Landscape Shot Help

[andylo]

Ah, thanks for the expanded details, I think it help me understand even more now.

I am sorry Tom, if you think I am just too silly please ignore me. But I got a couple of questions (again) for you.

1) With your sample photos, is your AF point (or focus point) focused on the big tomb stone? (and then recompose) OR simply focus on the very point in the middle? (which is the sky just above the trees)??

2) Hyperfocal... not 100% sure what it means, but is that the number representing the distance (in both feet/meters) in the little window of my lens? (If so, it ends at 1 meter... then goes Infinity... would have thought even the closest object in most of the landscape photos would be more than a meter anyway... so in this case, my largely dumbed down version of your theory would work then?)

[ving]

wouldnt go to f22 as someone suggested. f8-16 would do the job. ask yourself what Dof you need i guess and adjust the aperture accordingly. use a tripod when the shutterspeed is low. keep your horizons straight unless you intend crookedness.

[TOM]

1)i focused the first shot in the series at the mid point, and the second at infiinity. had i have focused on the foreground tombstone, the midground would be a blur.

2)okay, HERE is a link to explain hyperfocal. most af focus lenses don't have the scale on the lens. i guess my expample in my previous link aimed to point out the deficiencies in using this method. there will always be a hyperfocal setting on a lens, but it just won't be where the lens scale says it should be. with modern Digital Camera sensors, film, and lenses, infinity will yield the best results for good deal of landscape work, provided the right aperture is set.

[andylo]

Thanks for your patient TOM. I have 2 articles I need to digest for the rest of the night (Hyperfocal Distance AND Depth of Field Equations)

If I (dare) to have any more question related to this very topic, and I cannot resolve it - hopefully you can spare some time for me. But I feel very confidence at this point that after tonight I will get a hold onto it

Again, thanks for your kindness and patient

[TOM]

don't worry too much about dof equiations, they are mostly outdated.

[soulman]

I see so many great landscapes here it makes me wonder where I’m going wrong? mine seem bland and lacking, even at beautiful locations.

Shutter speeds and apertures, whilst important overall, will probably not help you much with these issues. By all means work out the technical side of it - you have to get that right as well - but I suggest you firstly analyse your shots to try to work out what is "bland and lacking" about them and analyse the work you like to try to understand what's good about it. You can do this without knowing what shutter speed they used in most cases. Movement effects do require a knowledge of such things, but that stuff is easy enough to learn.

If you want to make good pictures, look at the work of people who do and just try to copy that. That's a great place to start. Learn the technical stuff along the way, post your pictures here and just keep at it.

[TOM]

That's good advice.