is a lot to think about when taking a landscape photograph; technical and aesthetical decisions have to be made, and often quite quickly. It is easy to forget a vital point, which may lead to the loss of an image. All photographers eventually develop a natural workflow but initially it is worthwhile making a simple list to follow. The fundamental factors of composition, focusing, exposure, filtration and camera set-up should be noted in the order you are most comfortable with. You should familiarize yourself with the layout of your camera bag so that you can find any item quickly. After finding the optimum position from which to shoot, run through your workflow to make sure that you’ve remembered everything. These steps will soon become second nature and you will be able to concentrate fully on capturing the scene before you.
Woodland reflections
When walking along the shore of this small Scottish lochan on a very foggy early summer morning, I kept catching tantalizing glimpses of the opposite shoreline reflected in the calm water as the mist began to clear. I knew that the effect would not last long because, as the sun rose higher, the fog would begin to burn off and the breeze would pick up, destroying the reflections. It was essential to work quickly in order to capture the atmosphere of the moment. Having a basic workflow to follow provides an added safeguard that might just prevent disappointment when an opportunity like this arises. The main area of interest was quite distant, so I needed to use a telephoto lens to compose an image without too much blank space. Once I had set up my camera, using a polarizing filter to saturate the fresh spring foliage, I only needed to wait a few seconds before the mist cleared just enough to reveal sufficient contrast in the distant trees.
Canon EOS 5, 100–400mm lens, polarizer, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/15sec at f/11
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Take control of exposure
Control of exposure is fundamental to successful landscape photography. All reflected light meters will give the correct reading to expose whatever they are pointed at as a mid-tone in the prevailing lighting conditions – even a white or black object would be recorded as a mid-tone grey if you used the setting suggested by your camera. This can be used to your advantage if you learn exactly how much compensation your camera meter requires in order to record white subjects as white and black subjects as black. Pure white subjects generally require 2 stops more exposure than the light meter will suggest, whilst pure black subjects need 2 stops less exposure. By using these extremes as a guideline you can work out how much compensation is required throughout the whole range of tones you are likely to encounter in the field.
Glen Lyon
It is important to work within the limitations of film and digital capture. I like to keep the range of tones in any scene within roughly 3 stops whenever possible, as this produces a more balanced result with plenty of detail throughout the image. I normally achieve this by shooting in low-contrast lighting conditions, or by using neutral density graduated filters to reduce contrast within the image. If I ever need to sacrifice detail in harsh lighting conditions in order to capture a specific scene, I always opt to lose detail in the shadows, as the human eye accepts dense shadows more naturally than blown highlights. This frosty shot of Glen Lyon, in Scotland, in winter was taken in very soft light. There was only a 3-stop brightness range in this scene, so the film has been able to record plenty of detail in both shadow and highlight areas.
Canon EOS 3, 24mm lens, Fujichrome Velvia, 1sec at f/16
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Master your metering technique
You shouldn’t rely on your camera’s standard metering system. You will achieve better results by taking a spot meter reading directly from the most important tones in the scene. If your camera doesn’t have a spot-meter, attach a telephoto lens and fill the frame with the area you want to meter from. Once you have metered the most important tone in the scene and worked out an exposure setting that will record this tone at its correct brightness level on film (see page 32), meter other areas of the scene to make sure they are within the 5-stop brightness range that transparency film and digital sensors can handle. If certain parts of the scene, such as the sky, are outside this range, you might be able to reduce the contrast by using a neutral density graduated filter. You will have more control if you use your camera in manual mode. Handheld exposure meters are another option and many incorporate a spot meter.
Larch sapling
I discovered this lone larch sapling on the edge of a spruce plantation. Its bright yellow autumn foliage contrasted vividly with the monotonous green surroundings. Even though the overcast light provided soft and even illumination, the predominance of dark tones in the scene would still have fooled most in-camera metering systems into overexposing the image. I had two options: to take a spot meter reading directly from the yellow larch and increase the metered exposure by one stop to place it as a light tone on film; or, meter from an evenly lit section of green spruce and reduce the metered exposure by one stop so that it recorded as a dark tone. In such even light, both methods would have resulted in the same end exposure value.
Canon EOS 5, 100–400mm, polarizer, Fujichrome Velvia, 1/2sec at f/22
Capturing atmosphere
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Add warmth to your images
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