Unlocking Landscape Photography

Are you a new photographer feeling overwhelmed by the myriad of camera settings for landscape photography? Don't worry - while I can’t provide a one-size-fits-all solution, I can share some simple guidelines to make the process more intuitive and enjoyable.

What Settings Should You Consider For Landscape Photography?

Shoot in RAW Format.

First and foremost, always shoot in RAW format. This gives you the most flexibility in post-processing, allowing you to fine-tune details and recover highlights and shadows.

Use a Small Aperture

For landscape shots, a small aperture (around f/16) is ideal. This setting ensures a large depth of field, keeping both the foreground and background in sharp focus.

Keep ISO Low

To maintain the highest picture quality, keep your ISO as low as possible, ideally at 100 or 200. Low ISO numbers reduce noise, preserving the details and clarity of your pictures.

Use a Tripod

Since using a small aperture and a low ISO often results in slower shutter speeds, especially during the magical hours of sunrise and sunset, a tripod is essential. It stabilises your camera, allowing for crisp, blur-free pictures even with longer exposures.

Aperture Priority or Manual Mode

Most landscape photographers prefer shooting in Aperture Priority mode or Manual mode. Aperture Priority lets you set the aperture while the camera adjusts the shutter speed, ensuring consistent depth of field. Manual mode offers full control, allowing you to fine-tune every aspect of the exposure.

Let’s Dive Into an Example

To make these concepts clearer, let’s start with an example picture. I’ll walk you through the exact settings I used and explain why and how I chose them.

Camera Settings Used To Capture This Picture of St Paul’s Cathedral at Sunset

Aperture: f/16

ISO: 400

Shutter Speed: 1/125th

Mode: Manual

Format: RAW

White Balance: Auto

Metering Mode: Spot Metering

Capture Mode: Single Shot

It was a beautiful, warm evening in London and as the sun set, the sky was filled with vibrant red and orange colours.

The goal was to capture the cathedral from the Millennium Footbridge at Sunset. I shot with a wide-angle lens(24-105mm) and I decided on f-16 to ensure everything was in focus. Any lower, and I would have risked the loss of sharpness because of diffraction.

I used a tripod so shutter speed wasn’t a big concern and then all I had to worry about was the ISO setting. Because the sun was setting and my camera settings, it meant I had to increase my ISO to guarantee the correct exposure. It’s important to keep your ISO as low as possible to guarantee clean pictures with limited digital noise.

With my Aperture and ISO settings picked, the last thing I had to do was decide on my shutter speed. Like I said, because I was using a tripod, the shutter speed wasn’t a deal breaker and its only role was balancing the exposure.

Using spot metering mode, to make sure I was metering from one specific area that I needed to expose properly and metering off the cathedral, I shot at 1/125th of a second which is quite fast for landscape photography.

Why These Settings?

The goal with landscape photography is to create pictures with as much of the picture in focus as possible and this is called Death of Field. The larger the f-stop number, the greater the depth of field will be but the amount of light entering the camera will be less. It’s a balancing act so that’s why most landscape pictures are taken with Aperture values between f/8 and f/16. Sure, there might be occasions when using a smaller aperture number might produce more compelling or interesting pictures through creative focus blur, but more often than not, somewhere between f/8 and f/16 will be the preferred Aperture range.

Aperture: f/16 ensured a deep depth of field, which meant capturing intricate details from the foreground to the background. So that was the bridge in the foreground leading up to the cathedral in the background.

ISO: 400 allowed me to let enough light into the camera to create the picture I wanted without introducing too much digital noise.

Shutter Speed: Adjusting the shutter speed according to the light ensures proper exposure without compromising on other settings. Typically, when using a tripod, you can shoot at much slower speeds or lower numbers, but I wanted to guarantee sharpness and add mood to the picture.

Mode: Some photographers will use Aperture Priority mode because it simplifies the process, letting the camera handle shutter speed adjustments while they focus on composition but I like to have full control of my pictures so I always tend to shoot in Manual mode. It’s a personal thing and there’s no right or wrong way, so experiment with different modes and find the one that works best for you.

The Process

My process for taking pictures always starts with my “Image Goal”. What type of picture do I want to create? That’s always my starting point so with this picture I wanted the bridge to act as a leading line to the cathedral in the background and I wanted to shoot the picture at sunset to create the right mood. Choosing the right lens for the job is an important part of the process as well and with most landscape pictures a wide-angle lens will be the best choice. Typically, I use a 24-105mm lens for any landscape pictures I take, shooting as wide as possible at 24mm.

Make sure you set your camera to RAW format because this will give you more control over your pictures when you’re editing them later.

Choose the right camera settings to capture the picture you want, so select the right Aperture and ISO settings and then make sure your camera is mounted on a tripod.

By following these steps and adjusting based on lighting conditions, you’ll be well on your way to capturing breathtaking landscape pictures.

Using Shutter Speed To Create Dramatic Pictures

In the world of landscape photography, there’s a unique thrill that comes from using long shutter speeds. Unlike other genres of photography where quick captures are the norm, landscape photographers often embrace slow shutter speeds to create stunning, noise-free pictures that capture the essence of nature in a way that fast speeds simply cannot.

When the shutter stays open longer, it captures motion blur in moving elements like trees, water and clouds. To capture motion like this, it’s essential to use a tripod.

The benefit of using slow shutter speed is that it can blur water, giving it a calm, dreamy look. Waves and ripples create distracting textures, which can affect the impact of a picture. By blurring these details, the picture becomes more soothing and appealing. Without the distraction, it’s easier to direct the viewer’s attention to the focus point of the picture. This technique can also be applied to clouds and waterfalls.

The Unsung Hero of Landscape Photography: The Tripod

Tripods are an indispensable tool for landscape photography and they unlock a myriad of creative possibilities that handheld shooting simply can’t match. A tripod is your gateway to creating professional-looking pictures.

One of the primary benefits of using a tripod is the ability to take long exposures. Capturing the ethereal movement of water, the delicate drift of clouds, or the serene glow of twilight requires a stable base. Without a tripod, these shots are nearly impossible to achieve, as even the slightest hand movement can blur a picture.

Another significant advantage of using a tripod is the ability to keep your ISO settings low. Low ISO settings reduce digital noise, enhancing picture quality and preserving the fine details of your scene. This is particularly important during the golden hour, when the contrast between the bright sky and darker landscape can be extreme. A tripod allows you to capture a wide dynamic range, pulling out the details in both highlights and shadows when you’re editing your pictures.

If you’re serious about landscape photography, investing in a tripod is essential. It’s a tool that will elevate your work, helping you create pictures that you’re proud of and that amaze anyone looking at them.

Why Landscape Photographer’s Use Filters

While most photography genres rely on fast shutter speeds, landscape photographers often thrive on long exposures. Capturing the silky smoothness of flowing water or the gentle drift of clouds during daylight hours, however, presents a unique challenge. Bright sunlight makes it nearly impossible to achieve the slow shutter speeds necessary for these effects, even with the lowest ISO settings and highest Aperture settings like f/16 or f/22.

Once you push past an aperture of f/16, you encounter a phenomenon known as diffraction. This occurs when the Aperture becomes so small that the light waves interfere with each other as they spread out to cover the camera sensor, significantly reducing picture sharpness. Consequently, most photographers prefer to keep the Aperture setting between f/4 and f/16 to maintain optimal clarity.

So, what’s the solution when you need longer exposures but don’t want to compromise on picture quality? This is where ND filters or any other type of filter comes into play.

Filters block excess light, allowing you to use slower shutter speeds without overexposing your picture. Think of them like sunglasses for your camera. With filters, you can capture stunning motion effects during the day, in bright conditions, while keeping your Aperture within the optimal range for sharpness.

Filters are essential for landscape photographers aiming to create dynamic, high-quality pictures under challenging lighting conditions. With the right filters, you can master the art of long exposures and elevate your landscape photography to new heights.

Which Are The Best Filters For Landscape Photography?

Using the right filters can significantly improve your landscape pictures but which ones are right? Is one filter better than another and what does choosing a filter come down to?

Firstly, there are several different options of filters available, ranging from ND Filters through to Polarising and UV Filters so choosing the right one will depend on your “Image Goal”. They all do the same job albeit in different ways but they help you to control light and colour in ways that would be impossible to achieve through editing alone.

ND or neutral density filters are considered by many photographers to be the best option for long-exposure photography. They reduce the intensity of the light without altering its colour and they come in various strengths. The strength is typically measured in stops, normally 3 stop, 6 stop and 10 stop, and the stops indicate how much light they block.

ND filters are great for long exposures with water, clouds or even crowds during daylight. The price of filters varies but Lee Filters Little Stopper and Big Stopper are know for their high-quality and minimal colour cast. Also Tiffen ND filters are an affordable and reliable choice for anyone new to landscape photography. Other brands like Lee, B+W and Hoya are also great for ensuring the best results so it will all come down to budget and personal preference. With filters in your kit bag, you’ll be well on your way to capturing breathtaking landscapes that leave a lasting impression.

Shoot in RAW Format For Maximum Picture Quality

One of the best tips for photography, not just landscape photography, is to always set your camera to capture RAW pictures and never look back. Switching to Jpeg is a common mistake that can seriously limit your editing capabilities, hindering your ability to adjust white balance, colours and tones. When your camera captures a picture as a Jpeg, it compresses the file, permanently discarding much of the detail and flexibility you would have with a RAW file. This compression makes it challenging to make significant adjustments later, often resulting in a final pictures that doesn’t fully reflect the scene you captured.

RAW pictures, on the other hand, retain all the data from your camera’s sensor which means you can fin-tune every aspect of your picture, from subtle colour corrections to dramatic exposure adjustments, ensuring your final picture matches your Image Goal.

It’s worth noting that many cameras, including professional models, default to Jpeg mode so one of the first settings you should change when you get a new camera is to switch to RAW. This simple adjustment can make a world of difference in the quality and flexibility of your landscape pictures.

Setting White Balance

White balance plays an important role in capturing the true colours and mood of a landscape scene. While many photographers rely on their camera’s auto white-balance setting, and I’m one of those photographers, it is important to understand and be able to control this aspect of photography. That said, utilising auto white-balance frees you up to focus on composing your shot and capturing the best picture possible. Instead of being distracted by the fuss of all the technical details, you can just trust your camera to handle colour temperature adjustments, allowing you to concentrate on taking the picture.

While auto white-balance is a reliable choice for most situations, there are exceptions, particularly when creating panoramic pictures. In all honesty though, white balance isn’t something I worry about because I always shoot in RAW which means I can always adjust it during editing.

Using  One-Shot Autofocus For Landscape Photography

Achieving precise focus is essential for all genres of photography but especially landscape photography, where every detail contributes to the overall composition. It’s frustrating when your camera focuses on the wrong area of the scene you’re shooting.

To ensure your focus lands exactly where you want it, utilise One-Shot or AI Servo autofocus on your camera. One-Shot is ideal for stationary subjects like landscape photography and AI Servo is designed for moving subjects.

One-Shot focus allows you to manually select the focus point and this precision ensures that critical elements in your scene are sharply defined. AI servo, on the other hand, dynamically tracks and adjusts focus within a broader area.

Selecting the appropriate autofocus setting will depend on your image goal and the composition of your shot.

Typically I set my camera’s focus mode to One-Shot and it’s rare that I change it but again this is something I would encourage you to experiment with.

Final Thoughts

Achieving breathtaking landscape pictures often comes down to following a tried and true formula: use a small aperture/ larger f-stop number, the lowest possible ISO setting, and adjust your shutter speed accordingly. This combination ensures sharp, high-quality pictures with minimal digital noise and maximum depth of field.

A tripod is an essential and indispensable tool for landscape photography which will enable you to produce the best possible pictures regardless of the camera you use.

Landscape photography doesn’t have to be daunting and by following the steps in this blog, you can significantly enhance the quality of your pictures.

Remember, practice, patience and experimentation are key. Each shot is another step closer to mastering your craft.

If you want to take your photography skills to the next level, take a look at the Perfect Picture Program. In it, you’ll learn all about my SIMPLE system that will help you to start taking great pictures immediately with the camera you already own.