forest hiking

[hamlet]

I am planning to go to the Ardennes Forests forest hiking to take pictures. Do you have any pointers for me to get some nice pictures? I am going to be using my Nikon 3200.

 

[table1349]

Here would be a good start. Landscape Photography

Landscape Photography Tips -- National Geographic

 

[Sleepy_Sentry]

Make sure you bring a sturdy bag and make sure it's closed tight. Last time I went hiking in Korea I was so immersed in my surroundings that I started climbing a rock without realizing my bag was unzipped. Luckily my camera and lens survived.

 

[BenjaminJ]

Take more pics than you think necessary. Ive had shots I thought would turn out just ok turn out pretty great.

 

[Tailgunner]

I am planning to go to the Ardennes Forests forest hiking to take pictures. Do you have any pointers for me to get some nice pictures? I am going to be using my Nikon 3200.

Invest in a light weight Carbon fiber monopod or tripod, extra memory cards, Camera rain cover, and camera/hiking back pack w/rain cover. As for tips, the woods can get dim to dark really quick, so I would take something fast like a 35mm 1.8, 50mm 1.8, 24-70mm 2.8, or 28-70mm 2.8. You can also rent glass through a reputable camera store. I generally start out hiking with my 18-200mm VR and switch to my 28-70mm 2.8 as it gets closer to the late afternoon. Keep an eye out for the sun and sun flares...a picture may look good on the LCD screen but may have small sun flares. So try to keep an eye out for that and take lots of pictures.

 

[hamlet]

What about night time or early morning photography? I really, really want to get shots like this.




Also, do ND filters do anything to Mist or fog?

 

[Tailgunner]

What about night time or early morning photography? I really, really want to get shots like this.

View attachment 56025


Also, do ND filters do anything to Mist or fog?

This is why I suggested a tripod and fast glass.

 

[hamlet]

I have the former, but what is fast glass?

 

[Tailgunner]

I have the former, but what is fast glass?

I'm sure someone can explain this better but generally speaking, Fast glass is considered anything with an F-Stop of 2.8 or lower. F-Stop equals apertures and the larger the aperture (lower the F-stop number) the more light it allows. This helps a lens focus in dim lightning and helping focus faster. If you're going to be shooting in low light conditions, you want an F-stop of 2.8, 1.8, 1.4, 1.2. Sounds simple, but these lenses tend to get pricy. Now you can save a little cash buying used or refurbished, as well as older professional discontinued glass. Probably the most common and affordable good fast glass is the "Nifty Fifty." I picked up a 50mm 1.8 D for $100 shipped and that dude is lightning fast, Sharp, and almost like night vision! It's also compact, so you could probably toss one in your pocket and it works great for late night pictures.

 

[hamlet]

Not good. The lens i have now has an aperture of about f3.5. I'll need night vision attached to it in order to see anything at all during daylight, let alone the night.

 

[hamlet]

I would have to buy this lens with an aperture of 1.4.
Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G

 

[Tailgunner]

Not good. The lens i have now has an aperture of about f3.5. I'll need night vision attached to it in order to see anything at all during daylight, let alone the night.

We all start out some place. Anyhow, I'm not sure what body you're using but you should still be able to take some decent night photos using a F/3.5. You're going to need long exposures, this is where the tripod comes into play. A cable button will come in handy as well. You're going to have to play with the settings a little but I generally start out with the F-Stop around F8 and the ISO around 200-400. The shutter speed is a guessing game, for me anyhow. If you're using the cable button, turn the shutter dial backwards until it states "Bulb" in the view finder etc. You can either lock the shutter button on the cable switch or manual hold it down and count in your head. You have to experiment with time but you probably don't need much more than 3-5 secs to achieve something like the above picture.

As for walking around the woods with a F/3.5 glass, I would crank the ISO up as high as I could without getting any noise. This will allow more shutter speed which will help in low lighting conditions. But I would at least consider using a Monopod. I would also consider buying at least a 35mm 1.8 or 50mm 1.8D...these run about $100 and are a night and day difference compared to a 3.5 glass.

Here is a photo I took using a 18-55mm 3.5 Kit lens.

 

[hamlet]

Very nice picture. But why put a watermark on it?

 

[PJL]

I don't think fast glass is particulary important for landscape photograpy, since you generally want as much of the frame in focus as you can possibly get. In my opinion, you should shoot in the lowest ISO possible with a small aperture and slow shutter speed. That's why so many landscape photographers swear by their tripods. Night photography especially should be done with a low ISO, since digital camera noise lives primarily in the shadows.

And if you don't have a cable release, you can fudge it by using a timed shutter setting on your camera.

 

[Gavjenks]

I'd say don't worry much about the fast glass. You're going to be taking photos of things that are standing still, and you're probably going to have plenty of time to do it, AND you're going to want to be using smallish apertures to get the scene focused. Tripods are therefore the order of the day here, and if you're using a tripod and want large DOF, fast glass is pointless.

Worry much more about:
1) Having a good sturdy tripod that you like using
2) Having a good quality ND filter (maybe a 3 stop one and a 10 stop one, or a NICE QUALITY variable one). Almost all landscapes tend to look good with somewhat long exposures. Water blurs into a silky, attractive glassy sheet; clouds blur a little bit at 30ish seconds+ which has a very cool and calm effect. Mist will look dreamier, etc. You may also want to take normal, shorter exposure images, but the long ones are the ones that require the equipment you need to worry about more so. In other words, short exposures are either going to be handheld during the day mostly, and won't require much fancy equipment. OR they will be an afterthought once you've already set up the tripod for a long exposure shot. Just change settings and remove the ND and snap a shorter photo before taking down the setup and moving on. Neither short exposure situation requires any particularly special equipment. It's not like sports. (I'm assuming you don't also want bid photos, in which case that would change things significantly)
3) Make sure to always turn off image stabilization on a tripod.