Landscape Photography : From Shooting to Editing

Landscape Photography requires a choice of lens, angle, exposure, time and primarily involves a minimum amount of observation plus Post Processing. In the previous article on Landscape Photography, practically we talked about the basics. Landscape photography also demands a small part from post-processing, we will also see how to edit your landscape photographs with Adobe Photoshop.

Landscape Photography : Shooting

Landscape is the organization of natural elements in a given space : mountains, water, sky, beach. For the photographer, or observer, it is successfully transcribe his/her own reading, through the creation, including arranging all these elements. Choose the time schedule in the morning and late afternoon to get a softer light. This soft light also allows a better reflection of the terrain. They flatten dimensions less than if you took your photo at the beginning of afternoon when the sun is right over your head in summer. Choosing settings the in landscape photography is quite important. Landscape photographers opt for long exposure times. They thus obtain a more detailed picture with a small opening to enjoy the quality of the lens and use a sensitivity ISO 100 or less. The latter reduces the digital noise, which can be seen fairly quickly in the uniform parts, like on the sky for example.

Wide angle and ultra wide angle lens are for the landscape photographers. They can easily show a vast space. In addition, they expand the depth of field to get a clear photograph of 1m to infinity. Choosing extra equipment like a tripod for long exposures and a remote control to avoid camera shake, a shade to protect the lens surface from bright light of the sun, a circular polarizing filter that reduces reflections in the highlights are important. It also enhances the blue sky for example.

Try to place yourself on not 45° angle with the place. Make the viewer to feel what you are feeling at the moment, is not always easy, it must put its point of view with finesse. Do not center your subject : a bridge for example, a beach or a mountain. Focus to show some hesitation to your personal vision, leave more room on the ground or in the sky depending on what you want to show. However, there are exceptions, for example when you want to support a perspective or symmetry.

Landscape Photography : Editing in Adobe Photoshop CSx Extended

Levels : In Photoshop they form a histogram. Bring your cursor to the histogram. The empty parts are missing information in your photo. A little trick to quickly see areas over and under exposed in levels – Hold down the ALT key or Option key and move your mouse cursor over these black and white areas till you get the result.

Curves : This is the most comprehensive tool for managing dynamic brightness and contrast. Forming an S, you increase the brightness of your image while playing with your contrasts, without overexposing the image.

Hue / Saturation: This tool allows you to play directly with the intensity of your colors. Saturation is important on a photo in direct sunlight, for example and vice versa with an overcast sky.

These are the basic settings we need to adjust for Landscape Photography, others are quite advanced editing and you can apply our generalized Post Processing methods described before.