6 Top Tips On Photographing Autumn Landscapes With Wide-Angle Lenses
1. Gear Suggestions
- Wide-angle lens
- Polarising filter – Helps boost colour
- ND Grad filter – Balances the exposure of the sky and foreground
- Waterproofs – It rains a lot in the UK!
Early morning or the end of the day is perfect for autumnal photography as the warm colour temperatures of the setting or rising sun boost the autumnal shades. The end of the day tends to be warmer than early morning too which is good news for those stuck in offices all day. Keep an eye on the weather forecast for the evening before you plan on heading out as a cool night helps the autumn shades develop.
Another advantage of heading out of the door early in the morning or later in the evening is the light is more diffused which means the difference between light and shadow areas isn't as extreme. It's still worth keeping an eye on your histogram, something which can be done in Live View on many cameras which means you can see the histogram display change as the scene in front of you alters or as you make tweaks to the exposure. This not only saves times but is a lot easier than making changes, taking a shot then checking the histogram.
If the sky's proving to be a problem as it's too light, fit an ND filter to your lens to balance the exposure. Of course, if you're not an early riser and don't fancy heading out after your tea you can use editing software to boost the autumn colours in your shots too.
The Lakes, Peak District and the Brecon Beacons look particularly impressive during autumn but really you just need to go somewhere that gives you a little bit of height and a few breath-taking views.
Switch from auto to cloudy or shade to add an extra level of warmth to your shots that really boosts the autumn shades.
5. Look For Contrast
If you're shooting sweeping shots of a forest canopy from a hillside have a look for spots where the oranges and yellows are broken up with greens. Lower down, shoot at the forest's edge, using the shades of a field to contrast with the orange tones of the forest.
Golden coloured leaves pack some punch when framed against a blue sky but don't dismiss dark skies either as overcast days can give you moody, richer looking images. Rain clouds look great on the horizon and once the rain has passed, colours naturally become more saturated. If there's a breeze blowing have a go at using slower shutter speeds to capture the movement of leaves and branches as they blow in the wind to give your images a more abstract feel.
6. Foreground Interest
For sweeping scenic shots, it's important to have foreground detail to add depth and to fill what can be a big empty space in front of the lens. It can also add a sense of scale to a shot but don't fill it too much as your shot will end up looking too busy and it'll be hard for the viewer of your shot to find a single point of focus on.
Large rocks and tree stumps work well as foreground interest or you could try setting up your composition with an object that can lead the eye from the front to the back of the shot. Paths created by walkers, streams, walls, fences and bridges all work well. Just remember to use a small aperture (bigger f-number) such as f/11 to keep front to back sharpness.
If you don't want to shoot wide pick up the telephoto lens and use it to focus on a particular point of interest, using its pulling power to isolate your subject.
Remember: Get out of bed early or be prepared to stay out later if mornings aren't your thing, use foreground interest, keep it simple and think about composition before hitting the shutter button.
Photographic Greed
Greed is one of the seven deadly sins for Christians, and I hope to show you that it is also a photographic sin. It can take several forms, but the word was applied to pictures by one of the photographers who came along to my Sunday photo walks. She used it to mean trying to fit too much into the frame, and this is certainly something that I’ve been guilty of at times. Occasions when there are just so many lovely elements in a scene that one is left trying to decide what to omit, what to edit out. Although the picture is really about the breakwaters and the waves, the sky above has lovely clouds in it and it is very difficult indeed to decide to crop them out.
I’ve written before about the importance of paring the image down to the bare essentials, and my admiration for those photographers who can do this. This process starts with taking the image, and continues in editing as we realise which elements of the image may not be essential, and which may be a positive distraction. Part of the art of making any picture is to give the subject a degree of isolation from its surroundings, even when those very surroundings provide the context in which the subject needs to be seen.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Hungarian professional model Fanny Mueller, photographed at Basford Hurst Cottage Studio, using a Sigma 105mm f/1.4 lens at full aperture to separate her from the wood panelling behind her. The wide aperture has allowed detail in the background to blur, even though it’s less than three feet behind Fanny.How to achieve that isolation? One way that I love a lot is to use a wide aperture lens and throw the background out of focus. This is one of the reasons (but only one) why portrait photographers prefer to use a short telephoto for faces, because they offer greater defocussing of the background than lenses with shorter focal lengths. Another is that a more distant camera position means that different parts of the subject’s head are all similar distances from the camera, which gives more natural perspective. A wideangle lens very close to the face may mean that the ears are twice as far from the camera as the nose, giving the model a very large nose indeed.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Three views of the Kelpies in Falkirk (although the right-hand image is simply a cropped version of the middle picture). A wideangle lens close up minimises the size of background objects, and thus makes them less prominent in the picture.Another is to look very carefully at the available angles and distances for shooting the subject, and to choose as plain a background as is possible. There’s no substitute for knowing the territory if you want to shoot in a hurry: in one day, my friend Roy (whose screen-name is kaybee on this site) showed me excellent and unusual vantage points for the Kelpies, the Falkirk Wheel, and the three bridges over the Firth of Forth. I won’t say that a keen shooter couldn’t find all the vantage points we used, but I reckon that it would have taken a couple of days to do so.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } You might walk down the right street to see the two houses with a see-through garage space allowing a view of the Forth Bridge – but my friend Roy knew that it was there, and led me to it…A second form of greed is to want to take all the possible photographs of a subject before leaving it. Sometimes, that’s entirely justified – most Apollo astronauts didn’t get the chance to go back and take another shot of Earthrise! But usually the photographer has the chance to take many more pictures than are necessary: As our mothers taught us when we were learning to feed ourselves, it’s important to know when to desist. It’s important to work the scene (as Gil Grissom always said in CSI), but once we’ve been thorough it’s time to stop (can you hear William Petersen’s American pronunciation? That’s a real mark of an excellent TV series!).
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Too many similar shots, and none of them any good: my attempt at ‘spray and pray’ with an unfamiliar action subject. I’d have done far better to take a couple of single shots. But at least this was a moving subject: so often, I’ve seen a photographer taking the same shot time and again, rather than stopping and trying to find a slightly different way to make a picture. It’s a particular risk with newcomers to studio work with female models.There’s a subset of this form of greed which comes into play when there’s a popular subject, and only one place to stand… I’ve heard tales of the places where there are rows of photographers seeking the same landscape with their tripods interleaved. At that point, why bother? All of the pictures are going to be substantially the same, and it’s not a matter of finding a different way of seeing... A very similar thing can happen at group shoots and workshops, where, if one person finds an innovative pose or angle, everyone else wants to copy it. As the person running a workshop, I’ve found this both time-consuming and annoying – if it isn’t dealt with quite firmly and rapidly, it can end up with everyone getting two runs at each setup or idea, and a general loss of direction.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } I’m not sure exactly who I was copying with this shot… there have been so many images of similar subjects stacked up, and I’m sure that someone else has taken a row of Post Office vans in early sunshine. It’s always worth a frame or two, even if you don’t think the results will win a club competition. Every image is a learning experience.An aside: when you’re starting out with any given genre, it’s obviously a good learning tool to copy someone else. How many art and craft classes at school do you remember where the teacher showed you an example, and you then copied it in every detail to learn the techniques that you could go on to apply to your own ideas? I still have the tray that I made at school, with the oak sides and ends dovetailed together, and just like all the other trays (so much like each other that someone swapped his wood for mine, because my joints were a little better than his…)
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } The English Lake District is full of beautiful places, and of tourists, many with cameras. But you don’t necessarily have to rush to the hot spots: there is beauty to be found anywhere there’s a tree that stands out and adds punctuation to the landscape.And that leads on to a further form of greed, prevalent with landscape and wildlife photographers, who want to visit every one of the places that have become famous for the images made there. Yosemite National Park in the USA, Ashness Bridge in the Lake District, and Lofoten come to mind. With all such places, it may be an entirely valid desire to go and experience the place – but does one need a camera for that? And even then, in our increasingly climate-challenged world, is that a responsible choice as opposed, for instance, to a week in Scarborough or Tenby?
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } A small religious community in a remote Italian village? It’s actually Caldey Abbey, on the lovely island of Caldey, 25 minutes’ boat ride from Tenby. ‘The road less travelled’ (to quote the title of Robert Frost’s poem) is often rewarding, and frequently surprising. And that has made all the difference…Maybe if one is visiting any of these tourist traps, the challenge (should you wish to accept it) is to find a different image, maybe of the people. And I wonder if it would deter the flocking photographers if there were Disney-style signs saying ‘Take your photographs from HERE’? Maybe Greenpeace will start erecting them in the interest of protecting the landscape from erosion…
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } What is ‘too much’ equipment? Each of the lenses in this bag has a purpose and particular applications, but on any given occasion, I’m likely to take only one or two of them with me.A final form of photographic greed is the desire to have every lens or every flash modifier in our possession. More than once I have admitted to being too much of a collector of equipment, But with advancing years, I am slowly learning that most of the time I don’t need very much kit at all. Some people are born collectors, and they find it really difficult to own less than the full range of this or that. This tends to lead to an excessively heavy camera bag, with consequent back problems. What is less obvious is that in the time that it takes to decide on and fit the ideal lens, one could have taken a really good picture with the lens that’s on the camera already.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } I own a number of camera systems, and that means that certain focal lengths are duplicated between systems. It’s unlikely, though, that any photographer would want to take all of these out on a shoot. The Alpha 7 is the mainstay of my shooting these days, and the Alpha 900 shows deficits in several areas compared with the newer design, as does its Planar 85mm lens.To make matters more complicated for the equipment addict, there are sometimes multiple lenses of the same focal length available in the same range: do you really need a massively wide aperture with a 24mm lens? For some people, the answer will be yes, definitely, nothing else will do. But for many of us (including me), a shorter lens allows lower shutter speeds, and differential focus isn’t much needed with wider views, so my Samyang f/2.8, weighing less than 100 grams and reasonably sharp, is a no-brainer for my camera bag. If I had a Sigma f/1.4 Art lens (three times the price, five times the weight), I’d probably leave it at home quite often! Choosing the lens that is good enough is often the sensible choice.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Trudy UK at PGD Studio in Leicester. I turned up with three or four bags of equipment (as I usually do), but I could have shot everything with my normal standard lens, an 85mm f/1.8.I know one or two photographers who routinely turn up with one body and one or two lenses, and then proceed to use them with immense talent. They don’t need more. I find that sometimes, it works like this (it certainly did when I first met TrudyUK in a traditional studio – no sets, just various coloured paper backgrounds, one or two props and chairs. We spent the time experimenting with poses and lighting, and if I had not made a deliberate effort to use three other lenses, the 85mm that tends to live on my camera would have worked for everything). But mostly, I find employment for at least half a dozen different lenses over a couple of hours, and often more.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Who could resist a Hasselblad at the right price? It’s blessed (or cursed) with a quite complex set of controls, all of which have a purpose. And it remains a superb tool for medium format film shooting.I suppose that if we take a slightly sideways look at our hobby, there may be a different sort of greedy… I own two cameras that have been described as ‘camera porn’ – they have the same things as other cameras, but there are just more and bigger everything. The term was originally used to describe my Hasselblad C/M 500, which always makes me wish that I had three hands, because the controls are so intricate and different from anything else most people have seen. You can’t release the shutter without a film back attached, and film inserted, and even loading the magazines is far more complex than in other rollfilm cameras… (Not to mention being unable to release the shutter with the darkslide in the magazine, and unable to remove the magazine from the camera WITHOUT the same darkslide in position!)
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } As a left-hander, I loved the idea of the Exakta with winding lever and shutter release on the left of the body from the start. Like the ‘Blad, it’s a wonderfully tactile object to use for making pictures, although the ergonomics are singularly poor. It’s not a camera for action shooting!The other camera that confounds expectations is my Exakta – it’s left-handed, has two shutter speed dials, and has the shutter release on the front of the camera instead of the top. I’ve written about it at length, and it continues to delight me, so long as I don’t think about the ergonomics. It’s full of interesting solutions to problems that you might not have realised exist…
I have to admit that modern cameras can go to the opposite extreme. Rather than wondering what various knobs and dials are for, you might well enquire where and how you can change this or that which you’re used to having easy access to. Typically, this is because the adjustment can only be effected through the menu… a mark of a serious camera, these days, is that it has more dials and buttons than the entry level models. The cynic might suggest that this is a manifestation of a different kind of greed – the kind where the buyer is offered less than she may want, but at a similar price to the previous model.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Kym Williams at Bodyline Studios, for a lighting workshop. This picture could have been more brightly lit, could have shown all of Kym’s face, more of her tattoos, and could have included her nipples. But all of these things would make it a different picture, and might have made it less involving.And I have one late addition to the list of greedinesses: wanting clarity, to see it all. In my specialised area, studio work with models, there’s often too much: too much light, when darkness can add mystery (and propriety!); too much revealed, when a more effective picture is all about teasing and concealing. Capturing the right mood depends on giving enough, but not too much information.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } Choose your place, and find a relaxed way to look around the area. It’s fine to shoot when you first see a subject – but make sure that you then think, and go back to see if you can do better…To sum up: it’s worth giving a little bit of thought to your photographic aspirations, and how to achieve them. If you want spectacular landscapes, find a good area, plant yourself for a couple of weeks, and explore on foot, looking for detail, and waiting for the light.
If you hanker after a full set of lenses, think how much they cost, and how much they will weigh, and maybe hire one for a week before deciding to buy it.
And, whatever you shoot, with whichever camera and lens, take pictures with care, making each one count, either in terms of either beauty, or learning.
Then, when you get home and process the pictures, see how finely you can hone them, gently shaving away unnecessary bulk and distractions, so that your subject can shine in an unpolluted sky.
.photo { border: 1px solid #ddd; padding: 15px; text-align: left; margin-bottom: 20px; } .photo small { display: block; font-weight: bold; margin-top: 15px; } It’s the Lake District – but my poor choice of an overcast day to take the image means that the colour version is not especially appealing, and I had to work hard to make an image with a reasonable amount of appeal. A photographer who knows an area and its weather will do far better, matching light and mood in a way that I failed to manage: a wise newcomer would spend time in the landscape, exploring the changes during each day, and in different weathers. John DuderJohn continues to keep hold of his old cameras, including the Contax RTS that he bought in 1976, selling two Pentax bodies and taking a year's HP agreement out to do it. These days, it’s usually loaded with very fast film to give strong grain.
Occasional lighting workshops divert him, and with a bit of luck interest other photographers enough for them to go along and pay. He particularly likes spectacular, angular low key setups, with deep shadows retaining a few secrets.
As well as still shooting a bit of film, John particularly loves using some of the more characterful film-era lenses on his digital cameras. Almost without exception, they are lenses that their manufacturers are probably rather ashamed of.
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