Digital Photographer - UK (2020-05)

There’s a reason we shoot

RAW files for landscapes,

but even more important

is the shot itself

Best practice for

landscape shots

Forsomephotographers, post-production is

allaboutfixingproblems that happened at

thetimeofcapture.A better approach is to

optimiseyourexposures when you take the

photographandthenuse post-production

tofurtherinterpretyour images. This isn’t to

saywedon’tusepost-production to fix our

landscape photos, but if you can improve a

poor-quality file with post-production, imagine

how much better it could be if you started

with a good-quality file.

So before we move into processing and

editing landscape photos, how do we ensure

that we capture the best possible files in

the first place? Use the camera to maximise

image quality at every step, from the file

format (RAW, not JPEG) to the exposure

settings that are appropriate for the subject.

And while not always possible, location,

weather, season and lighting all assist us in

capturing that optimum image file.

Making perfectlandscapeshots

1

TurnonRAWcaptureIfyou’renot

alreadyshootinginRAW,checkyour

camera’smenuandselectRAW.Most

camerasalsoenableyoutocaptureboth

JPEGandRAWfilesatthesametime.

2

UsethehistogramTocheckyouhave

agoodexposure,useyourcamera’s

LCDorEVFdisplaytoshowthehistogram.

Youdon’twantthegraphtouchingtheright

side,andpreferablynottheleftsideeither.

3

UseatripodTo ensure there is no

camera movement and you maximise

subject detail, use a tripod (with a remote

control) to take your photos. It’s essential

for long-exposure techniques too.

Therightlight

Weshouldneverforget

theimportanceofgood

lightatthetimeof

capture.Theimagewith

betterlight(right)was

mucheasiertoprocess

becausemostofthehard

workwasdonein-camera

Thebestpost-production results start with the best in-camera shots, so optimise the location, light and camera settings

BEFORE

TECHNIQUES