Since I am primarily a landscape photographer, the light is critical to my images.  In the wrong light or bad light, images can really fall flat…I speak from experience.

  There is a learning curve to photography, it takes time to develop an eye for good composition and a feel for lighting…it has taken me years of practice (and looking at photographs and paintings by masters of photography and art) to get somewhat proficient. But there are many days when my images fall flat and must be deleted: don’t be afraid to delete the junk! Some people never delete images until they see them on the computer, however, I will delete in camera if the composition fails when I review them on the LCD. You must be cutthroat about your images, because as good as you may be in Photoshop or Lightroom, if your shots are bad, admit it..why waste time editing something that should be deleted. Some people don’t like to shoot at the same places; that’s ridiculous…I keep going back to Beavertail or other areas on the coast because weather is always changing; even my attitude changes day to day..I might be cranky one night, but in a good mood the next: it will have an impact on how I photograph.

   Here are a few examples of what I am discussing.  The first one is taken at Ponagansett Falls in Scituate. Be patient!  This night the sky looked like a dud, but as the sun set some clouds appeared on the horizon and things began to change..These three images were all taken within a half hour of each other.

The next image is a wide angle taken at Castle Hill in Newport. I was moving around on the rocks looking for a good composition about an hour before sunset. Always try to get to your location at least an hour prior to sunset; it gives you time to scout for the best spot and do test shots. The second shot was taken as the sun was setting and the clouds and rocks formed diagonals leading to the lighthouse.

The next image was taken in the Canadian Rockies…the first mountain shot was taken without sun. It was cloudy and foggy but it was worth waiting for the sun to break through the clouds, because it burned off a lot of the cloud cover revealing the mountains in the background.

The last one is the combined use of twilight and slow shutter speed. The first ferris wheel shot was taken when it was not moving just before twilight. The second image was taken during the twilight hour when the wheel was turning.  It is obviously much more interesting. Any rides at a carnival are fascinating when photographed at night when they are in motion.

 I know a lot of photographers will tell you they shoot only at F8, the sweet spot on their lenses..that is nonsense. I shoot at F16, 18, 22…the diffraction is minimal with the newer lenses; I need to shoot at those apertures to allow light to hit the sensor a long time to get the effect I am seeking; F8 doesn’t work for me unless there is wind, then I will use it on the foreground to stop movement..also, I use every filter imaginable on my lenses: soft edge grads, hard edge grads, NDs, polarizers, reverse NDs: whatever it takes to give me what I want…

To me, the most important thing about getting an image with impact is looking at the world with awe. Nothing is jaded to me. Think of everything you see as if it were for the first time.

Ok, now that the introduction is over with, let’s get down to business:  Here are some basic tips to help improve your landscape images. Remember that not all your pictures will win competitions, and if that is all you want to do: win, then you are losing yourself.  Always shoot what you love, never shoot thinking about what a judge will score: it is meaningless in the whole scheme of things.

Here are some simple tips to improve your landscapes; they work for me.

1. Shoot in Aperture Priority at F18-22 to maintain depth of field from foreground to background.  Usually focusing about a third into the image works well. A good lens will not give much diffraction at F22…I use that aperture a lot.
2. Use a wide angle lens to get the foreground crisp: I use 11-24mm, 17-40mm and 24-108mm for my landscapes..the wider angles like 11mm and 17mm can focus as close to a foot in front of you.
3. Shoot at ISO 100 or whatever is your lowest native ISO, it will minimize any noise.
4. Get a good foreground subject, not just some junk on the ground, but something interesting.
5. Get low! I never shoot at eye level unless absolutely necessary…usually my camera is on the lowest tripod setting or on a flat tripod…don’t complain about getting low, I have arthritis, too.
6. Use a good tripod…money well spent instead of on a flimsy tripod that will blow over or shake..never use the center column, it moves!
7. Use a self timer, remote or cable release..your finger will shake the camera when you hit the shutter button. Do not fear bracketing, I do it all the time if the light is changing quickly.
8. Shoot at the edges of light: sunrise or sunset:  the color can be amazing as the sun moves lower and the atmosphere changes the color of light…if you must shoot during the middle of the day, look for dramatic clouds or it is a waste of time..if there is nothing dramatic, think of converting the harsh midday images into black and white; this works well in the mountains.
9. Look for atmosphere and excitement in a landscape..if you are seeing things happening that make you feel like a kid again, that’s the time to photograph.
10. Use filters:  a polarizer, 3 stop graduated ND, a 5 stop solid ND, and a reverse ND are always in my bag.  A lot of people use the digital filters in PS and Lightroom, but I don’t like them; nothing beats light hitting the sensor for a long time.  I use a filter holder.
11. Learn to use the custom settings on your camera if it has them.  Mine has three custom settings that I have set up specifically for landscape so I am always ready to go…if they need changing, I will use Exposure Compensation as needed or switch to manual…let me give you an example, I was at Beavertail to shoot, but it was later than usual and sunset was happening fast:  I threw the camera on a tripod, put it on one of my custom settings and got the shot; a friend with me was still messing with his camera when the short window of opportunity ended.
12. Get to the spot early…I cannot emphasize this enough. You need to scout the area for at least an hour before sunset or sunrise to take some test images in order to find the best composition…keep walking around before you shoot: nothing makes me crazier than seeing people get out of their cars, set up right away and start shooting where they are standing…take the time to look for the best spot, hand hold the camera to take test shots from different areas, look for something unique.

Here are some examples to illustrate basic landscape composition:

Admit it!  A lot of you are afraid to shoot the stars at night: afraid of mistakes, blurring, messing up the images somehow. Well, I am here to help you succeed with a few simple tips that will get you on the right track: good images right from the start. It isn’t hard at all but you must follow my formula at first, then you can feel free to try other options after you get some experience.

First, there are some important things to remember about night photography: cameras and lenses.

1. A full frame DSLR will give the best results. Why? Because the pixels are larger, therefore more photons are absorbed and less noise is visible.  If you have a mirrorless or APS-C sensor, try it and see if the noise can be controlled.
2. A fast wide angle lens.  Glass is god at night…if you have a cheap lens forget night photography, so invest in one good quality wide-angle lens if you are serious about night photography.  I usually use a Canon 15mm F2.8 fisheye because it can give 180 degrees of view: more sky is better in night photography; my other lens is the Canon F 2.8 24-70mm.     You can use an F4 lens: I have used the Canon 17-40mm.  All these images were taken with one or the other of the first two lenses.  Fisheyes can be amazing at night; I correct the perspective in PS and noise in ACR (adobe camera raw).
3. Sturdy tripod with ballhead:  I have a Gitzo that is over 10 years old with a reallyrightstuff ballhead. This stuff is kind of expensive but there are loads of other options out there.
4. To shoot star points you don’t need a cable release unless you think it looks cool.

Ok, now that we have our equipment ready.  What next?  Get your night infinity setting! During the day, you are going to go into  “live view” on your camera, make sure you have the wide angle lens attached and set the widest F-stop you have: F1.4, F2.8, or F4 with the camera on Aperture Priority. ISO isn’t important for this part, whatever works for you; let the camera choose shutter speed.  Put your lens on “manual”(MF) not automatic:  this is to get the infinity setting you will need. Point the camera at an object at least thirty feet away and set the live view to 10x : there is usually a button to enlarge the live view image. While in this mode, focus with the focus ring manually until that object is absolutely sharp, then review the image for sharpness: if it is sharp, look at the setting on the distance scale, it is usually just short of the infinity mark; the infinity mark is not a good place to put the lens as it keeps searching for infinity. You will find that the sharpest point will be perhaps a quarter or half inch left of the infinity mark.  Memorize this spot!  If you can’t remember this spot on one lens, tape it with an easily removable tape.   Do this procedure in daylight or you will go crazy at night.

Now you are ready to go!

The Milky Way is pretty weak in the Northern Hemisphere between December and February.  It is more vivid in summer…the featured  image of the light painted rocks at Arches was taken in January; the Milky Way is visible but faint. The following image was taken in Rhode Island, at a beach, in the middle of summer. Notice the difference.

Ok, now you are excited to go:  grab the camera, tripod and put the lens on the camera.  Make sure you do the following things:

1. Put the camera and lens on manual. Be certain to shoot in RAW.
2. Set the distance scale on the lens to the infinity setting you figured out during the day. Recheck it when you are ready to shoot in case it has moved.
3. Set the aperture for the fastest F-stop on your lens.  It is 2.8 for me.
4. Now, this is important, so pay attention:  If your widest aperture is 1.8, use an ISO of 1600, if it is 2.8 use an ISO of 3200, if it is an F4, use 6400.  These are good starting points, and may need adjustment up or down depending on results.
5. I usually use Auto White Balance and by shooting in RAW, you can adjust the color of the image in PS.
6. What about exposure length? Now comes the math part, but you can do this!  The most important number is 500 for night photography (some people use the number 400)  OK, what is this 500 thing?

Here is how it works:  Your exposure is your focal length multiplied by seconds but less than 500.  simple isn’t it?   If your focal length multiplied by time in seconds exceeds 500, you will not have star points, but star blurs or short trails and it looks like hell.  Another important point:  don’t let your seconds ever exceed 30 since the Earth is rotating and the rotation will be obvious in stars at a greater than 30 second exposure. You want to get as close to 30 seconds to allow more light into the camera, but not exceed it. Sounds complicated but it isn’t: here are a couple of examples:   my  F 2.8 lens is 15mm and I want to get as close to or at 30 seconds but not exceed it or the 500 point:

15 x 30= 450  so that keeps my exposure under 500 and not above 30 seconds…

So my camera setting would be:   F2.8, ISO 3200, 30 seconds (lens at the preset infinity setting) with an Auto White balance.

If I had a F4 and 24mm lens:     24 x 25 seconds would give me 600, which is too high…so I reduce it to a 20 second exposure and it gives me 24 x 20=480.  There is the best setting:  F4, 20 seconds, ISO 6400, (lens on preset infinity setting), and AWB.

Look at each image and make sure it is clear:  x10 on the LCD.  If the image is too dark, go up to the next ISO..If 3200 is not giving enough light, use 6400…I personally don’t use long exposure noise reduction as it doubles the exposure while it shoots a dark frame. It is best to wait an hour or two after sunset to begin shooting the stars so there is total darkness.

Another important item:  I always bring a strong flashlight to light something of interest in the foreground…it will improve your night images if there is some foreground element of interest. This is when you can practice a little light painting.  If you don’t want to light paint, shoot the foreground before dark, then combine it with the night sky image taken much later in the same spot.  Remember that since you are shooting wide open, don’t get closer than 10 feet to the foreground or it may blur…

Shoot away from light pollution on crystal clear nights with little moisture in the air. Also, there are apps for your smartphone that can help locate the Milky Way for you:  I use Stellarium, but there are others: StarWalk and SkySafari.

Practice will make your images amazing…be sure to dress warm while shooting at night or you will get cold and cranky and as everyone knows: multiplying cold x cranky= bad images.