I just published a new video on our YouTube channel! And wow, I’ve wanted to say that for a while. Last year, I took a break from making videos to help run Photography Life, and now I finally had time again. Today’s video covers the best camera settings for landscape photography.
Here it is:
If you’d rather read about this topic than watch a video, most of the information is also covered in our written guide to the best camera settings in landscape photography.
As I mention near the end of the video, we’re doing something special next time to celebrate reaching 75,000 YouTube subscribers at the end of last year. You’ll want to be one of the first people to watch next month’s video – to be specific, one of the first 75 people to watch it. That’s all I’m saying for now. If you’re not subscribed to the Photography Life channel, or if you don’t have the Bell Notification enabled on our YouTube page yet, you should do that now so you don’t miss out.
75,000 subscribers is a big milestone, but unlike in 2019 and 2020, I’m not currently making videos full time and am focused on the Photography Life website itself (as I’m sure you saw throughout 2021). These videos are just a side project right now – but for our audience who followed them in past years, you can look forward to a new video every month or so this year. The pace may increase eventually as our new writers take some of the slack of writing fresh posts for the homepage.
Speaking of, I hope you’re enjoying the great articles recently from our new writers. These are the photographers who responded to our job posting late last year, and some of them are going to join Photography Life as permanent writers soon. You’ll see more from them before long, especially while Nasim and I are traveling on our upcoming Middle East workshop in March.
Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about the video! Even though it’s a basic topic, I sprinkled in a few advanced techniques along the way. Not to mention that a refresher is always nice. The better you know camera settings, the more you can focus your brainpower on visualization, composition, and light.
Spencer. I’m fairly new to the photography world though I’ve been using a camera drone for sometime now. I’m in the process of purchasing a camera and look forward to extending my photography knowledge and having a lot of fun with it as well. I’m so glad I came across your site. I have already bookmarked it, read a couple of articles and just finished the first video. Keep up the good work!
Great video! Thanks for sharing these amazing tips!
Thank you Spencer, a very welcome, and welcoming, refresher video. Could you comment on the use of a tripod for daylight photo with moving objects that call for being frozen in motion (e.g., beach with waves about to crash)? Thus far I have not used a tripod for that (and am enjoying the corresponding equipment weight reduction). What am I missing by not using a tripod / how could I improve my photography by using a tripod in those circumstances?
Thank you, Fabrice! These days, even in the situation you describe, I still tend to use a tripod. It’s not to make the photos sharper, but to give me a better base for my composition. I sometimes spend several minutes working out very small tilts, repositions, and reframings in order to compose the photo how I want. I’ve found that the quality of my compositions goes down substantially when I shoot handheld. I also know for a fact that this isn’t true of everyone. If you’re getting better photos handheld in the situation you describe, keep shooting handheld. If handheld composition works for you, you’re not missing anything.
Great video Spencer!
Thank you, Adam!
Thanks Spencer – a very nice clear presentation of the key elements of landscape photography (sort of a Higgs-Boson approach, ha). Doesn’t hurt for experienced photographers to review these central points which are sometimes glossed over.
Glad you enjoyed it! I agree, it’s always good to have a refresher.
Thanks for the video. I always consider the trade-off between using smaller aperture for DOF or a larger aperture closer to the sweet spot of the lens for sharpness (the sweet spot of my lens is at f/5.6). Reading the lens reviews by Photography Life is useful for that trade-off evaluation.
Thank you, Tieu. Apertures like f/4 or f/5.6, where most lenses are sharpest, work great in cases where everything is at infinity, or where you’re using focus stacking to maximize sharpness. I’ve found that if there’s any significant depth to the scene or even a midground, the extra depth of field from f/8 outweighs the extra lens sharpness from f/4 to f/5.6. It’s always a tradeoff, and it sounds like you’re taking the variables into account appropriately.
Good video, Spencer. I’d suggest distinguishing between blinkies (indicating overexposure), zebras (indicating approaching overexposure), and sparklies (indicating in-focus in manual focus mode) if you’re going to mention any of them. Personally, I want to know when I’m approaching overexposure by utilizing the zebras rather than waiting until it’s already occurred and having to re-shoot. The sparklies are a huge help in most circumstances when I can get sufficient contrast to get them working. When there is a low-contrast situation, like night sky work, I just pop in a Bahtinov mask, focus, remove the mask, shoot and call it done.
Thank you, Willy. The term “sparklies” is new to me, but I like what you’re saying. That’s broadly why I prefer the histogram over the blinkies, so that I see more than just a binary yes-or-no on overexposure.
Excellent tutorial video Spencer! Good refresher, and something I can refer less experienced photographers to view. Glad you will be able to produce more vids this year.
Thank you, Ross! Same here, I’m looking forward to doing more.
Very nicely done Spencer
Nice easy manner – very clear & informative
Much appreciated
Interesting approach to the topic
Thank you
C
Thank you, Colby! Glad you liked the approach. I decided on the “four scenarios” approach instead of the usual setting-by-setting process a bit late. I had already written the other script. But I had fun filming this one.