Landscape Photography - 4 Tips to Capture Great Landscape Shots

If you have been active in traveling, you may have had the many opportunities of capturing many beautiful landscapes in the places you travel. The landscape may look beautiful from your own eyes but it may not look as beautiful on the shots that you have captured. If so, you will want to know how to capture great landscape shots so that the next time you are out traveling and you come across a beautiful landscape, you will know how to capture it in its most beautiful form.

Increase Depth of Field
To capture a landscape with as much detail as possible, you would want to use a deep depth of field. This would ensure that most of the landscape will be sharp and in focus. To use a deeper depth of field, you will need to adjust your camera's aperture settings so that it is using a smaller aperture. When using this aperture setting, you may find that your shots will turn out to be darker than normal. The reason for this is due to the small aperture opening in your camera lens and this means less light can enter your camera lens, hence a darker shot.

To counter this problem, you will need to increase your camera's shutter speed so that your camera shutter stays open longer to allow more light into the lens. Alternatively, you could also try to bump up your camera's ISO so that the camera sensor is more sensitive to light, although that would mean a grainy shot.

Capture the Movement
You may be wondering what movement there is to capture as landscapes are generally still and passive. However, that is what most people think when they think of landscape photography. Landscapes can have movements in them such as a running waterfall, trees swaying due to wind, clouds moving, or waves pounding on the shores. These are all movements that can be captured to make your landscape shots look more dynamic and lively.

To capture landscape movements, you will need to use a slower shutter speed so that the shutter stays open longer to allow the camera sensor to capture more movements in your scene. However, this would allow more light to enter through your camera lens, thus causing your composition to be over exposed. To overcome this problem, you will need to use a smaller aperture which will then limit the amount of light entering through your camera lens.

Lookout for the Horizon
When capturing any landscape scene, it is a good idea to think about how you want to frame the horizon in your composition as it is an important part of any landscape shots. Try to align the horizon along one of the lines in the rule of thirds. Do not frame your horizon dead in the center of your composition as it usually does not look as good when compared to framing your horizons along one of the lines in the rule of thirds. There are exceptions to this but it is rarely the case when it comes to landscape photography.

Utilize a Tripod or Monopod
When capturing landscape scenes, it is normal for you to use a longer shutter speed to get more light into your lens as you will be using a smaller aperture for a sharper landscape shot. This also means that your camera shutter will stay open longer and any slight movement of your hands can cause your shot to be blurred. To counter this problem, you can bring along a tripod or monopod to help you stabilize your camera while composing your landscape photography shot.

Roy Lee is a freelance photographer residing in Malaysia, who specializes in wedding, portrait, and landscape photography.

? Copyright - Roy Lee. All Rights Reserved.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Lee_K._L.

Landscape Photography on a Southern African Safari

When many people think of a 'safari' they automatically picture a Land Cruiser thundering across the hot and dusty African savanna chasing after the 'big-five' animals, yet a southern African safari can be so much more, especially if you are doing a self-drive safari.

On a guided safari you are at the mercy of the driver and other passengers while on a self-drive safari you are the boss and you decide where you will go and how long you will stay.

If you want to photograph landscapes while on safari there are many opportunities but you may not get out your vehicle as there are dangerous animals around. We therefore discuss the safest places to photograph landscapes in four of southern Africa's most famous game reserves.

Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
The Kgalagadi attracts thousands of nature photographers not just for the amazing wildlife but also for the most unusual scenery. You have the contrasts between the blue African sky, deep red sand dunes, carpets of yellow and purple wild-flowers, white calcrete cliffs and the green trees and shrubs.

The Auob and Nossob roads provide good opportunities but so do the wilderness camps, because they are mostly situated on top of high sand dunes. Our favorites are Kieliekrankie, Kalahari Tented Camp and Gharagab because of their height. Urikaruus, Bitterpan and Grootkolk camps are not situated as high but can also provide nice scenic photographs - you just need to be a bit more creative.

Twee Rivieren, Mata Mata and Nossob could also provide scenery opportunities but just watch out for telephone poles and other distractions that may make their way into your composition!

The Kgalagadi is also the best park to photograph star trails due to it being so far away from civilization and therefore far away from light and pollution. Upington is the closest city, which is 300 kilometers away!

Kruger National Park
There are many high view-points such as Nkumbe, Tshanga, Grano Kop, and Bobbejaan Krans that you can drive to and where you are allowed to get out your vehicle to set up your tripod. In addition, some camps provide excellent landscape potential as they are situated high on a hill, like Olifants camp or because they are next to a river such as camps like Skukuza, Shimuwini and Lower Sabie.

You should look out for trees that you can photograph against the rising or setting sun while out on your game drive and for the wild flowers that carpet some waterholes after good summer rains.

Some camps provide better star trail photography opportunities than others. Crocodile Bridge, Berg en Dal and Pretoriouskop are too close to civilization so you have lights from Komatiepoort, Malelane and White River/Nelspruit as well as pollution from the sugar factory spoiling the photographs.

If you prefer more adventure on your safari then you could go on a 4x4 trail or on a wilderness trail.
The three 4x4 adventure trails are self-drive trails that allow you to get out of your vehicle but you must remain close to the vehicle. They last about 3-4 hours and can provide some good landscape opportunities.

There are seven 2-day, 3-night wilderness walking trails in the Kruger Park. You stay in rustic, primitive camps and experience the African bush on foot - true wilderness with remoteness, tranquillity, peace and no other people - except the other people in your group and the two armed rangers!

There are four trails that provide excellent landscapes:

• Nyalaland Trail - is in the far north of Kruger and is the most remote Wilderness Trail. The scenic highlight is the spectacular Lanner and Luvuvhu gorges.

• Olifants trail - is in the central Kruger and you will go to remote valleys and gorges and to the very scenic confluence of the Letaba and Olifants rivers.

• Wolhuter Trail - is in the southern Kruger and is an amazingly scenic wilderness area characterized by high granite outcrops with deep valleys.

• Bushmans Trail - is also in the southern Kruger and is characterized by deep valleys and high rocky outcrops with stunning views. These high-lying outcrops are accessed early in the morning so you can appreciate the vastness of the landscape and the good photographic lighting.

Etosha National Park
Etosha National Park in Namibia is very flat but some of their waterholes make for good scenery photographs. Waterholes such as Homob, Salvadora, Twee Palms and Chudop are very scenic and there is the view over the pan from the view-points or from waterholes that are situated on the edge of the pan such as Okondeka.

The views from the camp waterholes, Moringa (in Halali Camp) and Okaukuejo waterholes, also make for good scenery photographs.

The waterhole at Namutoni camp is not very scenic but the fort in the camp makes for very effective landscape photographs. The views from on top of the Namutoni fort and from the top of the Okaukuejo observation tower also provide 360-degree vistas of the surrounding areas.

Pilanesberg Game Reserve
The Pilanesberg is situated in an extinct volcano whose walls collapsed inward forming many small hills that provide pleasing backdrops to your photographs, so keep this in mind when photographing animals. In addition there are great views from the picnic sites and view-points located up on the hills, which provide nice landscape potential.

Some of the bird hides, such as Mankwe and Rathlogo, also provide good potential - it all depends on the light and the subject.

Landscape Photography Gear
Fortunately the photo gear needed for landscape photography is not as expensive and heavy as what is required for wildlife and bird photography. You need a good tripod, a cable-release, some filters (a polarizer plus soft and hard graduated neutral density filters), a wide-angle lens (for grand vistas) and about a 200mm lens (for intimate landscapes). If you do not have a wide-angle lens don't fret - you can shoot a few overlapping frames of the scene and then stitch them together to make panoramas.

If you don't have Photoshop again, don't fret, as you can download free panoramic software such as the Hugin Panorama Photo Stitcher.