Landscape Photography Cheat Sheet - 9 hacks

Most of them have DSLR or mirrorless cameras these days, but it's sad to know that they still use the auto mode without experimenting with any of the great features that are available in their camera. You might have seen many great Landscape shots, but before we get in there here are a few things that you need to keep in mind for Landscape photography - The Landscape Photography Cheat Sheet.

What are cheat sheets in photography?

Why do I call it a cheat sheet/code? It is just because I remember using some cheat codes while playing computer games during my school days which was more of a shortcut to be more successful. So, it's good to remember these cheat codes/sheets for landscapes to get some better output.

Cheat sheets are popular with everyone, including photographers. A cheat sheet is a quick approach to learning something new or refreshing your knowledge on any subject, condensed into a group of concise tips, strategies, and definitions.

What settings should I use for landscape photography?

Image captured at Kuduremukha rain forest, Western Ghats, KA, India

What F stop should I use for landscape?

For landscapes I would consider using a wide-angle lens (In the above image I have used Nikon D610 with Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8 lens) as it covers more area, but note that a wide-angle lens will compress/scale down the image. Go for a higher aperture so that you can keep everything in focus from foreground to background. Exposure mode is something that can be increased or decreased manually.

To get more of your image in focus, you'll often want to utilize a larger f stop, or narrow aperture, in landscape photography. Generally, you'll want to photograph at an aperture of f/8 to f/11, with a maximum of f/16.

What is the best ISO setting for landscape photography?

Keep ISO as low as possible as there is no necessity to bump ISO (too much increase in ISO can bring in unwanted noise in the image). Always keep the shutter speed a bit higher than the focal length thereby avoiding any kind of camera shake. For example: if you are using a 50mm lens then see that the shutter is slightly higher than the reciprocal of these values, in this case, 1/60 sec would be good (when you are not using a tripod). And finally, keep the metering mode to the matrix.

What type of lens is used for landscape photography?

In landscape photography, there are four basic types of lenses that are often employed. Wide or ultra-wide-angle lenses, ordinary zoom lenses, telephoto lenses, and prime lenses are examples of these. The most common lenses for landscape photography are wide-angle and ultra-wide-angle lenses.

Is prime lens good for landscape? - With its great wide-angle vision, quick aperture, and low distortion, a prime lens excels at landscape photography. It's also the quickest lens in this focal length range available for full-frame E-mount cameras from any manufacturer.

Do you need a zoom for landscape photography? - Many landscape photographers just require or desire a handful of prime lenses or a single standard zoom lens. My sole lens for landscape photography for more than a year was a 105mm f/2.8 prime, then I added a 24mm prime and photographed with only those two lenses for another year.

Is a 50mm lens good - The 50mm or 35mm prime lens, on the other hand, is an excellent choice for landscape photography, especially if you're a novice; it will challenge you to think differently about your shots, release you from the limits of a bulky setup, and offer you with crisp, sharp images quickly. The vision of a 50mm lens is similar to that of a human eye. A wide-angle lens, such as the 14-24mm f2.8, would be ideal.

Do you need a fast lens for landscape photography?

If you're going to do any astrophotography landscape photography, you'll need a fast, wide-angle lens. There are a lot of wonderful possibilities from different brands, but you should probably start with a lens that has a maximum aperture of f2. 8 or faster. The wide aperture is what I'm referring to when I say quick lens. So, if you're shooting in low light, you'll need a fast lens. You can produce excellent photographs in low light without boosting the ISO by using a fast lens and a long exposure.

What makes a great landscape photo?

In landscape photography, leading lines play a significant function. I've published a separate essay about leading lines and how to produce beautiful shots with them. Piers, railways, footpaths, and other leading lines may help to produce engaging landscape photos by transporting the observer further into the scene. Large vistas and leading lines are emphasized with wide and ultra-wide-angle lenses.

Where do you focus on landscape photos?

Simply concentrate at "double the distance" twice the distance between the nearest item in your shot. Find anything around 2 meters away and concentrate there if the nearest item in your shot is a patch of grass one meter away from you at the bottom of your composition. Check out this fascinating article on the Double the Distance Method.

Use of ND filters

The ones mentioned above are the settings that you can try for Landscape Photography. To get more dramatic images in landscape photography, try a slower shutter speed to capture some cloud movement, of course with the help of a tripod and filters. Note that the values/settings that I have mentioned an approx one and don't always stick to that. Consider these settings to be more like reference values from where you can start and then experiment around these values. Give it a try and let me know if this Landscape Photography cheat sheet was useful.

Hope you find this useful. Also, check out more on the gadgets that I use on my YouTube channel and support my work by subscribing ▶️. You may signup for my fortnightly newsletter by joining my Friend Zone. 

Focus on getting Sharp Eyes - Capture better Portraits

Many people ask me where I focus on a portrait photograph. Is it the face, nose, eyes, lips, or something else? I've seen folks capture portrait photos without focusing on anything specific. In the following post, I'll go through where to focus and how to create crisp photographs that look beautiful by concentrating on achieving sharp eyes.

Focus on getting Sharp Eyes

The answer to the question of where I focus in portrait photography is straightforward; it's the same as where you see when you speak face to face with someone standing in front of you. When we speak to someone, we see their eyes.

Let me show you how to get a portrait with sharp eyes now that you know where to concentrate. Portraits are typically photographed with a larger aperture of f1.4, f2.8, and a longer focal length to get a shallow depth of field, which renders the backdrop out of focus. With this, you must be mindful of the focus or plane.

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Where to focus on portraits?

The focal plane is the plane in which the topic looks extremely sharp as compared to the plane in front of or behind it. This is the primary cause for the blurred backdrop, and as many people have questioned me, this is not something I do in post-processing. Getting the focal plane perfect on a stationary subject is simple, but it might be difficult on a moving subject.

It is critical to photograph a portrait with strong eyes. You may either focus on an off-center focus point or focus on the central focus point and then recompose it as desired. When focusing on a bigger external display, it's always better to look through the viewfinder rather than into the LCD display and then evaluate based on the acquired image.

The Focus issues

Many people have reported that the image seems perfect on the LCD as soon as it is recorded, but when the photographs are downloaded to a computer, they look different. As an example, consider an image that is out of focus. However, you will only be able to see this once it has been moved. As a result, the best approach is to digitally zoom into the obtained image and then check for sharpness. If you are recording it indoors, it is advisable to transmit it to a computer as soon as it is caught.

Similarly, while taking a photograph, you should concentrate on the eyes. Some people even question, "Which eye?" - it's the focal plane that you need to think about. As a result, any eye is acceptable as long as the two are on the same focus plane. Unless you wish to focus on something else, assume that you need to focus on your eyes. I concentrated on his left eye in the above image, while the other eye is not in the focal plane and so is not in focus.

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How to focus and the settings

I tried capturing in both of the methods indicated above. Let me tell you how I got the other way. I focused on the subject, slammed the shutter halfway down or used the customized/programmed AE-L/AF-L button to lock the focus, and then moved the camera a little to recompose such that the subject was off-center.

South Indian Havyaka Brahmin Wedding

The AE-L/AF-L button I described before is exclusive to Nikon cameras. Other cameras provide comparable possibilities for programming or customizing buttons. The focus button is something I want to keep distinct. These are controlled by a separate button on high-end cameras. You might also experiment with your camera's various focus points and cross points. For example, the Nikon D610 has 39 focus points.

Highlight the details in the eye

In addition to capturing, editing is quite vital. In the video below, you'll learn how to edit portraits to acquire sharp eyes and improve the appearance of portrait images.

https://youtu.be/MpHCXX52jwM

The above images were captured during a candid wedding photography event of a Hindu brahmin wedding in south India. Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.

Understanding focus tracking to get sharp images

With the DSLR or mirrorless cameras, there are three basic autofocus, focus tracking settings to choose from: single, continuous, and automatic. As a Nikon user, I have written about the Nikon DSLR camera in this post. Other DSLR or mirrorless cameras will have comparable options and functionality.

One of my award winning shots. Captured at Kanamo base camp at 16,000 feet above sea level in the Himalayas.

What is Focus Tracking?

Continuous auto-focusing mode (AF-C) allows you to track moving subjects by allowing the camera to change the focus constantly while the shutter button is half-pressed, allowing you to track subjects moving towards or away from your DSLR camera. When your DSLR is in AF-C mode, it immediately shifts to predictive focusing, which analyses the subject's movement and attempts to forecast where the subject will be when the shutter button is half-pressed.

It's not simple to get crisp photos of moving subjects. In my photography workshop outdoor/photo walk, I've noticed a lot of people trying to catch moving scenes with their normal camera settings. All they receive is a blurry or out-of-focus image; yet, some of them do get it perfectly, which is sheer chance. To get crisp shots, make sure your camera's focusing setting is set to manual. Focus tracking is possible with almost all DSLR cameras, regardless of brand, because they all contain this capability. It's only a matter of learning how to use it.

Understanding Focus Tracking.http://t.co/LOJ3NfTGzN pic.twitter.com/LPfVoHnekn

— Ravindra Joisa (@ravindrajoisa) May 5, 2015

How do you use focus tracking?

The back of the screen's focus tracking button may be customized/programmed. I've set it up on my Nikon D610 full-frame camera since it's easier for me to operate. On high-end cameras, a dedicated button controls focus tracking. There's a chance you'll press the button too hard, capturing an image rather than focusing it, which is where the dedicated or programmed button comes in handy. It may be assigned to the AE-L/AF-L button on the camera's back.

What is autofocus tracking sensitivity?

3D AF Tracking is a new feature available on the most recent cameras. This works fine, however when the subject is too near to the backdrop if the background is of a similar tone/color, your DSLR may become confused.

When another subject intrudes on the current subject you're monitoring, tracking sensitivity influences how sensitive your autofocus point(s) are. How does your camera behave if you're focusing on someone racing towards you and someone else walks across the area and crosses your AF point?

It is not about having an expensive camera

Understanding all of these aspects of your current DSLR camera will help you capture outstanding photographs. Having a high-end camera does not necessarily imply that you will be able to produce the greatest results. I've seen many people spend thousands of dollars on a camera but only shoot in auto mode and in.jpg format, and they have no idea what any of the buttons on their camera do, leading them to make negative judgments about the camera and its functions.

Well, thanks to the technological advancements, even in auto mode, you can obtain some great images these days. There's a lot going on in the world of mirrorless cameras. Cameras make mistakes, too, so experiment and learn how to use your camera in and out. Even though auto mode performs a decent job, it's always preferable to have complete control over your camera than to rely on it.

Also read - Focus on getting Sharp Eyes – Capture better Portraits

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Bedni Bugyal trek via the Magnificent Didina village and Ali Bugyal | Roopkund Trek - Day 3

The Bedni Bugyal trek takes up the first three days of the Roopkund trek, which is currently prohibited due to camping restrictions in the bugyal or meadows. The Bedni Bugyal is among the greatest because they take you to Asia's largest high-altitude meadow, which offers breathtaking panoramas of the Himalayas, stunning scenery, and wonderful campsites.

View of the hilltop meadows from Ali Bugyal

Morning at Didina Village

The third day of the Roopkund trek begins in the Didina village ? guesthouse. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay at a homestay in Didina for the night. Didina is a tiny community with no power and residents who rely on solar lighting. For farming, agriculture, and daily usage, little streams in and around Didina hamlet suffice. This is the last hamlet before you run out of options for human habitation. The walk continues through the hamlet to the opposite end, where you must cross a bridge. There is a creek below and vivid yellow blooms all around. Take a 5-minute pause to take some pictures of the stream.

Previously - Hike to Didina village

If you haven't seen my prior two days of Roopkund hiking, click on the following links:

? Day 1 - Jeep Ride to Lohajung

??‍♂️ Day 2 - Lohajung to Didina village

How to reach Bedni Bugyal

There are two ways to reach Bedni Bugyal. One is as mentioned in the above articles, Lohajung to Bedni Bugyal via Didina village and the other is from Lohajung to Wan by jeep and then trek to Bedni Bugyal via Ghaeroli Patal.

Bedni Bugyal trek - Hiking uphill through the dense forest

The next stop is at Ali Bugyal meadows, where you may locate a V-shaped section of Ali Bugyal meadows from Didina village. After crossing the creek over the bridge, the hard ascent through the Oak and Rhododendron forest ?continues for another 3 hours. The weather in the area might change quickly, so it's always a good idea to have a rain cover on hand. Remember to turn off all electrical devices in this region since lightning and thunder are prevalent. The forest is dense, and there's a good risk you'll miss the route because it's completely covered in dried brown leaves.

Largest high altitude meadows

After crossing the woodland, continue walking across meadows to gain height for another 15 minutes until you reach the top. The Ali Bugyal, one of Asia's largest high-altitude meadows, is located here. We ate our packed lunch and had a 30-minute rest. From Didina village, it took us around 4 hours to get here. Take in the beauty of the surroundings. The snow-capped Himalayan range is on one side, while vast mountain slopes are on the other three. This is the ideal spot for some selfies and photos. There will be no cell connection at Ali Bugyal, so don't waste your phone's battery attempting to post those selfie photos.

View from Ali Bugyal

Continue walking through the meadows. This is a spot where you may remove your shoes. Walking on a green carpet with a little yellow, blue, and purple flowers won't cause any discomfort to your legs. As you continue walking, you will come across several wild horses roaming freely and grazing in these high-altitude meadows. This location is quite serene and tranquil, with a lovely panoramic scenery view all around it.

Bedni Bugyal campsite

A government-built green bunker ⛺may be found to the right. You have the option of camping there or continuing on to Bedni Bugyal. A correct trail leads up in a zig-zag pattern from the green bunker, followed by a level track. Continue walking till you get to Bedni Bugyal.

https://youtu.be/aYYdYFLyF-k

Bedni Bugyal is one of the greatest campsites; to get there, you'll have to descend for around ten minutes. On one side, Mount Trishul ?️can be seen, and the route that leads to Roopkund appears more like the terrain from Ladakh, with a dry brown mountain range on one side and a green carpet on the other.

With a nice cup of tea or a bowl of soup, watch the sunset here in the evening. This campground offers adequate space for a game of cricket. There is also a tiny shop where you can obtain cold beverages, maggie, egg, tea, ? and bread for double the price. This was my favorite location, and I explored it by walking around the campsite with my camera.

The next day we hiked from Bedni Bugyal to Pathar Nachauni. If you find this blog post useful and interesting then you can buy me a coffee to support my work. Also, consider subscribing to my YouTube channel for more and you may join my friendzone.

Golden Hour - A truly magical hour to get the best of best photos

The majority of landscape photographs that are recorded during the hours of first light or dusk/late in the evening are referred to as the golden hours to seem wow. The golden hours occur twice a day, at dawn and dusk. This allows photographers to shoot photographs in the supposedly best light of the day. You may simply obtain the timings for a certain area by going online or using applications.

In order to capture the spectacular colors in the sky during the golden hours, you might want to do a bit of homework before your actual work begins.

Research on Golden hour timings

What is the best time to take photos? First, consider the golden hours. This is determined by your geographical location and the time of year. When you get closer to the equator, the time virtually stays the same all year, with a slight change of around an hour in different seasons.

However, when you go closer to the north pole, there are spots where there is sunshine 24 hours a day, or where it is absolutely dark all the time. However, in these settings, the sun will never be at its height, such as at noon, and will remain just over the horizon. In such instances, you may experience golden hours all day or for a considerably longer period of time. So make the most of it.

Get familiar with the location

Following the golden hour timings is the location; it's a good idea to tour the area during the daytime so that you can choose the best spot to take photographs and also prepare yourself for composing the image.

You may look at photographs taken by other photographers on the internet to see how amazing they are and how you can avoid shooting a very similar type of shot. Look for photographs that were taken throughout the day as well as during golden hours to get a sense of what to expect.

Getting ready for golden hours

Once you've done your homework to take photographs during golden hours, make sure you arrive at the place at least an hour or 30 minutes early and have your camera, tripod, and any other camera settings ready. Don't be a slacker when it comes to getting up early in the morning.

How is golden hour calculated?

Now that you have everything set up, see whether you can take photographs in diffused light. The sun provides diffused light when it is low in the sky (during golden hours). Is golden hour before or after sunset? The vivid orange/multicolored sky may add contrast and colour to your photograph. You may also see blue or purple sky during the twilight hours before or after sunrise or sunset. Twilight lasts only a few minutes, perhaps 30 minutes, and occurs twice a day, with the timings changing over the year. When the sun gets very near to the horizon, this happens.

Gear for golden hour photography

In terms of equipment, you'll need a camera body with a wide-angle lens for landscape photography and a robust tripod if you're shooting in low light. You could choose to shoot photographs with a higher ISO and a smaller aperture (a bit wide open). You might use a slower shutter speed to obtain a cloud movement effect in the photograph. I would recommend utilizing lenses with an aperture of f2.8 or lower so that you can maintain the aperture wide open while keeping the ISO as low as possible.

https://youtu.be/HtGK2X9xTho

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.

Most Important Travel Photography essentials and things to know

Most of us enjoy traveling. When we speak about travel photography, usually people carry every camera gear that they have and it's hard to travel light. At the same time there are people who go out just with their kit lens or a 50mm prime lens, and later feel something like - I wish I had the other lens in my bag. In this article I will let you know what kind of lens you need to carry and what not to carry.

Problem with Travel photography

This happened to me when I had been on a Himalayan trip and had a 50mm prime lens f1.4 (my first lens), a 14-24mm lens, and a full-frame body. But did not have a telephoto/zoom lens at that time and felt that I had missed many shots.

When it comes to travel photography the safety of gear is the most important thing that is to be considered. You go to an unknown place and you are surrounded by lots of strangers. The case is different when you are traveling in groups but when on solo travel, it is better to carry something simple unless you have insurance.

If you are on an assignment or any kind of professional work then carrying those expensive gadgets makes sense, but if it is for a blog and for social media and YouTube then there are many inexpensive gadgets that you carry and still manage to get some amazing photos while going travel photography.

Some examples of travel photography

The place and landscape

The above photo was captured at Dal lake in Kashmir, India just after sunset. This was using a full-frame camera with a 14-24mm f2.8 lens mounted on a tripod. The same shot using an average lens with an aperture of more than f4.5-5.6 wouldn't have been sharp. With a point-and-shoot camera, it would have been even blurred.

The emotional story

Travel photography is not just about travel and capturing photos but is about understanding the culture, people, place, etc, and the story behind it. Here, in this post, I will be writing only about the gear for travel photography. The below image is from the Kashmir Great Lakes trek where we took a break in their camp when it was raining outside. The image is of a shy kid who was not used to these many strangers or trekkers in their tent and his mother preparing him some food. The image is not just a random photo but also shows the bonding and local between a mother and a child.

Include people

Including people, pet animals, children can make your travel photography images look more interesting. Note that you need to have model release for these pics if you want to see the image.

The gear for travel photography

For maximum versatility, it's better to use a telephoto/zoom lens, covering a range of 24 to 300 mm. It may not be possible to find a single lens that has all the zoom range and hence you might need to carry multiple lenses. Usually, a zoom lens with wider ranges is slow (f4.5+), large and heavy to carry. But with a non-interchangeable lens, we get the advantage of not changing the lens frequently and hence low dust.

Other accessories include filters, memory cards, batteries, backup storage, external flash, and a lightweight tripod preferably the one made of carbon fiber. When we consider travel photography, there are other things that you might want to consider like your gear insurance and a good quality camera bag.

Travel photography gear for professional use

When I speak about travel photography, people ask me about the camera gear that I carry. Following are the camera equipment that I pack when I think about travel photography - A full-frame camera - Nikon D610, Nikkor 50mm f1.4D, Nikkor 14-24mm f2.8, Nikkor 70-300 f4.5, Nikon SB910, Manfrotto Tripod, Lowepro camera bag, 2 extra batteries, and a cleaning kit.

This travel photography gear that I have mentioned here is the one that I usually carry and is of this writing. I might consider replacing the Nikkor 70-300 f4.5 with a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII or an 80-400mm soon. I have mentioned only the Nikon camera and accessories as I'm a Nikon user. The same applies to all cameras and lenses irrespective of the camera brand.

Travel photography and vlogging kit

https://youtu.be/u7oIqM5vOgc

Update: These days I have been carrying I have been doing more of Vlogging and I have been carrying lighter gear, inexpensive and something super light you might want to check the video below. These days mirrorless cameras are available, adventure cameras can be used for vlogging as it has 3 to 4 built-in mics in it and the video quality is even better.

Let me know what other gears do you use in addition to the one that is mentioned above and why? Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.

Be super creative with the twisting LCD screen on yourCamera

A few of my friends have asked me this question - Should I buy a DSLR with a twisting LCD screen (Ex: Nikon D750)? Many of the latest DSLRs come with twisting LCD screens and you find many more in the market from different brands with twisting LCD screens. But should you consider the twisting LCD screen when you buy a DSLR? Here are a few things that you might want to consider.

Twisting LCD screen for low angle shots

Having a twisting LCD screen in your DSLR may help you angle it up and down. All that you need to do is switch to Live View mode. By default in most DSLR cameras, this will be turned off and you will have to see using a viewfinder. But viewing through the viewfinder has some limitations. Using a twisting LCD screen it is easy to capture images from high and low angles. Other examples would be to hold the camera at ground level without having to roll on the ground.

Holding you camera high above

As you can see in the above images, it is helpful while capturing HD videos. You can rotate it the way you want. The best use of this can be seen by the cameraman trying to focus on the subject, usually, the journalists at a press meet in a crowded place where they try to hold the camera on top and use the twisting LCD screens to focus on the subject. Another good example would be to place your DSLR on a tripod with the center column raised. This would definitely be taller than your height and this is when you need to tilt your LCD screen down so that you can see comfortably.

The disadvantage of having a twisting LCD screen

The disadvantage would be that extensive use of this twist LCD screen over time might break the screw that is attaching the LCD with the camera and that should not be a major issue to fix. Some LCD screens can be twisted 180 degrees, with their screen facing the camera - which can protect the LCD from accidental scratch or damage.

Twisting LCD screen for vlogging

The twisting LCD screen is super helpful if you prefer vlogging. Even though vlogging can be done using the front-facing camera of your mobile device, the images and video appear like a mirror image and appears on the opposite side. If you want to have a good DSLR or a mirrorless camera that has a twisting LCD screen then that would be ideal for vlogging. I would recommend this if you are into a lot of vlogs and your mobile camera is more than enough if you just casually doing it.

The external LCD screen mount

So, If you have not made a choice of which camera to buy then check this out - Which DSLR should I buy? For those who have already made a choice of a DSLR camera that has a twisting LCD screen in it, then go for it, and even if there is no twist option in it then there is nothing to worry about. You can always buy an external LCD screen which can be either mounted on top of your camera or externally which has a larger screen.

In conclusion, my recommendation is to buy if you think that there is a practical use for this. Else this can easily become a nuisance. Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post. Buy me a coffee to support my work or you can go to my store to buy some of my images. Also, do not forget to join my FriendZone by signing up for my newsletter. Consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.