PhotoNaturalist » Landscapes

Understanding Perspective and Focal Length

Steve Berardi — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:02:39 +0000

Image by SharkD / Used under the GFDL

In photography, there’s a common misconception that focal length determines the perspective of an image, but the only thing that really determines perspective is where you put the camera.

For example, the telephoto lens is often said to “compress” your scene and make everything look flat. But, it’s not the focal length that’s doing this. It’s actually because you’re so far from the scene you’re photographing (which is how telephoto lenses are commonly used: to photograph something far away). And, it’s because of this great distance that the scene looks “flat” in the final image.

As you move farther and farther away from something, you lose visual depth. For example, if you stare at someone’s face when you’re only a foot away from them, you’ll be able to see all the curves of their face pretty clearly, but as you step farther away from them, their face will begin to look “flat.”

So, when you decide to photograph a particular subject, choose your perspective carefully. The perspective you choose will determine the feeling you communicate with the image. If your image has foreground elements AND background elements, then also consider how you want that foreground to relate to the background. Remember that as you get closer to foreground elements, they’ll get larger at a much faster rate than elements in the background.

Once you find that perfect perspective, your next step is to find the appropriate focal length to fill the frame with your desired image. As you take more photos with different focal lengths, you’ll be able to instantly determine the lens you need, but if you’re not quite at that stage yet, here’s a brief overview of the different ranges of focal length and how their angles of view capture a scene:

Wide-Angle (10-40mm)

The wide-angle lens is the classic landscape lens because the short focal length allows you to capture a very wide angle of the scene in front of you. It’s great for capturing scenes like this:

Photo by Steve Berardi

Normal lens (50mm on full frame, 30mm on crop sensor)

The 50mm lens is called “normal” because it represents the approximate angle of view (about 55 degrees) that our eyes have. So, a 50mm lens will capture a scene as our own eyes see it. Note that on a crop sensor camera, a “normal” lens would be at about 30mm. Most camera manufacturers make an inexpensive 50mm with a wide aperture, so these lenses are also useful for astrophotography or for getting a wide aperture at a low cost. Here’s an example of an image that was taken with a 50mm at f/2.8:

Photo by Steve Berardi

Telephoto (70-300mm)

The telephoto lens is great for photographing distant landscapes, like the one below. Although this scene looks “compressed,” remember that it’s not the focal length that’s causing this–it’s only because I was standing so far away from those boulders in the foreground. I could have made this same image with a wide angle lens, but then I would’ve had to significantly crop the image later. With a telephoto lens I was able to fill the frame with the area I wanted.

Photo by Steve Berardi

Super Telephoto (300mm or more)

Due to it’s very small field of view, the super telephoto lens is great for isolating a subject against a specific part of a background, like with wildflowers. They’re also obviously useful for photographing distant objects that you can’t get close to (e.g. wildlife). Here’s a shot that was taken with a 300mm lens to isolate the flower against a green background:

Photo by Steve Berardi

For more information on perspective…

For more information on perspective and how it affects your final image, I highly recommend reading the Wikipedia article on perspective distortion, as well as Ansel Adams’ great book The Camera (particularly the chapter called “Basic Image Management”).

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About the Author: Steve Berardi is a naturalist, photographer, computer scientist, and founder of PhotoNaturalist. You can usually find him hiking in the beautiful mountains and deserts of Southern California.

Watch for the Perseid Meteor Shower This Week

Steve Berardi — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:34:37 +0000

Photo by anttler (used under the CC-Attr-NC-ND license)

Every year between July and August, you can observe the Perseid meteor shower in the night sky. This year it’s supposed to peak around August 12, which is just a few days away, so I thought it’d be nice to put together a collection of links that offer some tips on photographing meteor showers.

I’ve only tried photographing a meteor shower once, and didn’t have much success, but one thing’s for sure: you need very dark skies. If you live in a fairly large city, you’ll probably have to drive out a bit to get away from the orange glow (also known as “light pollution”). This past weekend, while camping in the middle of the California desert, I saw about one meteor every couple of minutes, but when I got back to the orange glow of the Los Angeles sky last night, I couldn’t see any.

Anyway, here are a few great resources I’ve found around the Internet that help explain how to photograph meteor showers:

Meteor Showers: A Photographer’s Primer – (Luminous Landscape)

Photographing Meteors – (Astropix)

More info on this year’s Perseid shower – (NASA)

If you’re not a fan of the standard meteor shower photos where there’s just a white streak across the photo, perhaps you can try taking a time-lapse of the shower. Here’s a pretty cool video I found today:

If you have a great tip for photographing meteor showers, please share it by leaving a comment below! Good luck watching (and photographing) those meteors!

The photo at the beginning of this post was taken by anttler, and was used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attr-NC-ND license.

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Take a Second Look at Your Subject

Vic Berardi — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:14:33 +0000

Photos by Vic Berardi

Ever wonder why some photographers see things that you donʼt? True, there is some degree of “right brain” thinking going on with the more experienced photographer, but I think thereʼs more to it than just that.

Whatʼs most important is perseverance and taking a second look at your subject.

For example, consider the photo below:

Photo by Vic Berardi

When I first came upon this scene, I immediately saw an image that illustrated Robert Frostʼs poem “The Road Not Taken.” The road on the left, the lesser traveled one looks less developed, while the road going to the right shows a well traveled path. I wonʼt get into the full meaning of the poem here, but that’s what I wanted to communicate. This photo is sharp, exposed properly and has decent composition. But, it lacks something. It is, however, how most people would photograph the scene and leave it at that. It was taken shortly before noon with a polarizing filter to bring out the blue sky better.

After taking that first photo, I thought that it was the best I could do until a few hours later when I noticed a dark bank of clouds building far beyond the mountains. Knowing these would soon intensify, I drove back to the same spot and the lighting was much more dramatic:

Photo by Vic Berardi

This photo shows the element that was lacking in the first: an air of mystery of the unknown. Now the road on the left looks more menacing and uncertain. So, referring back to the poemʼs meaning, most would take the road on the right, not the left. But, of course Frost proclaims, “I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

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About the Author: Vic Berardi is a raptor lover that lives in the Midwest. He is the founder of the Illinois Beach State Park Hawk Watch and every weekend of the year you’ll find him searching for hawks and photographing them. Several of his photographs have been published in a leading raptor journal and in articles he has written. During the year he gives presentations teaching others about hawks and hawk migration. Vic also photographs dragonflies and wild flowers and is always respectful of nature and its creatures.

Galen Rowell’s great book, Inner Game of Outdoor Photography, is now back in print!

Steve Berardi — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:02:35 +0000

Galen Rowell is widely known as one of the greatest landscape photographers that ever lived. But, he wasn’t just a photographer: he was also an avid mountain climber and passionate adventurer. He truly loved the natural world: not only observing it, but also participating in it.

Through his pioneering use of graduated neutral density filters, he was able to create some truly amazing images.

Throughout his life, he wrote numerous articles for Outdoor Photographer magazine, as well as a couple of instructional books:

Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape

Inner Game of Outdoor Photography

Mountain Light is currently not in print, but his other book, Inner Game of Outdoor Photography is finally back in print as an affordable paperback. A book that used to sell for hundreds of dollars used, is now widely available for less than $20!

I bought it a few weeks ago when it came back in print, and I just finished reading it today, so I thought I’d share some of my thoughts on the book:

The book is a collection of articles that Rowell wrote for Outdoor Photographer magazine throughout his career. And, it’s divided into four distinctive parts: visions, preparations, journeys, and realizations.

Visions – Understanding the creative and cognitive processes

In Part I, Visions, Rowell discusses the creative and cognitive processes that are required for creating emotional photographs. He talks about why photos don’t always look the way you remember them when you saw the scene in person, and he emphasizes the importance of pre-visualizing your image.

He explains how photographers who started as engineers often have problems with producing creative images, and instead focus on creating technically perfect photos (i.e. sharp, in focus, perfect exposure, etc). As a computer scientist, I’ve often felt this has been a problem for me, so this part of Rowell’s book was by far the most valuable for me.

Rowell also included a recommended reading list of books that talk about the cognitive sciences. Why is this important for photographers? Well, understanding how the brain works and perceives images will help you understand why some photos “just look better” than others: what looks good in person doesn’t always translate well to photographs.

Preparations – Pushing the limits of your gear

In Part II, Preparations, Rowell talks about some ways to push the limits of your gear. Although he talks a lot about film in this section, he also talks about other things that are more applicable to digital photography: how to pack your gear when traveling on planes, and how to use flash effectively for landscape images (I never thought this was important until reading this book!).

Journeys – Turning visualizations into photographs

In Part III, Journeys, Rowell shares a few stories about how he took a visualization and turned it into a photograph. He talks about the frequent need to eat a late dinner in order to get a great image, or how sometimes you need to run across a field chasing a rainbow to photograph it at the right spot before it’s all gone

Another story I really enjoyed from this section was the time Rowell spent in Northern Canada and learned to “dance with the caribou” in order to get close enough to photograph them. Apparently, caribou will let you get pretty close if you raise your hands in the air and move like them.

Realizations – “communicating your worldview through photography”

In Part IV, Realizations, Rowell talks about the importance of “communicating your worldview through photography.” He discusses some of the ethical issues of photography, like why you should label your “wildlife” shots as captive or truly wild. He also goes into the ethics of publishing photos, and explains why he wouldn’t publish photos in an article he doesn’t agree with.

After reading Part IV of the book, it became clear to me that Rowell didn’t just love photography, and he didn’t just love adventuring through the wild. He truly loved the natural world, and tried to protect it through his photographs and writing.

Who’s this book for?

This book may not appeal to everyone, because it doesn’t really talk about “how to use your camera” — it doesn’t explain how exposure works, or how to get sharper photos. But, I think it covers something much more valuable than that: how to visualize images, and how much work it might take to get just one of those visualized photos.

Lastly, I just want to comment on the design of the book: it’s perfect. I’ve noticed that most photography books are printed on that glossy paper (to make the photos look good), and are usually huge (making it awkward to hold and read in a chair). Well, this book by Galen Rowell is about the size of a magazine (super easy to hold in your hands), and the text is printed on non-glossy paper, so it’s easy to underline or write notes in the book. The photos for the articles are printed on glossy pages throughout the book.

So, overall, I consider this book a treasure. In fact, after just finishing it today, I would put it in my top 3 most valuable photography books (the other two are Ansel Adams’ The Camera, and The Negative).

Help support PhotoNaturalist and buy the book through our affiliate link!

If you’d like to buy the book, I’d greatly appreciate it if you used the Amazon link below. I get a small commission for each sale, but I want you to know that I’m only recommending the book because I really do believe it’s a great book by an amazing photographer.

Buy Galen Rowell’s Inner Game of Outdoor Photography on Amazon!

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11 Tips for Landscape Photography

Steve Berardi — Wed, 19 May 2010 01:34:33 +0000

Mojave Desert at Sunset / Photo by Steve Berardi

Once in awhile, I think it’s good to re-read and review stuff you’ve already read before. It’s a good way to refresh your memory and pick up things you might’ve missed the first time.

I’ve probably re-read Ansel Adams’ book The Camera at least five times, and I still learn something new each time.

So, I’ve decided to start putting together collections of previous posts that have a central theme. I know that some of you haven’t been reading PhotoNaturalist from the start, so maybe you’ve missed a few of these posts. I don’t know how often I’ll do this, but to start off, here are some of the most popular posts I’ve written on landscape photography:

#1 – Include a foreground and background in your composition

Of course, there are no strict rules about composition, but as a guideline, you may want to consider three elements that are common in great landscape photos: a foreground, background, and great light.

#2 – Remember to bring a tripod, polarizer, compass, and flashlight

The tripod is necessary to keep your camera stable during those longer shutter speeds you’ll usually need for landscape photos. The polarizing filter helps eliminate unwanted reflections and deepens the blue of the sky. A compass is useful when you’re trying to determine where the sun will set in relation to a geological formation, and since you’ll often find yourself hiking back in the dark, it’s a good idea to bring a flashlight too

#3 – Don’t rely on auto white balance

Auto white balance usually works pretty well, but sometimes it’ll cause problems for landscape images. This usually happens when the majority of your photo is one color. If you shoot in RAW though, you can safely fine tune the white balance setting later in post-processing, without sacrificing any quality.

#4 – Turn on extra noise reduction for long exposures

With long exposures (anything more than a second), you’ll start to have more noise problems, so most cameras have a special noise reduction feature for these long exposures. Remember to turn it on if you’re photographing a scene in extremely low light.

#5 – When you can’t bring a tripod, improvise

Sometimes you can’t always bring a tripod with you, so in those cases you can just improvise with the objects around you: rest your camera against a large rock or lean against a tree. Anything to help you reduce camera shake will lead to sharper photos.

#6 – Use height to communicate emotion

The height of your camera in relation to the landscape will help communicate a particular emotion, so consider what you’re trying to convey with the photograph. The higher the camera, the more superior the viewer will feel over the landscape. On the other hand, if you place the camera closer to the ground, then the viewer will feel more inferior to the landscape, as if it’s conquering them.

#7 – Scout the land ahead of time

Before you go out to photograph a landscape for the first time, it’s a good idea to scout the area first by looking at a topographic map and using a program like Photographer’s Ephemeris to determine where the sun will be when it rises and sets. This way, you’ll know where that glorious light will shine during the golden hours.

#8 – Photograph the landscape at the right time

With the lighting conditions constantly changing during the golden hours, it’s important to get to your photo location well ahead of time to setup your shot and wait for that perfect moment.

#9 – Take two shots if you need extra depth of field

With some photos, you may want to include a foreground that’s very close to your camera, along with a background that’s very far. Even with a super small aperture, this will likely cause depth of field problems, so you can try taking two photos in this case: one that’s focused on the foreground and another that’s focused on the background. Then, just merge these two photos later in post-processing.

#10 – Setup your tripod carefully

This is a post I recently wrote at the Digital Photography School, about how to setup your tripod. Although the tripod seems like a pretty simple piece of equipment, there are a few things to keep in mind when you set it up to ensure you get the sharpest image possible.

#11 – Explore Flickr for inspiration

Okay, so I don’t have a blog post on this one yet, but I like prime numbers, so I wanted to make sure I had 11 tips. Anyway, one of my favorite things to do when I need inspiration is just explore photos on Flickr. Sometimes I just look through the photostreams of some of my favorite photographers (like Kevin McNeal, Ben Hattenbach, Patrick Smith, or Michael Menefee), and other times I just look at photos from my favorite locations (like the Mojave Desert or the chaparral of Southern California).

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Photographer’s Ephemeris now available for iPhone!

Steve Berardi — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 03:48:39 +0000

I’ve written about The Photographer’s Ephemeris before: it’s a free desktop application that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

It’s a tool that helps show you the exact position of the sun and moon on a particular time of day, overlaying their azimuths on top of a Google Map.

It’s hard to explain the entire program in one sentence because it does so much. But, it’s a tremendous tool for landscape photographers, because it can help you scout out areas and determine ahead of time if the sun will shine on a particular mountain peak at sunset.

Well, this great tool is now available for the iPhone too! Here’s a list of the app’s great features:

Calculates sunrise/sunset times and azimuth for a particular day

Calculates moonrise/moonset times and azimuth

Overlays the sun/moon azimuth onto a Google map

Easily change the time of day and watch sun/moon position change on the Google map

Also calculates civil, nautical, and astronomical twilight times

Quickly jump to any date in the past or future (useful for determining where the sun/moon will be during another season of the year)

Save a list of frequent locations

Calculate the elevation of the sun/moon at a particular time of day (helps you determine if the sun will be behind a mountain)

I’ve explored the iPhone app for about an hour already, and I think there’s only a few things I don’t like about it: (1) it doesn’t have the terrain maps and (2) no maps are available when you don’t have cell phone signal (often the case when you’re hiking in the mountains and remote desert).

I asked the developer, Stephen Trainor, about the terrain maps, and it turns out Google doesn’t support these maps on the iPhone yet. So, this really isn’t a bug or forgotten feature in the app… Google just needs to get their act together!

And, of course no maps are available when you don’t have cell phone signal. But, after thinking about this a little, I realized that this might not be a huge deal anyway. When I’m out on the trail, all I really want to know is where the sun/moon will be at a particular time. And, the app can still calculate these positions (azimuth/elevation) without signal. Then, I just use a compass to find the right azimuth, and approximate the elevation. Even if the maps were available while I’m out on the trail, I’m not sure I’d use them very often. For me, the maps are most useful when I’m at home scouting for locations

So, check out the free desktop application if you haven’t already, and if you want this great tool for your iPhone too, just search for it in the iTunes store or use the link on the Photographer’s Ephemeris website: http://photoephemeris.com/

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The OTHER reason to use a tripod

Steve Berardi — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 01:44:21 +0000

You hear it all the time: if you want sharp photos, you gotta use a tripod whenever possible.

Well, if that isn’t reason enough for you, here’s the other benefit of using a tripod: it forces you to more carefully create your composition.

When you handhold your camera, there’s a tendency to snap away photos as soon as you spot your subject. Then, after you got a few shots, you’ll just move on.

But, add a tripod to the equation, and all of a sudden you’ll be carefully adjusting those knobs until the camera is exactly where you want it. Sometimes this will take a considerable amount of time, but during this extra time there’s a good chance you’ll notice something new about your subject that will take your composition into a whole new direction.

Adding all this extra setup time will also naturally force you to consider your composition more carefully before you setup that tripod.

Galen Rowell argued that this is one of the reasons why photos made from large-format cameras always seem to look better: a lot of it is just because the large-format photographer has to spend a considerable amount of time setting up his or her camera. He explains this in his wonderful book Mountain Light:

“…differences in approach between large- and small-format photographers matter more than their equipment. A large-format photographer would stop at a scene, consider it for a while, then spend long minutes setting up his camera until the scene was framed exactly the way he wanted it. A typical amateur with a 35mm would stop, turn toward the scene, make a handheld exposure or two within the first minute, and leave. The reason the 35mm image doesn’t look like the 4-by-5 image is more a result of method than of equipment.”

Rowell also explained that “When I come across a still landscape that moves me, I pretend my Nikon is a bigger camera.” So, I think even adding the battery grip to your camera can help you treat it more like a large format camera, and inadvertently force you to think more carefully about your compositions.

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5 great resources for nature photographers

Steve Berardi — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 04:00:10 +0000

When I started this website, I listed a few great resources on the right sidebar, but I just realized that I’ve never written about them in a post before. So, I thought I’d take a moment to list them here and explain how each one can be helpful on your journey to photograph the wonderful natural world:

#1 – Moon Phase Calendar

This website will show you the moon phases for the current calendar month. It’s helpful when you’re trying to plan a landscape shot and need the moon to be in a specific phase (mostly likely full). I usually just use it as a sort of “quick look” planning tool, and then move on to the next site for more details.

#2 – Sun/Moon data for one day

This is a cool tool developed by the United States Navy that will give you complete sun/moon data for a day (after you give a location). It’ll generate this nice one-page summary that lists sunrise/sunset times, moonrise/moonset times, and civil twilight start and end times. I like to print this page on trips to the desert, so I can also use it to take notes on.

#3 – Precipitation Analysis by NOAA

This website is run by the United States National Weather Service, and has a ton of information on precipitation history. I really just use this for finding good wildflower spots in the spring (more rain in an area usually means more wildflowers), but there’s probably a ton of other things you could use this for. Maybe you could use it for scouting waterfalls too, since some of them are primarily fed by snow melt.

#4 – Weather Forecasts at Weather Underground

Weather Underground has some of the most detailed weather forecasts available on the Internet. What’s particularly useful about their forecasts is the percent cloud cover throughout the day. Of course, this isn’t usually accurate a week in advance, but I use it often the night before I’m planning a trip outdoors. Knowing when there will be clouds could be helpful for things like waterfalls, wildflowers, and landscapes (i.e. sometimes you really want that clear sky!).

#5 – Weather Maps by Weather Underground

This is an awesome tool that Weather Underground just released: it will show you weather conditions overlayed on top of a Google Map (I’ve been waiting forever for this!). You can see cloud cover, temperature, and precipitation. You can also quickly move between cities and different weather stations to get detailed information on things like wind speed, visibility, etc.

This tool can be useful for planning trips to see and photograph wildflowers or waterfalls, where you want some cloud cover. You can use it for the opposite too: say you want to go out and see some dragonflies which won’t be around if there’s overcast skies.

What did I miss?

If you’ve found a better website to accomplish any of the above, or have an additional resource that you’ve found invaluable, please share it with the rest of us by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

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When NOT to use mirror lockup

Steve Berardi — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 03:28:46 +0000

Mirror lockup is one of those little things you can do to get sharper photographs. Sure, by itself you may not see a big difference, but combine it with a few other little things, and you’ll begin to notice that extra sharpness.

It makes sense to use mirror lockup when you have a somewhat controllable subject, like a landscape or wildflower. But, when you need to take shots quickly (like when you’re photographing wildlife or insects), then mirror lockup doesn’t make much sense because it only adds more time to your shots.

You should also avoid using mirror lockup when you’re photographing a bright light source (like the setting sun). After reading Canon’s white paper on the XTi, I’ve learned that this can actually damage the shutter curtains.

I looked at a few other camera manuals and saw the same warning: don’t use mirror lockup when photographing a bright light source. Some manuals even say turn it off for snowy landscapes!

I’ll admit that I’ve shot a few photos with the setting sun included, AND used mirror lockup.. and my camera is still safe, thank god! But, I think it’s a good idea to listen to the warnings of the camera manufacturers–at least the ones that make some sense

So, I do think it’s safe to use mirror lockup when photographing the sky AFTER sunset, but if you want to include the sun in your shot before it sets, I would only do it if it’s behind some clouds (to help block some of the intense light), and I would recommend disabling mirror lockup.

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7 great resources for winter photography

Steve Berardi — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:51:23 +0000

Photo by Steve Berardi

We’re starting to get a good layer of snow on the mountains here in southern California, so I figured now’s a good time to start getting ready for some winter photos.

There are a few unique problems with winter photography because of the bright white snow and cold weather. So, here are a few resources to help you deal with these problems and capture some great natural light this winter season:

#1 – How to get a perfect exposure of a snow-covered landscape

If you try shooting a snowy landscape with autoexposure, then you’ll almost always end up with gray snow in your photos. So, in this post I wrote earlier this year, I suggest a few tips for making sure that snow comes out as it should: white!

#2 – How to fix the “gray snow problem” in Photoshop

If you already have a bunch of winter photos with gray snow, don’t worry: there’s a simple fix with Photoshop. Although this method works great for a lot photos, it’s still best to master the exposure when you take the shot so you get a less noisy photo.

#3 – How snow can help you get better bird photos

Another great thing about snow is the unique lighting conditions it creates. Reflective snow cover can actually help you get a better exposure with bird photographs, and this article written by my dad shows how.

#4 – Tips for keeping your gear safe in the winter

This great article by Ron Niebrugge explains how to handle your camera in the winter to prevent your batteries from running out too soon or from condensation gathering on your lens. He also has a few great tips on how to use your tripod in the snow.

#5 – Tips for taking photos in the winter

This article by Andre Gunther has some great tips for actually taking photos in the winter. He talks about some of the unique lighting conditions you’ll find (like the sun being much lower on the horizon), and the need for a polarizing filter to reduce glare off the snow.

#6 – Gallery of inspiring winter photographs

One of my favorite things to do for inspiration is browse Flickr photographs. It’s a great way to see the world through another person’s eyes and get new perspectives on a landscape or specific subject. So, I created this gallery of some of my favorite winter photos that I’ve found on Flickr.

Please note that none of these are my photographs, but Flickr just recently created a cool “gallery” tool where you can create a page of your favorite photos

#7 – Tips for hiking in the winter

Just cause it’s freezing out and there’s snow on the ground that doesn’t mean you have to stay away from the trails! This site has some great tips for hiking in the winter, how to dress, and some great information on snowshoeing (something I’m planning to get into this winter season, woohoo!!).

Do you have a favorite tip or resource for winter photography?

If you have a great tip for taking photos in the winter, please share it by leaving a comment below!

Good luck capturing some great winter scenes, and stay warm!