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Tooling up for Landscapes- Pentax User
Landscapes are one of the most popular photography subjects and with the sheer beauty and diversity of our coast and countryside it’s little wonder why. The key to a good landscape photograph is not only good technique, but also equipping yourself with the basic tools for the job in hand. Most of these tools are not expensive and you have probably got some of them already, but the few essentials certainly make the job easier.
First and foremost, the most important item you should own is a tripod. I cannot stress enough how valuable this item is for landscapes and will play an important role in getting successful shots you will pleased with. I take 90% of my photos using one, no matter what the subject is and all my landscapes are taken with the camera connected to one. This is probably the most expensive item you will purchase other than your camera and lenses and it’s important that you choose the right model. The reason why it’s so important is firstly that it slows you down. Now, I don’t mean physically by having to carry it across fields and dales, but by putting your camera on the tripod it automatically slows down the picture taking process and makes you think more about the position of you camera and the effect it has on the composition of the picture. Landscape photography is not to be rushed, so don’t expect to take quick snapshots and think that you will get great results, as you won’t.
A good solid tripod is important, otherwise it is just going to get blown about in the wind, but you also don’t want to buy too heavy a model that will put you off carrying it for any great distance, as you’ll just end up leaving it in the car. Carbon Fibre models have made it possible to have strong, sturdy tripods, without the weight of a traditional model, but of course they are a lot more expensive. This may be an option for you, but I much prefer to have the weight in a standard metal model.
You will need to take into account how high you want the tripod to extend to when you buy, but having more leg extensions also makes the tripod less rigid, so don’t choose a model that will extend beyond a height you are unlikely to use. A maximum of three leg sections is ideal and fine even for my 6ft frame, as well as being compact enough to carry around.
Your chosen model may come complete with a head fitted, but more often than not, this will have to be a separate purchase. There are two main types to choose from, ball and socket and 3 way pan and tilt. Which of these you choose is very much down to personal choice, with a ball and socket type being quicker to use, moving in all angles once undone, but a pan and tilt model allows for fine tuning on each plane without upsetting the other.
Part of the reason you are putting the camera on a tripod, is to keep it rock steady during the inevitable long exposures needed to take the picture. You don’t want to come in contact with the camera yourself whilst taking the picture, so you will also need a cable release to fire the shutter without disturbing the camera. There are several models available for the Pentax cameras some wired and some performing wireless, all depending on your model. A cheap alternative is to use the camera’s self-timer to fire the shutter, but a proper electronic cable release makes the job easier.
It’s no good setting the camera up on a tripod if you don’t set it up with the camera sitting straight, so a spirit level is another essential purchase. Some tripods now come with a spirit level built into the head, but it’s worth buying a hot shoe model as well. Even if you are using an Optio compact, then you can balance this on the top flat surface of the camera. Just take care not lose it though, as it will obviously easily fall off when you move and I always carry a couple of spares myself.
Pentax have a great selection of lenses suitable for landscape photography and it’s surprising how few lenses you actually need. The basic kit should consist of a wide angle, standard and mid telephoto, or 28mm, 50mm and 70mm in good old 35mm terms. These three focal lengths will suffice for 90% of subjects and if you have the Pentax DA 18-55 mm zoom, then that’s all three focal lengths in one lens. Of course you can go wider and longer and the 12-24mm zooms will give you the choice to go wider when needed, but there are very few landscape scenes that have that much interest to use this lens and still keep the viewer focussed on the main subjects. The Pentax 55-200mm will be useful to isolate distant subjects more easily, but only if you can’t reach them by foot. My ideal choice would be the 16-50mm. A superb, pin-sharp lens, with a wide maximum aperture to let lots of light in to aid composition.
If you are using an Optio compact, then you have at your disposal a good range of focal lengths. These are only let down by their wide angle capabilities, with their widest focal length only equal to around 37mm in 35mm terms, so you are a little restricted by this.
You may hear a lot about filters being used for landscape photography, especially from people still using film as their chosen medium. Now, whilst digital photography has given us new ways of adapting an image including adding filter effects in post-processing, nothing can replace using a filter in front of the lens as you take the picture. This way you are affecting the light before it hits the film or sensor and therefore you are not trying replicate this after the image has been made.
There are only a handful of filters that you will need in landscape photography and none of them are tobacco graduates or other gaudy coloured filters! The graduates that you will require however, are neutral density types. These are grey to look at on one half of the filter, graduating to clear on the other half. All these do is reduce the amount of light from reaching the film or sensor and help balance a bright sky with the less bright landscape below. They don’t colour the sky, but instead help bring out the
shape of any cloud, which would otherwise look washed out without it. Available in different densities, a set of three in 0.3 stops, 0.6 stops, and 0.9 stops, will be all you need. This translates to stopping one, two or three stops of light reaching the top half of the image and will depend on the brightness of the sky to which you will use at the time. They come in hard and soft graduations and a set of the hard types will be the most useful for general landscapes.
Other filters that are useful for landscape photography are warm-ups and polarisers. The warm-ups do as they say on the tin and add a touch of warmth to the shot. They are particularly useful for warming areas of the picture that are in the shade, as this can add a slight blue tinge to the picture. The polariser will be the filter you will use most other than the ND grads. Not only will this filter boost the colours in the image, but it will also reduce reflections in foliage also leading to increased colour saturation. Of course, they also deepen a blue sky and in the right conditions can transform a shot from looking quite bland, into a wash of rich colours. Not every view can make use of a polarising filter however and your subject to view must be at a 90-degree angle to the sun for the filter to work. If you stretch your thumb and first finger apart, then this is the angle you are looking for. Point your thumb towards the sun and if your finger is pointing to the subject, then the polariser can do its job. If not, then you are probably more then likely going to need to use a graduate.
Some manufactures make special kits so that you can use filters on your Optio compact and of course using the LCD screen will enable you to line up neutral density grads with the horizon quite easily. Alternatively, you could just hold a polariser or warm-up filter in front of the lens as you take the picture.
These are the most useful tools for landscape photography, but there is one I have not yet mentioned. Ignore the earlier advice about the tripod being the most important tool for landscapes, as there is something else even more valuable. Your feet! You will never get the best view and composition if you take all your shots stood next to the car. So use your feet and get out into the landscape and you’ll find those stunning views that are just not visible from any road.
© Craig Roberts
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