Polarizing Filters

The most useful lens filter that you can employ for landscape photography is called a circular polarizing filter. A polarizing filter reduces the glare from non-metallic objects. It also reduces haze and deepens the color of a blue sky.

A polarizing filter has an outer ring that you turn until you get the effect that you want, from full to none. The effect is strongest when your lens is pointed in the direction perpendicular to the sun. Observe the effect carefully as you turn the filter. Sometimes you can inadvertently cause an unwanted color fade, or cause your sky to become too dark.

Note that using such a filter will decrease the amount of light that travels through your lens, perhaps as much as 2 or 3 stops. This can be an adverse factor for handheld shots since you may need to use a slower shutter speed and thus camera shake may be introduced, which will lead to images that are not in sharp focus. The filter can introduce unwanted vignetting when used on a wide angle lens, thus it is not recommended for those lenses.

Be sure to use a circular polarizing filter. A linear polarizing filter is much less expensive but cannot be effectively used with your DSLR's metering and autofocus systems.

Your lens is most likely marked with a Ø symbol and a number in mm. This is the diameter of filter that you need to fit that lens. I recommend that you avoid the cheapest circular polarizing filters. The better ones are made of higher quality glass and have more durable coatings.

Finally, when you don't need it, take the filter off of your lens and stash it in your bag. It may not be needed indoors, for example. You should have a case in which to safely store the filter when not in use.

Copyright © 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Order a Limited Edition Print of this Photograph

Trey Ratcliff's Landscape Tutorial (use code SIC-6683 for 10% off!)

Creating a Panorama

Here's how to create a simple panorama!

Equipment needed: Your DSLR and a tripod with a built-in level. You can also use a level that attaches to your camera's flash shoe, and a tripod. For post processing, you will need Photoshop or another software package that allows you to stitch multiple images together.

First, put your camera on M: Manual exposure. During the shots, leave the aperture constant.

Locate your scene and set up your tripod. In this example I am using a pan/tilt tripod with a built-in bubble level. Level the tripod, then attach your camera. Use the pan control and position your field of view to cover first one, then another, and then another part of the landscape, until the entire area for the panorama is covered. Allow a bit of overlap between shots. Be sure to get the exposure exactly right for each shot. I used 4 shots to achieve the example image below; you might need more or less.

Load the images into your computer. Preprocess each image with lens optics distortion correction software (Photoshop, Lightwave, DxO Optics, PTLens, etc.). In this example, I preprocessed each image using DxO Optics Pro 8 and then opened the corrected images in Photoshop CC.

Once your files are preprocessed, choose Photoshop menu File > Automate > Photomerge... Add the files for the panorama, or use them directly from within Photoshop if they are open. Click OK. Photoshop will merge the images, placing them left to right according to their characteristic patterns. After processing, you will have a new panoramic image!

Copyright © 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Order a Limited Edition Print of this Photograph

Trey Ratcliff's Landscape Tutorial (use code SIC-6683 for 10% off!)

Composition: Framing Your Subject

Another composition technique that is used in photography is framing. Using part of the scene as a frame of some sort helps to draw attention to your subject. The frame can also provide context and help minimize distractions.

A frame can be a hole in the rocks, branches of a tree, a tunnel, the view under a bridge, an opening in a fence, or architectural structures such as arches, windows and doors. Effective framing can help emphasize the subject, and perhaps keep the viewer's eye from being distracted by what surrounds the frame.  A frame need not completely surround the subject.

As with leading lines, the frame can add depth to your two-dimensional image. You can also use the frame to provide some empty space. When you have a subject who is looking to one side, you can arrange the composition such that there is space in the direction the subject is looking.

Look for opportunities to use the framing technique in your compositions. It can sometimes turn what would have been an ordinary photograph into something more interesting, perhaps even a good photograph.

In the example photo, the adult camel's body provides an unusual frame for the young camel's head.

 Copyright © 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Trey Ratcliff's Landscape Tutorial (use code SIC-6683 for 10% off!)

Camels

Composition: Leading Lines

I discussed the Rule of Thirds for scene composition in my last article. Now consider leading lines. When composing a scene for your photo, leading lines can provide a path for your eyes to follow to the subject.

Recall that a good photograph has a clear subject. The subject is emphasized while distractions are minimized. 

Leading lines can create a sense of motion in your composition. They can also help convey a sense of depth to your two dimensional image. Any objects lined up in a row can be used as a line in your composition. Examples include fence posts, a row of cows walking through a field, a line of parked cars, and street lights. Watch for lines created by such objects as masonry, a sea shore, a mountain range, rivers, trees, roads, and buildings. Lines are everywhere. The key to using them in composition is positioning your camera at an appropriate spot such that the lines help direct the eye to your subject.

In the example photograph shown below, the lines created by the garden path and its border masonry lead the eye to the old English cottage.

 Copyright © 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.
Philip Wheeler Photography
Trey Ratcliff's Landscape Tutorial (use code SIC-6683 for 10% off!)

English Garden

Composition: The Rule of Thirds

Ansel Adams said, "There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs." Rules for photographic composition are useful, but they do not ensure that you will produce a good photograph. The trick is to know both how to use the rules and when to break them in order to help you achieve that elusive good photograph.

A good photograph has a clear subject, and uses various techniques to emphasize the subject and minimize distractions.

The most common photographic composition places the subject squarely in the center. In general, this is not very interesting. Exceptions exist, however, such as when the subject fills most of the frame of the image. But you should master other composition techniques as well.

One common and useful rule is called the Rule of Thirds. The drawing below represents your image area in the common 3:2 aspect ratio. Within the large rectangle, there are lines dividing the length and width each into 3 parts. These lines intersect at 4 points, marked below with circles. Using the Rule of Thirds, you would center your subject at one of these 4 circles.

The Rule of Thirds was invented by the master painters of the Renaissance. Its purpose is to allow space in the painting to provide some context to the subject, to help tell a story. The eye tends to wander to these four points more readily than to the center of the image.

In the example photograph below, I used the Rule of Thirds to position the flower, emphasizing the subject. I also used a shallow depth of field to throw the background and extreme foreground out of focus in order to minimize distractions.

Copyright 2013 © Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Flower

HDR Software Notes

Here is a useful tip for HDR enthusiasts who use Photomatix: always convert your RAW files to TIFF first. The RAW converter in Photomatix is not of the highest quality, according to the Photomatix developers. If you use lens correction software, which I recommend, it will probably handle the conversion for you (DxO Optics, Lightroom). Users of PTLens must do the conversion from RAW before the PTLens processing can start so that works out well.

SNS-HDR Pro 1.4.22 is an alternative to Photomatix that is said to be the most halo-resistant of all HDR software. I downloaded and installed the demo version. I loaded it with a set of 5 images I took in the Blue Ridge Mountains at dawn. But first I used DxO Optics 8 to correct the lens aberration and convert from NEF to DNG. Using the default settings, the result from SNS-HDR was very clear and halo-free. I like the feature that asks if you want to save the image as 8-bit or 16-bit TIFF; Photomatrix saves as 16-bit, which is nice if you need it but for my work it just results in a larger file that I need to flatten before processing in Photoshop. (Note that I mean 8-bits or 16-bits per channel.) My first impression of SNS-HDR is positive, although it is a lot slower than Photomatix 5. The demo version places a huge watermark on all finished images.

Expose 3 is another HDR software package that I need to try.

Dynamic Photo HDR 5 is said to be less expensive than Photomatix, but it supposedly has a better RAW file converter. It does not include batch processing, however.

Many image processing software packages include a batch processing feature. This is very useful, for example, when performing lens corrections using DxO Optics Pro 8. You can quickly set it up to process entire folders of files, instructing it as to your preferred settings and output file format. Since it can take well over an hour to process 100 images, allowing batch processing means you can go about your business while the computer works away.

Copyright © 2013 Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Hen

Choosing a Camera

I have been using a Canon 60D for the past couple of years. It's a great camera, and the kit lens (18-135mm) is a good walkabout lens. But now I would like to expand my lens selection to include a wide angle lens, to start with. And therein lies the dilemma. You can easily invest much more in your lenses than you typically spend on a camera body. Therefore it would be best to purchase lenses that you can use on future upgraded versions of your camera body of choice.

Leaving the subject of lens adapters aside, my goal is to use Canon lenses on Canon cameras, Nikkor lenses on Nikon cameras, etc. In previous articles I have written about sensor size and ISO sensitivity, and based on that information I concluded that I want a camera with a full-frame sensor.

In my research I looked primarily at Canon and Nikon DSLRs, but I also looked into the new mirrorless cameras. An SLR or DSLR lets you see though the lens when you look through the viewfinder, and this requires a mirror inside the camera body. A mirrorless camera shows the viewfinder image on an electronic screen. This is similar to the Live View shooting mode common in many DSLRs, and like Live View it has a lag that makes it difficult to use in action/sports photography. The Sony NEX series of mirrorless cameras are tempting: the Sony NEX-7 offers 24MP and 10 frames-per-second shooting speed, and the price is very reasonable, but it has a smaller APS-C sized sensor. The Sony DSC-RX1 has a full-frame sensor, but the price is rather high. At this time, there are few full-frame mirrorless cameras from which to choose. I expect that more will appear on the market in the next few years, and it is possible that they will overtake the DSLR in popularity at some point. However, that hasn't happened yet.

Thus my research came down to finding a DSLR camera with a full-frame sensor from a manufacturer who offers a decent selection of full-frame lenses. Since using FX/full-frame lenses on DX/APS-C sensors results in a cropped image, I concluded that mixing lens and sensor sizes was not what I wanted to do.

Next came the question: buy new, used or refurbished? A factory refurbished camera by Nikon or Canon, purchased with warranty from a major dealer such as B&H Foto or Adorama, seemed like the best choice based on recommendations from a number of photographers who had already gone down that path.

Then I considered design flaws. For example, the Nikon D40 and D80 DSLRs had an exposure design flaw, easily compensated for but annoying just the same. I looked at the Nikon D600 and D800: the D600 had a history of oil spots on its sensor. I found that this seemed to be limited to the early units and was corrected by the factory in refurbished cameras.

The D800 has features that some reviewers don't like, such as the small autofocus coverage and non-intuitive menu system. The D600 has 24MP, and the D800 has 36MP. Another of my articles discussed MP. An additional concern is that a huge MP count requires more disk storage space. I can easily use 5 to 10 GB of storage space in a few days with my 18MP Canon 60D. Add storage space for post-processing and the numbers grow to multiple terabytes per year. The D800 is also more expensive than the D600.

After much deliberation, I decided to buy a refurbished Nikon D600. This will help reduce the noise in my photos and provide a basis upon which to build a full-frame lens collection.

Copyright © Philip N. Wheeler. All Rights Reserved.

Philip Wheeler Photography

Tree