There are more than a dozen ways to do this. What I usually do is bring in all the photos into Lightroom and select all the photos. Then, I’ll apply the edits that I want applied to every picture (contrast, vibrance, sharpening, etc).

Next, I output the pictures as a smaller size (no sense creating a file larger than 1080p) since video resolution is much smaller than the resolution of most photos. Once I output all the photos into a folder in a smaller size, it’s time to put the whole thing together. There are many programs that can do this, but the easiest is actually by using free software from Google called Picasa. Once you download it, just check out this easy tutorial for how to create a timelapse in Picasa.

If you’re on a Mac, you can still use Picasa, but many people choose Quicktime Pro for putting together time lapse videos.

Tips for Better Time Lapse Videos

Tip #1: Choose a subject that is stationary. Notice in the video above that the boats were moving wildly? When I took the video, I didn’t notice any movement in the boats but they obviously move quite a bit over time. The same is true of trees. Carefully choose a subject that won’t be distracting.

Tip #2: Decide what exposure mode to use. Most people recommend shooting in manual mode so that the exposure doesn’t change between shots. I have used this with success in most situations, but there are times that I shoot aperture priority when the lighting conditions will be changing (like a sunrise), and I honestly don’t see any problems with the exposure changing between shots.

Tip #3: Make sure you shoot more than you think you need. Do the math and remember that a 25 second clip will require 30 minutes of shooting if you shoot one shot every 12 seconds. Since most videos play back at 24 frames per second, you’re going to need a LOT of pictures!

Tip #4: Don’t burn up your shutter! Most DSLR cameras are only rated at 150,000 shutter activations before the shutter breaks. Taking a lot of timelapse videos can kill your camera, so you might want to use your cell phone instead. The quality isn’t AS good, but it’s still really good for stills that are going to go into a video. I use an app on my Android phone and it takes really nice timelapses. Here’s an article I wrote with info on how long your DSLR shutter will last.Further Reading:

7 Tips for Landscape Photography in the Mountains

Jim Harmer — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:28:41 +0000

This is an example of problem #7. When I tried cropping off the pine trees at the top, the scene didn't feel complete. (Click to enlarge)

As many of you know, I moved from Florida (a coastal state that is as flat as a pancake) to Idaho (an intermountain state that is full of beautiful mountains) a few months ago. Since then, I have faced immense photographic challenges that I had not anticipated. I thought I’d write up a little tutorial on some of the challenges that photographers face when shooting in the mountains to help everyone who faces this challenge.

Tip #1: Don’t hold your breath for the golden hour

In most places, the golden hour (just before sunset or after sunrise) is one of the best times to shoot landscape photography. The warm light spread across the landscape is beautiful and makes just about any scene look fantastic. When shooting near tall mountains, however, the golden hour is often completely missing or at least lessened.

This last weekend when shooting at Goat Lake in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho, I got set with my tripod, camera, and lens to shoot a particular snow-filled mountain right around the golden hour. I was surprised when twilight “blue hour” lighting started showing up without having a golden hour at all! The problem was that the golden hour light was completely blocked by a mountain ridge behind me. My shot was ruined!

Tip #2: Overcome contrast with a grad ND

Usually, the light from the sky hits the landscape fairly evenly. However, in the mountains, a ridge can be totally in the shadow and then have the bright sky right above it. For photography, this means that either the sky has to be blown out, or you must lose shadow detail in the mountains because the dynamic range is too low on most cameras.

This is why a graduated neutral density filter is absolutely essential for landscape photography in the mountains. Having one on this last trip allowed me to darken the sky while still retaining detail in the mountains underneath.

I promised you guys pictures of my photo adventure to Grand Teton National Park two weeks ago and never delivered, so here's one shot from that trip. It illustrates the effect of a graduated neutral density filter on the sky above the mountain.

Tip #3: Watch out for unnatural shadows

Since the mountains in front of me would be in a shadow without the sun to my back, I would often set up facing away from the sun. The problem that this created was that all the pine trees around me would cast distracting shadows on the ground in the picture. I found this very tough to deal with, so I set up right at the edge of a creek or a lake for many of the shots to lessen the amount that the shadows showed up in the picture.

Sunrise. I had to Photoshop the life out of this photo to get rid of the unnatural shadows strewn about by the sun coming through the trees.

Tip #4: Hiking in your gear is painful

I guess it’s time to buy a travel tripod. I really like the stability of a full-weight tripod for night photography, so I decided to just deal with the weight and bring in my Induro A-413 tripod in on the hike. That’s 11lbs (almost 5 kilos) with the ballhead attached. I will never do that again! The hike was incredibly steep, rocky, and long. About 3 miles into it, I would have done anything to get that heavy tripod and ballhead off my back! I guess I should have listened to my own advice from my article on being outdoors with your photo gear.

An example of #5. It's almost impossible to take this kind of picture and make it feel complete. You need a more structured composition.

Tip #5: A sweeping vista isn’t always a beautiful photo

There were times while hiking along the trail that the trees would open up to a giant vista where I could see forever. The views of the pine trees and mountain tops in the distance were breathtaking, but the pictures of the scene simply didn’t cut it. The reason is that there was no balance or clear focal point in the scene. Just because it’s beautiful, doesn’t mean it’s going to be a beautiful photo.

Another common problem that is found with sweeping vista shots in the mountains is that the atmosphere often produces a blue haze over the mountains in the distance. This can be lessened somewhat with a polarizing filter or a yellow filter, but it’s impossible to remove completely.

Tip #6: Search diligently for a good foreground element

One of the major challenges I had in setting up to take pictures in the mountain this last week was that I couldn’t find anything in the foreground that could clearly capture the viewer’s attention to give the shot a sense of depth. I have written about foreground elements in landscape photography before, because I know how important it is to making a good composition.

The trouble with doing this in the mountains is that the scenes are so busy. There are trees, bushes, rocks, roots, dirt, and streams everywhere you look, so it can be difficult to set up the shot so one item is the focal point in the foreground.

Tip #7: You have to go VERY wide to capture the entire scene

A good landscape photo has a composition that makes the viewer feel that they are seeing the entire scene. If the viewer feels that they are missing something in the photo, it will distract them from enjoying the scene.

This can be a serious challenge for landscape photography in the mountains, because the pine trees are incredibly tall. Often, I found that cutting off a few pine trees half way up made the photo feel incomplete and the composition didn’t work as well. For many of my shots, this meant that I had no other choice other than to shoot in vertical orientation.

This shot is actually a panorama/vertorama of 10 photos taken at 15mm. This is just an illustration of how tough it can be to capture the entire scene.

Further Reading:

Storm Photography Tips & Tricks (Guest post)

Jim Harmer — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 18:54:03 +0000

Diana Milevska sent in this awesome guest post explaining how photographers can learn to photograph storms, lightning, and other natural features that are likely to cause instant death. Diana is a storm chaser, photographer, and designer. For more on Diana K. Milevska, check her out at BowEchoMedia.com. The nice thing about being a storm chaser is that the only credential you need is really awesome photos of really awesomely terrifying storms, so I knew Diana was qualified to write this post the instant I looked at her photos. Incredible.

Thunderstorms are one of nature’s most powerful outbursts, and if you’re anything like me, just seeing one makes your heart flutter and your mouth begin to drool. Not only are these storms a wonder to behold, they’re also a thing of beauty that must be photographed. Here are some simple tips and tricks to keep in mind when a good storm does pop up and you want to photograph it.

Credentials.... accepted By Diana Milevska

Storm Photography Tip #1: Know what you’re getting into
I can’t stress this enough. Know what you’re getting into before you go out to take storm photos. Check the Weather Channel (weather.com) or the Storm Prediction Center (spc.noaa.gov) for more information about developing weather in your area. Severe weather, especially storms with the potential for high winds, hail, and tornadoes, are extremely dangerous. Shooting this type of weather has the potential of getting you killed, so reading up on it will help improve your chances of staying safe. Sign up for a National Weather Service sponsored severe weather spotter training course (it’s free!) or find a storm chaser friend who won’t mind you tagging along. (Hey, you might learn something!)

The best time to take storm photos is before or after a thunderstorm, so don’t think that just because a storm is over you won’t get any good images. Some features to look out for when you’re photographing storms are wall clouds, shelf clouds, anvils, mammatus, rain shafts, lightning, and the thunderstorm itself. To read up on these features, go to weather.gov and click on Education/Outreach or Google.

I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore... - by Diane Milevska

Storm Photography Tip #2: You might get wet
You’re going to photograph storms, so the possibility of getting rained on is pretty high. You don’t want to ruin your camera equipment, so what do you do? Get yourself a large zip-top bag (one gallon or bigger), place your camera inside the bag, cut a hole out for the lens, and you’re done! No need to spend hundreds on underwater housing for your specific camera with this trick. Just thrown out the bag once it starts to leak and get a new one. I also suggest grabbing a hoodie or some kind of jacket for yourself (a change of clothes might be a good idea too!) Take it from me, nothing sucks more than getting drenched then having to drive hours in wet clothes before you can go home and change.

Storm Photography Tip #3: Cargo pants are cool
Okay, maybe they’re not, but for a storm photographer, they’re a time saver. I keep everything from lens caps to filters to blank media in my pockets, and sometimes even lenses if they’ll fit. When you’re out in the field, especially if a storm is bearing down on you, you’ll want those extra pockets.

Thunderstorm Panorama - by Diane Milevska

Storm Photography Tip #4: Pack light
Camera, wide angle lens, standard lens, tripod, filters, and a backpack to keep them all in; that’s pretty much all you need in the field. And don’t forget lens cloths. You’ll need them to wipe off any moisture on your camera or lenses.

Funny thing about this picture from Diana. When I saw this cloud, I instantly remembered that my teacher in middle school taught me the scientific name of this cloud once. It was called "RUN AWAY!"

Storm Photography Tip #5: Filters are easy to replace, lenses are not
I think it goes without saying that you should always keep some kind of lens filter on your camera, be it UV or clear. This is even more important when you’re shooting storms because the wind can pick up and throw things at you in a moment’s notice. You’re better off replacing a filter than you are a lens, so keep those filters on your camera. It also keeps pesky dust off your lenses (because, good lord, I HATE cleaning dust off my lenses).

Speaking of filters, you’ll want to carry a polarizing filter with you. This’ll give your cloud shots more depth and reduce reflection if you happen to be shooting through a car window (which is a definite possibility). Other filters that I’ve used to enhance clouds are neutral density, graduated neutral density or color, and color correction filters.

Storm Photography Tip #6: Your tripod is your best friend
This is especially true in night settings when you’re trying to photograph lightning. It’s good to have a sturdy tripod. Weighing it down with something heavy would be really helpful (remember, it can get windy).

Shooting lightning while using your tripod is quite easy. Set your aperture to its highest setting, put your lens on infinite zoom, and meter your lighting to determine just how long to keep your shutter open. I usually keep mine open for 5 seconds or longer depending on how frequent the lightning strikes are and whether or not I’m in a well lit area (you’ll want to keep your shutter open for shorter periods if you’re in a city setting). Don’t wait for lightning to strike. Shoot photos in succession. You’re bound to get something sooner or later. Just remember, you can always layer your photos later in post processing to create a lightning collage (just don’t move your tripod).

Storm Photography Tip #7: RAW + Photoshop = great images
When it comes to post processing my storm photos, Photoshop is my best friend, especially if I’ve taken all my photos using the RAW format. I highly recommend using it whenever possible because there are so many more editing options in RAW than there are in Photoshop alone. You can create some truly spectacular images using the RAW editor; everything from darkening your clouds to making the colors of the sky and ground pop. Personally, I don’t know why it took me so long to really get into using it (I just started last summer).

Further Reading:

No Guts, No Glory in Landscape Photography

Jim Harmer — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 21:47:35 +0000

Not much of a photo, is it? This gorgeous landscape photography location requires perseverance to get the shot.

Several years ago, I was driving down an old dusty road in rural Idaho when I happened to glance out my rear-view mirror and saw a little waterfall. I parked the car and hiked over to where I had seen the little stream. All of the sudden, the trail lead to the top of the cliff overlooking the most beautiful waterfall I had ever seen. It was a photographer’s dream!

I searched everywhere for a place that I could get around to the side or down to the bottom of the cliff so that I could get a decent angle. Nothing. There is a forty foot (12 meter) cliff with a rapid river flowing underneath. I forgot about the waterfall, thinking it was impossible to get a good shot of without a helicopter.

Last week, I was going to bed and something inside me wanted to go back and conquer that photo that I thought was impossible. So, I woke up at 3AM and drove 2 hours to get to the waterfall. When I arrived, it was the same old story. Cliff. Raging river. No decent angle.

So, I strapped on my Clik Elite camera bag and started scaling down the rocky cliff to the bottom. Scary? Yes. But I made it.

Upon reaching the bottom, I carried my bag above my head and crossed the stream to a little island. The bottom of the creek was muddy and I was wet up to my chest. I had three more little streams to cross before I finally got to a fairly decent angle on the waterfall.

I stood there covered in dust and mud in my jeans that were soaking wet. Oh, and did I mention that it was 45 degrees (7.2 degrees celsius) outside? Then, I snapped a couple shots before hoofing it out of the pit of despair.

The photo of the waterfall that I took was fine, but not perfect. I am going back tomorrow morning at 3 AM again and I’m determined to capture this photo in perfect lighting.

My point in writing this article is that, unlike portrait photography or macro or pretty much anything else, landscape photography often means getting muddy, bloody, and sweaty. If you really want to capture that 5-star landscape, hike up your skirt and get out there.

Not quite the glory shot, but a beautiful location. Tomorrow I'm going to conquer this place. Wish me luck!

Further Reading:

10 Tips for Camping with Your Photography Gear

Jim Harmer — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:04:53 +0000

Being in the outdoors with photography gear can be tricky.

It is summer time in the Northern Hemisphere, and for many of us, that means enjoying photography while camping, hiking, or just being in the great outdoors. Along with being outdoors with your camera and lenses come several problems: heat, dust, weight, etc. Since I moved to Idaho, I have been spending a lot of time camping with my photography gear, so most of these tips are from personal experience. Here you go!

Outdoor Photography Tip #1: Bring no more than two lenses. When I am going to be shooting in an easily accessible location in the city, I usually bring a couple bags of gear full of lenses and other stuff, but when I go outdoors I decide on two lenses and do not allow myself to bring any more. Typically, I bring a 10-24mm lens for landscapes and a 70-200mm lens for close range wildlife photography and some landscapes.

Mountains Photography Tip #2: Do NOT forget the polarizer! When shooting outdoors, especially if you will be near a lake or some other type of water, the polarizer is an absolute necessity. In fact, one nice thing about shooting with a polarizer is that it takes the reflection of shiny leaves when the sun is bright, which can extend your shooting time well into the day. Don’t be tempted to skimp on the polarizer. For more polarizer tips, check out this post.

Camping with a DSLR Tip #3: Don’t forget the cooler. If you live in a hot location and need a safe place to store your gear for a day or two while you are camping, then bring along an empty cooler and put the camera and other gear in the cooler without ice. Place your gear in the cooler and put the cooler in the trunk of your car. In my opinion, this is the best way to protect your gear from the heat for a few days while camping.

DSLR Protection while Camping Tip #4: Invest in a quality camera backpack. Your gear will likely get squished in the trunk with your other stuff, rained on, be exposed to dirt, and knocked around pretty good while camping. Purchasing a good quality camera bag is an absolute necessity. I personally use the Clik Elite Pro Camera Backpack because it is large enough to fit my gear, it has a rain cover, and is built like a tank. If you want something smaller or don’t have much gear, then I would recommend the Lowepro Fastpack 250.

Lightweight Photography Tip #5: Choose a reasonable tripod. Most of the time, I use an Induro AT-313 tripod. It is an absolutely fantastic tripod, but it is far too heavy to enjoy a hike with. I often bring a monopod while hiking and simply lean it against a tree to make a tripod, or carry a lightweight travel tripod. Don’t bring your giant tripod or you’ll hate the hike.

Outdoors Photography Tip #6: Understand sunrises and sunsets are different in the mountains. Landscape photographers need to change their techniques for shooting in the mountains. If the sunset is at 8PM and there is a large mountain in west, then the sunrise may be as early as 6PM. Also, remember that sunrises and sunsets are often colorless in the mountains because of the mountains blocking the rising sun. Understanding that light works differently in the mountains is the first step that landscape photographers need to understand when shooting in mountainous regions.

Hiking Photography Tip #7: Including outdoorsmanship in your photos. While hiking or camping, many photographers focus too much on the landscapes or the wildlife and forget to photograph typical camping or hiking scenes. Capturing a photo of a tent perched on a mountainside, or a group of people around a campfire, or the stars at night, or people in your party walking down the trail will probably be the most memorable photos from the trip.

Protect DSLR while Camping Tip #8: Be careful with lens changes. Being outdoors is a dusty experience–period. If possible, wait until you’re in a grassy field or in your tent to make a lens swap rather than changing the lens while out on the dusty trail. This will prevent dirt from getting on your lens or camera sensor and cause spotting.

Camping Photography of Wildlife Tip #9: If you want to increase your chances of seeing wildlife, then walk into the wind so that animals cannot smell you and do not be in a rush. The best way to spot wildlife in the wild is to SLOW DOWN so the animals do not perceive you as a threat. Sorry for the shameless plug, but if wildlife photography is your interest, then you might want to check out my wildlife photography eBook for $5.99.

Photography Outdoor Safety Tip #10: In some regions, there can be animals which are dangerous to people. Though I have been in the outdoors almost all of my life and like to think I know how to take care of myself outdoors, I was still charged by an adult black bear a couple years ago. Fortunately, I had invested $30 in a can of bear spray, which saved me. If you are in bear country, keep a can on hand.Further Reading: