Landscapes and Lens Flare

Last week Sunday we took a drive to the beach where I was able to take a couple of landscape shots.  It was just before sunset so it was already getting darker outside.  Here are a few of the pictures I have taken:

The last picture was taken directly into the sun which caused flare in the photograph.  Although flare can be used creatively, it is not something you always want in your pictures.  I had a look online and came across this article by Andrew S Gibson which I found helpful:  http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-prevent-lens-flare

In the case, like the photo above, where you take a picture directly into the sun, it would have helped to use a coated filter as Mr Gibson has suggested.  Although in this case I didn't want to prevent the flare in the picture.  You can take very creative shots if you use flare to your advantage. 

Correct Aperture and Shutter Speed Combinations

Setting my camera to the right aperture and shutter speed combination manually is something that really puzzles me.  I know for example which aperture I would like to use to create a certain effect, for example to let a flower stand out from a blurred background, I would use a setting of f5.6 of f6.3 like in the picture below shot at f6.3:

What puzzles me is that if I had to set the shutter speed manually I wouldn't know what speed to select to get the correct exposure.  So I tend to let the camera select the shutter speed automatically.  It saves time and frustration that way, but ideally I would like to know how to do it manually.  I came across this very interesting article which clarified at least some of what I wanted to know:  http://photo.net/learn/basic-photo-tips/correct-exposure/

The exercise mentioned at the bottom of the article is definitely something worth doing regularly in order to get to know the correct aperture to use with which shutter speed under whichever conditions.  The article definitely explained a lot to me which I couldn't quite understand previously.

Nighttime Landscapes (3)

In my previous message I mentioned the lovely view from Plattekloof of the city lights.  I went back yesterday evening to take some photos.  Although I was using the tripod I still see some camera shake looking at the lights.  It seems like there was the ever-so-slight movement, maybe when I pressed the shutter.  I think it might be better to use the remote next time to release the shutter to avoid this from happening.

Another thing I realized is that I didn't know how to set my camera's shutter to stay open for longer than 30 seconds as I have never used this function before.  So once I set the shutter speed past 30 seconds it shows "bulb" instead of the time the shutter will be open.  So I had a look online and found out that once the camera is set to the "bulb" setting, you can actually do exposures for longer than 30 seconds.  On the Nikon D50, you need to press the shutter once to open the shutter and press it for a second time to close it again.  Apparently the maximum period it can stay open is 30 minutes.  It is best to use the remote for this as you will have camera-shake even when using a tripod, as I have experienced with the pictures above.

I will have to try using the remote as I have seen mixed reviews on the different types of remotes that one can use.  Some people say that you need to keep the shutter release button pressed until you are ready for the shutter to close again, while others say that you press it once to open the shutter and press it again to close it.  The best way is to find out for myself I guess.

To set the camera to "bulb" you simply need to choose the 'M-setting' on your Nikon D50 and select the shutter speed at the highest end of the range.  It will follow directly after 30 ".

Landscapes in misty weather (2)

The fog yesterday afternoon at sunset gave opportunity for some lovely shots to be taken.  The weather conditions created a 'sepia' color on some of the pictures like on the 3rd picture below.  If it wasn't for the fact that I prefer not to damage my camera in the damp and sandy environment I would have stayed longer to look for more photo opportunities on the beach.

 

When driving home from the Northern Suburbs back to where we live we drove past Plattekloof which is situated on a hill from where you have a lovely city view.  At night you see thousands of lights and I think if done correctly it will produce the most beautiful pictures.  It certainly is worth a try.  When I go past that area in the evening again, I will make sure to take my camera and tripod with.

Landscapes in misty weather

Yesterday late afternoon, although it was quite warm for a winter's afternoon in Cape Town and the sun was still shining, the ocean and Table Mountain lay underneath a sheet of fog.  Table Mountain was barely visible in the distance with Signal Hill to it's right and Devils Peak to its left.  Yet there were still surfers in the water and people running on the beach.  The sun was about to set when I took these shots of Table Mountain to see what the outcome would be using different f-stops and shutter speeds and the camera set to ISO 200 (the lowest ISO setting on my Nikon D50):

This shot was taken using an aperture of f14 and speed of 1/125sec.  There was still enough daylight not to have to keep the shutter open for long.

I have tried halving the amount of light entering the lens by using a smaller aperture of f/16 and a speed of 1/100sec.  There is a little more detail, but not a major difference int he outcome compared to the first picture.

In order to make Table Mountain a little more visible I have tried increasing the shutter speed allowing less light to enter the lens.  I have used an f-stop of f16 and a speed of 1/160sec.  The picture came out darker than what it was in reality, so not really what I had in mind.  I wanted to capture the shot with the misty atmosphere.  In my opinion the 2nd shot gave a clearer picture of what the actual surroundings looked like at the time.

I have done some research online on how to take good photos in misty weather and came across this website:  http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/fog-photography.htm.  Instead of always having to wait for better weather conditions one can actually take brilliant photos in all kinds of weather conditions.

It is best to be prepared for whichever weather condition you need to take the photographs in as it will save you time and a lot of frustration.  Care must be taken when taking pictures on the beach as see sand can really damage your camera and lens.  The same goes for wet or foggy weather.  I already lost one camera due to sand getting into the lens (It was a Fuji Finepix and I couldn't just exchange the lens).

Landscape Photography Continued and Reading Histograms

Searching online for a few more tips on taking better landscape shots, I came across this website which gives really useful tips:  http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/07/20/the-only-landscape-photography-tutorial-you-will-ever-need/

I'm not 100 % sure how to read a histogram yet, but found this link on the same website: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/04/18/how-to-read-a-histogram-photography-cheat-sheet/.  It made it a bit easier to understand.

On the page mentioned above they say that one should always check the histogram after taking a picture in order to adjust it if necessary.  This made me realize that I am usually in too much of a hurry to stop and look at it first.  Instead I usually just look at the picture on the LCD screen, which is so small anyway that you cannot really say whether it is 100 % correctly exposed.  I will really have to slow down and check the histogram before aiming for the next shot.  Occasionally I did gave the histogram a quick glance but didn't understand how it works so I never paid much attention to it.  

After reading the page mentioned above about reading a histogram I realized it is more important to understanding in order to take better photos than I had initially thought, so I have done some more research on the subject.  I came across this webpage which explains it further:  http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

My Nikon D50 does have the ability to show the histogram directly on the LCD screen after a photo has been taken.  Where I have found this a bit annoying in the past if the histogram pops up automatically, I now see it as a very useful tool and will definitely be changing the camera setting back so this.  This will save time from having to select the option to view the histogram every time and I will immediately be able to look and see if the exposure was done correctly.