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Hey guys.

If you saw my post a few weeks ago I went to a landscape workshop and would just like to post a few tips I learnt from it.

- Use a wideangle lens.

- Use leading lines.

Lines that lead the eye into the picture, whether it be a straight line, curved line, curly line whatever. It could be made up of a row of flowers, rocks, train tracks you name it.

- Sometimes put a 'blocker' on the leading lines.

Put something that stops the eye from following the leading line all the way out the frame. Eg. on a train track that leads from bottom left to the right hand side, if you have a train at the right then your eyes will not continue out, but rather stop and find more interest in the train.

- Use foreground objects

Good landscapes have objects close up in the foreground which enables the eye to be lead into the picture, and also provides a more 3-dimensional image.

- Colour in foreground

Brightly coloured objects in the foreground can be used to entive the viewer, and also be used to counteract larger areas of duller or opposite colour.

- Use hyperfocal focus.

In order to get everything in your image sharp when using a small aperture (eg f11-22) if you focus on the distant mountains or whatever then the foreground object will be soft. If you bring the focus in a bit then you will be able to get a greater depth of field (eg. from 3ft to infinity) for more information have a search for hyperfocal focussing.

edit: USE A TRIPOD!

Hope this helps you guys out!

Cheers.
Owen.

Thanx for these tips owen - all informative & relevant.

cricketfan wrote:Thanx for these tips owen - all informative & relevant.

Likewise from me, Owen - thanks very much.

Thanks Owen - all very good and useful points. To think, you went along to the landscape workshop (presumably it wasn't free) and now you're sharing that knowledge with us for free!

$20 you cheapskates owe me!

I'm more than happy to share... actually a lot of this info came from a camera club meeting a few weeks ago... the landscape workshop wasn't that great and it's only stuff you can read about when looking at composition anyway.

Thanks for checking it out though chaps.

Actually, I found them very useful. I guess I have lost count of the number of times I have gone out and seen a cool scene and just shot away with no thought to leading lines or foreground interest. I then get them back and think about how crappy they are!
Thanks Owen!

thanks for the tips owen ... i would love to go to a workshop... you guys in the big smoke get all the luck

cheers rob

Marvin wrote:Actually, I found them very useful. I guess I have lost count of the number of times I have gone out and seen a cool scene and just shot away with no thought to leading lines or foreground interest. I then get them back and think about how crappy they are!
Thanks Owen!

Hey Marv.

That's why I thought I'd post them. My landscapes were turning out very ordinary. Using a tripod makes you think about the shot a bit more, and take the time to compose it properly.

Cheers,
Owen.

robw25 wrote:thanks for the tips owen ... i would love to go to a workshop... you guys in the big smoke get all the luck

cheers rob

I'm not in the big smoke mate, I'm in the small-medium smoke. If you haven't already try and find a photography club, they're great fun and you learn heaps.

Good points, thanks, Max

Thanks for the great tips Owen.... now where's my tripod got to

some great tips owen... thankyou for sharing.

cheers

Wonders what hyperfocal focus means - love to shot landscapes though.

Suri wrote:Wonders what hyperfocal focus means - love to shot landscapes though.

have a quick look at this:

http://www.vividlight.com/articles/3513.htm

cheers

Thanks Owen

WOw, that's some really good advice there Owen. Thanks a lot! I've always wondered how the Ansel Adam's of this wolrd get such great DoF from the rocks to the mountains etc!

--Wadem