My wife Anna and I are passionate amateur photographers. We mainly shoot landscape and macro pictures and occasionally do some portraits. Our pictures can be seen in flickr under the link: http://www.flickriver.com/photos/stephanna-g/popular-interesting/
We use the following equipment:

• Canon EOS 60D
• Canon EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
• Tokina AT X 116 PRO DX Wide-angle zoom lens 11-16 mm – F/2.8
• Canon EF 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6L
• Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
• Canon Speedlite 580EX
• Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX
• Kenko Extension Tube Set (12, 20 & 36mm Tubes)
• Filters:
• Hoya Polarizing filters Pro1D
• Hoya UV filters Pro1D
• Hoya ND8 Pro1D
• Tripod:
• Cullmann Nanomax 250 an
• Cellestron 93596
• Bag: Lowepro Flipside 300

 Title: Stunning Landscapes with HDR technique

The most important ingredient to make stunning landscape pictures is your ability to see and frame beautiful scenes in nature. Some techniques add significant quality to your pictures but will never compensate for a poor framing of the scene. In my brief tutorial I will first provide some basic principles which will improve your landscape photography and then explain how HDR (High Dynamic Range imaging) can give a particular edge to your landscape pictures.

Framing

As I said, good framing is the basis for stunning landscape pictures. Very often landscape pictures contain a main object that is the anchor point for the viewer’s eye. Usually this point is located on the front or side of the scene. Ideally an imaginary line leads from this anchor point across the image. Too many competing objects within the photo can distract and irritate the viewer’s eye. One mistake often made is to pack too many things in one single frame. One should always remember: less is better.  A good landscape provides a smooth and harmonious eye path across the image and allows the eyes to relax.
For great composition also think of some photo composition rules. Popular and very effective is the “Rule of Thirds”. This is based on the fact that the human eye is naturally drawn to a point about one-third or two-thirds up a page. Place the main objects at the intersection points rather than in the centre of the picture. The lines can also be used to delimit your horizon; either one third sky and two thirds earth or one third earth and two third sky (exceptions allowed).

Compose also carefully with “diagonal lines”. Any linear elements in your picture will automatically attract the viewer’s eye and “guide” its flow into the picture. You should take care that the main object (first anchor point of the viewer) links to this line and leads the eye to the centre or opposite corner of the picture. A picture may also contain a diagonal line without a distinct anchor point usually emerging from one corner of the picture. There are no strict rules here as long as the eye-path remains fluent and harmonious. There should be no irritating conflicts between the anchor point and any diagonal lines.

Some basic tech rules

• Use low ISO setting whenever possible (using tripod will be often needed as a consequence). I try not to exceed ISO 400 and usually shot between ISO 100 – 200.
• Use a tripod as often as you can. Even shooting at a reasonably fast speed will always create some disturbing movement that reduces sharpness. Even some slight, almost unnoticeable blur may take away the crisp clear impact of your picture. This is especially true if you plan to print big enlargements of your picture. In case you should not have a tripod available, think of using an exposure time shorter than twice the focal length figure. For example a 15mm wide-angle lens can be shot hand-held at a 1/30sec whereas a 100mm lens needs a 1/200s exposure to be safe.
• Set a small lens opening to make sure that DOF (depth of field) is large. Using a wide angle lens (11-16mm), I normally set the aperture at 8-11. I know that within this aperture range my lens produces the sharpest images and best overall quality.
  Make sure you set the focal point at or slightly behind your front object.
• Invest in a good wide angle lens. There are plenty of good quality lenses in the market. Before buying a lens I carefully compare the different reviews of lenses on the net and I chose the lens that gives best value for the money I’m willing to spend. I’m very happy about my Tokina AT X 116 PRO DX Wide-angle zoom lens 11-16 mm – F/2.8 for my Canon 60D.
• Use a good quality UV-filter or a polarizing filter for scenes that are shot a blue sky. I stress that these filters must be of excellent quality that means well coated with anti-reflection layers. Cheap filters will add flare to your image, especially with high contrast pictures or pictures against very bright background, for example against direct sunlight.
  Polarizing filters are very useful to cut reflections on a water surface (or to enhance it) and to reduce the bluish hue on picture that are taken on cloudless days between 10am and 3pm.

HDR imaging

After merging I chose a moderate tone mapping on the final image

with slight enhancement of color saturation.

Sea of clouds
On the 11/11/2011 my wife Anna and I escaped the thick layer of ground fog that normally occurs in our region of Switzerland during this season and went to the Jura Alps. On top of the mountain “Le Suchet” we celebrated the special numeric date-event at 11:11 am with a glass of fine Champagne. On our return we saw a fantastic sea of low hanging clouds that emerged between the trees.
Once more I shot the picture with 3 exposures (-2, 0, +2) to capture the details of the clouds as well as the grassland in front scene. I chose a composition with approximately one third sky, one third clouds and one third grassland to produce a balanced composition. In order to reach this composition the focal length needed to be around 28mm. As the anchor point I chose the big three, which I placed on the left tier of the image. The aperture was f/9 with an exposure time around 1/160s. During HDR tone mapping I pushed detail enhancement to give a nice texture in the clouds, compromising a bit the natural effect.

Altar
HDR photography is also well suited to take stunning indoor pictures in buildings with high contrast illumination, for example inside churches.
The following picture required a tripod to enable long exposure of 1.29 sec. As I used a very wide angle lens (11mm) the aperture f/5 allowed a very sharp picture from the book to the window.
I took much care of the composition to place the window in the upper third part of the frame but right in the centre horizontally. My anchor point, the book, I placed on the left third bottom corner. You will notice that the eyes naturally move from the book to the cross and then to the nice colours of the window.

Sunrays
The following picture was taken on a very windy day around noon. Suddenly the sunshine broke through the thick clouds and produced awesome sunrays, a situation that may last just a couple of seconds. In order to expose properly the delicate sunrays and the foreground fields and the dark clouds, I applied once more three exposures (-2, 0, +2) and HDR tone mapping. To create a dramatic atmosphere I applied high contrast and slight underexposure during post treatment.
Additional information: focal length 59mm, aperture f/6.6, exposure 1/25

Tree Shadow
HDR technique can be of great interest with black and white pictures as well as it allows management of high contrast scenes and to create subtle shades and enhanced textures. The following picture demonstrates this interesting effect. Although the picture was shot against the sun, HDR allowed capturing some texture of the tree as well as subtle shades in the snow and the shadow of the tree. The picture was composed of three exposures (-2, 0, +2) and was converted to black and white while during tone mapping.
In this picture I used as the anchor point the large tree with the sun shining through.  It was placed in the top corner of the left tier to allow its shadow to lead our eyes to the front scene.
I used a wide angle (15mm) and f/10 aperture to allow perfect sharpness across the entire image. You may notice the imaginary diagonal line from the top left to the bottom right corner. The exposure time 1/640 sec allowed to work safely without tripod.

Portrait Photography, Photography Tutorial
Portrait Photography, Photography Tutorial
Portrait Photography, Photography Tutorial

Portrait Photography, Photography Tutorial

Related terms: Tips for How to Take Good Portraits, Tips for Taking Portraits, Tips for Taking Portrait Photography, About Portrait Photographers, Take Great Portraits, Family Portrait Tutorial, Taking a Portrait, Studio Portrait Photography Tutorial