Advice for landscape shots?

BrettG · Aug 15, 2004

Hi everyone. I took a trip to Alaska this past week, brought my camera along and my main goal was to get a lot of great landscape shots. I did get some pretty good ones as far as picture content goes, but the quality left a lot to be desired. Once I sort through them on CD and find a good example I'll upload one and post it here to give you an idea of what I mean. A lot of the shots, especially where the subject was miles away, there wasn't much color to the shots. A lot seemed to look very dull. It was hazy up there (many forest firest, there was a lot of smoke pretty much everywhere you went reducing visibility) but I do remember it being significantly clearer to the naked eye than what I got in the pictures.

I was using a Canon Rebel K2 with the standard 28-80mm lens that came with the kit. The shutterspeed/F stop varied obviously, I was mainly using it on auto (until I struck up a conversation with some other photographer up there and he recommended using a smaller aperature like f/22 for landscapes which I was doing towards the end). Basically what I'd like to know is what I could have done to make the pictures turn out better. Was it just not a very good lens for taking pictures of mountains 20 miles away, would a filter help? Maybe I was just using poor quality film (200 ISO fujifilm 4 pack, for anything close up the pictures were gorgeous so I figured they'd be good for landscapes too, guess I was wrong :? ). I'd appreciate any help you can give, and again I'll provide a picture example later. Thanks.

Geronimo · Aug 15, 2004

With the smoke and ash flying around up here, I would of used a filter to cut thru the haze created. I have been shooting with a UV and Polarizing filter when the smoke reachs down here in Anchorage.

BrettG · Aug 15, 2004

Too bad I didn't know about the smoke before I left, I could have gone out and bought a filter.

http://www2.freepichosting.com/Images/421542977/0.jpg not the best shot to begin with, and I do remember it being extra hazy right here, but I still think this picture lost a lot. The mountains were redder than in this picture, and if you look you can notice where the sun hits certain parts while others are shaded, but the transition isn't as clear as it was when looking at the actual thing. Would a filter have helped a lot with this haziness?

That picture was also resized quite a bit because the original was almost 1600x1200

Geronimo · Aug 15, 2004

Yes it would of helped with the haze. I dont remember all the ones that would of helped though. Which mountain range were you in, when you took this one?

BrettG · Aug 15, 2004

I'm not totally sure. Looking at other pictures taken there, it was right on a turnoff at milepost 204, I'm not sure what highway it was. We started in anchorage, drove up Glen Highway, and headed towards fairbanks on some other highway, not sure of the name. I think it was that highway, at milepost 204, where these mountains were. They looked amazing in person, too bad the pictures didn't turn out so great.

Anyone know of any websites (or is bored enough to explain to me

) that'll tell me exactly what different filters do, maybe giving examples of a shot taken with and without a filter?

By the way geromino on a sidenote, I gotta say I envy where you live. Alaska's easily the most beautiful place I personally have ever visited, I didn't wanna leave when we were boarding the plane. I definitely need to go back some day (if for no other reason than to come back with some good pictures!)

Geronimo · Aug 15, 2004

Well it sounds like you were near the Talkeetna Range. That is a awsome area for photos.

Found one link that might help with the filter question too
http://www.photosecrets.com/article.filters.html

BrettG · Aug 15, 2004

Geronimo said:
Well it sounds like you were near the Talkeetna Range. That is a awsome area for photos.

Found one link that might help with the filter question too
http://www.photosecrets.com/article.filters.html

If the talkeetna range is anywhere near the town of talkeetna I don't think it was (we stopped at that place to, great little town), cause that was on our way back and we came back a different way. Thanks for the link.

mavrik · Aug 16, 2004

Try adding +25 contrast to that photo if you have a photo editing program. It brings a lot back. You can also hue shift colors in photoshop/paint shop pro.

M

gpam13 · Aug 30, 2004

You are right! I just took a trip to Alaska, too, and holy cow -- it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!

I shot close to twenty rolls of film, and I cannot wait to see how the pics turned out!

Geronimo · Aug 30, 2004

gpam13 said:
You are right! I just took a trip to Alaska, too, and holy cow -- it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!

I shot close to twenty rolls of film, and I cannot wait to see how the pics turned out!

Cant wait to see the photos. I like to see other's take on the local surroundings.

MuffinJuice · Sep 2, 2004

landscapes vary, but in general if you're doing a landscape with a horizon, dont put the horizon smack dab in the middle of the frame. i guess it woudnt apply to your mountains but for whatever reason in most pictures the horizon wants to be high or low in the frame.

keep the negatives handy, if you have any friends experienced with a dark room they could help you develope the pictures using filters or different burning techniques that really add to pictures. or find a teacher or class to use a darkroom.

some filters will make the darks darker and the whites whiter, and it really helps define some details. u can get rid of harsh shadows on peoples faces too. i couldnt tell you how but i know they do things like that.