Landscape photography is a popular niche among photography circles, and many aim to learn it well. Taking pictures of magnificent landscapes at different times and different seasons can be quite a rewarding activity. Not only do you get to see the world from a unique angle, but you also get to share this view with others.
Despite the fact that landscape photography is an increasingly popular field, there is no way one can refer to this niche as an easy one. Even many expert photographers find capturing landscapes in the best possible way to be quite complicated. If you also want to take the perfect landscape shots, you’ll need to learn some tips and tricks on how to do so. Learning landscape photography requires you to have a reasonably powerful camera and a lot of passion and dedication.
If you own a camera like the Canon 6D, you’re already a strong candidate to become an expert landscape photographer in the future. This amazingly powerful camera by Canon houses the latest lenses and technology to suit your photography experience. Other than an easily graspable body, the Canon 6D features an all-new 20.2 MP sensor with exceptional hybrid autofocus ability. Moreover, this camera flaunts a highly resistant body that you can take to a range of environments without fearing any damage from rain and dust storms.
Here are some tried and tested tips and tricks on using the Canon 6D for landscape photography:
Capture Sharp Photos
Starting to shoot right after you see an incredible landscape isn’t something professional photographers would do. Instead, hold your horses and spend some time placing the camera at an excellent spot to capture the scene you want to. Once you’re done deciding the positioning of the camera, it’s time to adjust those camera settings.
Try to set the focus and contrast in a way that captures the landscape in the sharpest possible manner. Work out the ISO speed and try keeping it a little low. Also, set the aperture as small as you can. These two things significantly impact your ability to capture the landscape well. It’s also important to remember that a fast shutter speed can help you capture sharp details.
Many expert landscape photographers suggest using a smaller aperture because it elaborates on the background and depth of field. Such settings, especially with the camera fixed at a point, really help in keeping the picture sharp and detailed. Keeping the photo sharp also demands no shakiness caused by the photographer’s hands. This is why many landscape photographers are advised to use tripods and stands to capture pictures.
Thanks to Canon 6D’s lightweight body, this shakiness can be easily avoided even when you’ve been holding the camera for quite long. The camera also allows for easy customization of settings, making it easier to set the aperture and ISOs in no time.
Focus In The Correct Place
Many novice landscape photographers start capturing pictures as soon as they find a great view with good lighting. There’s no doubt that great lighting can significantly make a landscape shot better. However, good lighting or a suitable angle alone can’t do much. You need to find an element that stands out of the entire landscape and make it the focal point of your picture. You can use anything elaborate as the focal point.
As a lenient rule, try to keep the focus of your picture in the center, with elaborate lighting and well-set ISOs. Choosing a good focus and working to make it stand out in the shot automatically enhances the overall picture. Playing well with contrasts in your photographs is also an excellent way to have a great and elaborate point of focus.
If you capture a landscape with multiple elements in it, you need to know that your focus doesn’t need to be on something very gigantic within that landscape. You can pick a small plant or a little animal and focus your camera more on it.
You can use your 6D’s excellent auto focus features to put your lens’s focus on the best possible point. However, the camera also features an easy manual focus setup that you can use to your advantage wherever you want. We strongly suggest trying out different points as your shot’s focus to select the most suitable one before you take that final landscape shot.
Keep Your Composition Simple
Many landscape photographers think that their shots need to be full of gigantic elements, each one overlapping the other. This leads to overwhelming pictures, with a lot of cluttered objects and too much color.
The truth is, such hustled views and landscapes do look great to the natural eye but don’t always retain their beauty when captured by a camera. If you want your landscape shots to look great and unique, you should try capturing calm landscapes with minimalistic feels. You don’t always have to merge the sky, mountains, trees, streams, and other side elements into the same landscape shot.
Try to keep the frame as simple and light as you can. This will automatically keep your shots neutral in terms of colors, making them simpler in composition. Such pictures are easier to edit later and contain more meaning and grace than those with a lot of stuff inside.
However, this isn’t to suggest that you stop capturing happening and fuller landscapes entirely. Your main aim should be to stay low on contrasts and keeping the composition simple even if the shot has a lot to show. Canon 6D users can easily make the best use of the LCD screen to estimate the compositional value before capturing the image. This screen is crystal clear and can, therefore, show you exactly how your frame’s composition will look in the final product.
Tell A Story
As a landscape photographer, don’t just focus on capturing a landscape that looks great to your eyes. Instead, you need to first look at your frame and see if the shot has something to offer a viewer. An incredible landscape shot is not just a clear capture of the sky or some buildings coupled together in the same frame. Instead, it has to be something with the power to communicate with the viewers. This can only be done if you capture a landscape that has a background, middle, and an ending – just like a good story.
To do so, you have to see if the frame you’re about to capture has some interesting to offer you in contrast to capturing a view that just looks pleasant to the eyes. As a rule, you should only try to take pictures of landscapes that have something unique and exciting to offer your viewers. On the other hand, you can also turn a monotonous landscape into a story by just using the color contrast and exposure wisely.
Try to capture something with a combination of bright and well-lit elements and something intense and darker in the background. You can also transform an ordinary landscape into a great story-like image by making the best use of sunlight and golden hours. The focus and ISO settings also play a role in adding some plot to your frame.
Luckily, the Canon 6D offers you the chance to set and use all these modes and features precisely as you want. With its powerful specifications, using all of the camera’s features effectively can help you use a simple frame to your benefit. This way, you can convert something simple into something with powerful narrative ability.
Use Camera Filters
Many new photographers take pride in their knowledge of editing software, such as Photoshop, that they can use to edit their shots better than others. While it’s true that we can never underestimate the usefulness of such applications, the fact that these are nowhere close to what one can do with a real camera is also true.
As a landscape photographer, you must try using the camera’s settings and filters to your benefit. Taking pictures by using the camera’s filters and later editing them using software makes them come out way better than those taken with no camera filters. These filters allow you to combine high and low light areas of a landscape in a better way, allowing you to set the exposure ratings you want.
Your camera’s filters also come in handy when you can’t seem to take tackle the extra shine and glare coming into the frame on a bright sunny day or when you can’t get the details as sharp as you want. However, using these filters requires you to have a powerful camera like the 6D, or else the picture quality may be compromised.
Thankfully, Canon cameras tend to come with some cool filters and have almost all the ones that a landscape photographer could need pre-installed. The powerful 6D is no exception. Using its polarizing filter or natural density graduated effect can enhance your shots exactly how you want and make them stand out.
