First Landscape (technically, a Seascape)

[NicolaB]

Determined to give my family a break from having a camera pointed in their faces, I was inspired by the most beautiful scenery in Ireland and decided to give landscapes a whirl.

This is one of my favourites. I know it can be better, but being a complete novice in this area I would welcome your thought and ideas on how I can improve this image with pp / composition - and if there is anything I should keep in mind for next time.

tia

Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Exposure 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture f/18.0
Focal Length 30 mm
ISO Speed 100

[benchdog]

Welcome to landscape photography

When shooting landscapes it is best to shoot early in the morning or late in the evening when ever possible. There is a lot on this site that can help you with this. With that said there is the whole rest of the day. This is when I focus more on detail shots. Take this image, the sky is quite boring, it looks like it's midday, and there is not much going on but there is a couple of nice opportunities for close-ups of crashing waves.

Landscape\Nature photography is a lot of fun. Good start keep at it.

[RichardTaylor]

As benchdog implies a lot of landscape photography is about the light.

Here the lighting is not good, however there are ways around it. For example shooting multiple exposures (one for the sky, one for the land, and one for the water) and combining them, with a tweak, when PPing.
If the shot is in RAW you may even be able to process it for different areas of the scene and combine them.

From a technical point your focus appears a bit off (I think) with the blurry waves on the shoreline being very distracting.

[NicolaB]

Originally Posted by benchdog

Welcome to landscape photography

When shooting landscapes it is best to shoot early in the morning or late in the evening when ever possible. ....... This is when I focus more on detail shots. ......
Landscape\Nature photography is a lot of fun. Good start keep at it.

Thank you for your time. I was snapping away without thinking - a holiday from thinking about catchlights and the angle of light etc. After seeing the images I have started thinking what I could do if I want to pursue this avenue of photography because it was peaceful and relaxing (getting toddler to pose is NOT!). It was bout 4pm but sunset is not until 8pm, so yep I would need to get out of my pit before the family rises about 5am (with little ones, evening shooting is not an option!) - arghhh I don't do mornings!

Also I didn't want to take my third baby onto the beach (my 5D and 70-200 lens). Is there something you can do to protect them in this kind of environment - or just hope for the best?

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

As benchdog implies a lot of landscape photography is about the light.

Here the lighting is not good, however there are ways around it. For example shooting multiple exposures (one for the sky, one for the land, and one for the water) and combining them, with a tweak, when PPing.
If the shot is in RAW you may even be able to process it for different areas of the scene and combine them.

From a technical point your focus appears a bit off (I think) with the blurry waves on the shoreline being very distracting.

Thanks Richard. It is RAW so I will try lightening the cliffs. I have another where I have cropped out the shore line. I was focussing on the waves crashing by the cliffs. Sigh - is there any photography that can be done in the day - lol.

[Krusty79]

A circular polarizer can also give you more vivid colors and reduce glare off non-metallic surfaces (like water), depending on your angle relative to the sun.

I think your shot could be improved if there was more of a focal point for the viewer's eye to settle on. In this case, you have those rock formations with the waves crashing into them as excellent possible focal points.

If you want to take it up another level, having some foreground interest like some shells or rocks will add depth to your image.

Like the previous comments said, midday has the harshest light and is the toughest for landscapes.

[NicolaB]

Thank you. I have my head stuck back into portraits already. I think my progress on Landscapes will be slow as it will be confined mostly to holidays.

I will definitely think more next time though. If I were to go for a lot of depth eg with the sea shell, I guess I would need to take several shots as Richard suggested. In taking more shots, would I shift the weight from back foot to front as I move from front to back of the scene or vice versa?

[Krusty79]

Richard was talking about using multiple exposures to try to cover the entire dynamic range in a shot that cannot be covered by just one image. You can take one shot for the bright areas like the sky and another for the darker ground and blend the exposures in PP. You can also do that from a single RAW file.

I think you are talking about getting more of the image in focus. You can use multiple exposures for that, but it's an advanced technique and I think you would be better off using the a depth of field calculator to keep the important parts of your image in focus.

Online Depth of Field Calculator