Everyone, thank you, again.
Those are great pictures! I am a big fan of landscape photography and was hoping you might be able to shed some light on how you take yours. Do you typically use a tripod and go for longer exposures or is it mostly handheld or a mixture of both? Are there certain lenses you more often use for landscapes? How much post processing goes into the pictures to make some of the colors really pop? Thank you so much for any help you can provide!
Thank you.
Yes, I use a tripod for the vast majority of my landscape photos whenever possible.
To begin with, they do tend to produce sharper images than handheld images in bright daylight particularly if you do as I do, and use a cable release, lock the mirror, weight the tripod, etc.
I also find the slower, more methodical, more considered tendencies of tripod use do lead me to better pictures. I frame my shots more precisely; I often level the shots with a double bubble level; I systematically scan my viewfinder for anything sticking in my composition; I think about which elements I want in my picture and exactly where I should place my tripod to get the elements arranged in my frame as desired; etc.
It's also easier and not as tiring as handholding a heavy camera and lens framed just right, and held to your eye, while waiting (perhaps 5 minutes, perhaps an hour) for the peak moment.
It also aids in lining things up well, when making multiple exposures for HDR (high dynamic range) or for stitched panoramas.
For landscape photography, my most commonly used lens is the 24-70mm f/2.8. However, it is not particularly uncommon for me to use lenses anywhere from 15mm to 1,200mm for my landscapes.
My post-processing tends to be very light. In fact, after initial processing of the picture, in most cases I do no post-processing. However, in the processing stage, I usually do hypersaturate the colors. Bluntly, while I try to follow my artistic sensibilities as possible, I have to face the realities of being a businessman, and (with a few exceptions that don't apply to me) it is not easily possible to succeed in this business without hypersaturated color. Almost every single buyer (private or corporate, fine art or stock), in almost every single instance, strongly prefers and chooses hypersaturated color. Increasing saturation is a necessity of competitive business.
Also, increased saturation has a relationship with increased contrast. I like most of my pictures to be rather contrasty; it emphasizes certain kinds of tonal relationships which I often seek, in my picture making.
) as to not draw away from your thread. :thumbup:
