The Art of Landscape & Seascape Photography By Mike Dooley Mikedooleyphotography.com
Intro I am a seascape and landscape photographer Love sunrise and the early morning hours Soft colors more pastels Calmer conditions less wind Less people Website - mikedooleyphotography.com
Important Note My Way What you will see and hear tonight is the approach that I take to photography It is NOT the right way It is NOT the only way It is NOT the best way It is simply the way that I have found that works for me I am constantly evolving, learning and changing too I hope that you learn something new take something away that helps you create the images that YOU want
Where do we start? Why Finding Inspiration Planning Gear Capture
Where do we start? Why?
Know Your Why Understand why you pursue photography Why do you get up, get out and do all of the work necessary to create a photograph? Knowing why will go a long way to creating YOUR images
Shoot What You Love The most important step to improve your photography is to shoot what you love! If you are not in love with what you are doing it will show in your work Your subject must excite you!
Know Your Goal Know what you are going to do with your photos before you take them In the field you are capturing the data that you will use to create your images. Create is the key word. Make sure that you have the most data and the best data possible Shoot RAW to give you the most data, and the most flexibility for processing after the fact Do whatever you have to do the get the best RAW file that you can possibly get!
What is my goal? Photograph a scene, print it and hang it on the wall Largest file size possible Sharpest image possible Cleanest image possible I like to print BIG!
Where do we start? Inspiration
Inspiration Look at the work of photographers that you admire Flickr 500px Study images that appeal to you Ask WHY you like something really analyze it What elements of composition does the image use? Rule of Thirds? Leading Lines?
Inspiration Look at other mediums painters W. Bradford Thomas Cole Frederic Church Albert Bierstadt
Where do we start? Planning
Planning Scenario It s 4:00 AM It s a new moon It s pitch black out and You are out in the middle of nowhere with a backpack full of gear What now? Find your story!
Scouting In the dark is NOT the best time to be looking for a good foreground rock, or leading lines in the sand Visit during daylight Takes photos of the location Take notes, draw sketches Observer where sun and moon will rise and set Make a note of the tide lines there is nothing worse then finding the perfect rock and returning at the perfect time only to find it is 6 feet underwater
Helpful Tools Google! Images Maps Earth Photo sharing sites Flickr 500px Instagram Pen and Paper! I always have at least one notebook in my bag!
Apps The Photographer's Ephemeris computer AND mobile Hi Tide ND Exposure Compass Digital DoF There is another app called PhotoPills that is very popular, but I have not used (yet!)
Time Of Day The time of day that you shoot has a huge impact on the feel for your image The times around sunrise and sunset are by far my favorite times for photography Golden Hour The first hour after sunrise, and the last hour before sunset Morning Golden hour (from -4 to 6 ) Evening Golden hour (from 6 to -4 ) Blue Hour The blue hour is time each morning and evening when the sun is a significant distance below the horizon and the residual, indirect sunlight takes on a predominantly blue hue. Morning Blue hour (from -6 to -4 ) Evening Blue hour (from -4 to -6 ) Get there early! I like to be in place and shooting at LEAST a full hour before sunrise Stay late when the sun goes down do NOT pack up your gear, stick it out!
Time Of Day Get there early! I like to be in place and shooting at LEAST a full hour before sunrise Stay late when the sun goes down do NOT pack up your gear, stick it out!
Blue Hour Have I mentioned Blue Hour??? Don t skip Blue Hour some of the best light and colors of the day happen in the hour before sunrise and the hour after sunset
Where do we start? Gear
The Gear Understand How Your Camera Sees You vs your camera What gear you should be using Tripod Filters
Your camera does NOT see the world like you do! You your eye constantly adjusts You constantly adjust focus as your eye scans a scene Your pupil constantly opens/closes letting in more/less light have 2 eyes giving you depth perception and the ability to see in 3 dimensions Camera gets ONE shot at focus and exposure has one eye and renders the world as a 2 dimensional image
What do you see? You You see a field of pretty flowers Camera The camera sees the field of pretty flowers AND the discarded cigarette butt the Styrofoam coffee cup the power lines
Your Brain Your brain does an amazing job of filtering out the things that we do NOT want to see It emphasizes the things we like makes the things that we don t like all but disappear. The camera is a cold, mechanical computer The camera records everything in equal detail the good, the bad, the ugly Your brain can NOT perform the same filtering of a photo as it does a live scene!
The Camera is Just a Tool Understand that your camera is just a tool It does a job - it captures data That job is only a small portion of photography The rest of your gear is just a collection of tools to help your camera capture data
Have a Feeling To be a photographer you need to have something to say it comes from your mind even better, it comes from your heart What you choose to include in the frame What you focus on tells us what YOU think is important How you compose the image tells us what YOU think is important
Photography: Art & Science Photography is both an art and a science the artist must decide what story he's trying to tell the craftsman must use the tools to tell that story Master the technical! Know your gear like the back of your hand Your mind should be free to think artistically Your hands should be spinning knobs, and pushing buttons to make your artistic vision happen without you needing to think about it!
Know Your Gear How well do you know your equipment? Can you change ISO without looking? Can you close your aperture a stop without thinking? Sunrise/sunset last only a matter of minutes you need to know your gear like the back of your hand the light changes rapidly, and you will need to adjust quickly to keep up Be able to use your camera in the dark without looking Practice in your back yard or your living room, it does not matter where
Things to know Exposure ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed White Balance Focus Live View Histogram The blinkies Image review Zooming in on an image
Gear for Scapes There are a few items that are must have to create successful seascape and landscape images Tripod Wide Angle Lens Cable Release Filters Circular Polariser Graduated Neutral Density Filters Neutral Density Filters
Tripod An absolute must have to create sharp images in low light situations! Use the tripod to bring stability to your work Handhold your camera and look through the viewfinder and explore Once you find something that you are starting to like, setup the tripod and use it to fine tune and really dial it in Some will say that a tripod slows them down I say that a tripod allows me to be DELIBERATE Warning - Do NOT allow your tripod to become an anchor
Tripod What I like Sturdy legs I like 3 sections over 4 I never raise the center post Ball Head one lever can adjust in ANY direction can adjust in tiny amounts
Circular Polarizer Reduces glare Water Vegetation Glass/metal Increases saturation Makes clouds pop Has most impact when the source of light is 90 degrees to the barrel of the lens Warning with a wide angle lens, the polarization can be uneven, causing an odd amount of saturation in the sky
Graduated Neutral Density Filters Dark at the top Clear at the bottom Can be soft or hard Refers to the transition from dark to clear I prefer soft Can be cheap, can be expensive Spend the money and get a good set Reverse Grad ND This puts the dark in the middle for when the sun is on the horizon
Neutral Density Filters Solid black, makes the whole scene darker Allow you to shoot with a slower shutter speed Come in many strengths Test to see what yours really is my 10 stop is actually 11 stops! A 1/125 of a second exposure becomes 8 seconds with a 10 stop ND I currently use a Formatt-Hitech Firecrest Ultra 6 stop filter Warning ND filters can add a strong color cast that require correction in post
Filter Bag Convenient access to filters is key I am constantly switching filters as I shoot After many, many solutions I have settled on a dedicated filter bag and I LOVE IT!
Camera release Click the shutter without touching the camera Eliminates any chance of camera movement, resulting in sharper images An intervalometer allows you to program how long an exposure to take allows you to take a picture at timed intervals really helpful when doing long exposures! No camera release? Use the 2 second timer on your camera if you don t have a release
Spirit Level Goes right in the camera hot shoe If you crop to straighten your horizon you are throwing away pixels! It is right in your face and easy to see/use Your camera probably has a build in level But you will need to find it in your display settings You will forget to use it
Wide Angle Lens The last, but probably most important piece of gear The landscape photographers friend! These give you those majestic, grand landscape images I think that the REAL power of a wide angle lens is that it allows you to get CLOSE Can create really powerful near/far compositions Use layers foreground, midground, background segments to create a sense of depth Create a 3 dimensional feel in a 2 dimensional image On a full frame camera 35mm or wider is a wide angle 24mm or wider is an ultra wide angle
Wide Angle Tips Make your foreground prominent Get close to your foreground Get low to the ground Look for leading lines Shoot vertical Emphasize layers foreground, middle, background
Wide Angle Tips Eliminate distortion Keep horizontal and vertical lines straight by keeping the camera level & perpendicular Be careful what you include Often less is more Eliminating distractions can be a challenge Too often a photo contains too much information, and our story becomes lost in the clutter
Where do we start? Capture
Safety Safety is the single most important thing! No image is worth your life Cannot stress this enough!!! Every year we lose a fisherman off the rocks of the RI coast Never, ever turn your back on the water!
The Shoot Be flexible take what nature gives you and work with it It's all about reacting to the scene that we have before us I don't go out and say I want to use my filters today to create a shot or I'm going out today to create an HDR landscape I don't know what technique I'm going to use until I see what's in front of me and how I react to it and decide what's best for the image I see that I'm trying to create Play like a child laugh, sing, dance and have fun
Finding Your Story Ask yourself Why? what caught your eye why do you want to that THIS photograph What do you feel? Excitement, full of energy, peace, tranquility? What should you include? Deciding what to include is just as important as what to exclude If it does not add to your story, it distracts from it so eliminate it
Finding Your Story Who/what is the main character in your story is it a tree, that rock, a bridge, the lighthouse? will your viewer be able to identify it? Who are the supporting actors? Do those crashing waves and jagged rocks help tell the story of why the lighthouse is needed? Can you use a leading line to guide your viewer through the scene? Is the subject placed in a position of prominence?
Including People Its ok to include people Typically I do not like to include people in my scapes I want the viewer to see the scene and feel that it is just for them, that they can walk into the photo and own the scene However, people can sometimes make an image they give a sense of scale and action
Camera Settings Shoot in Manual mode At sunset and sunrise the cameras meter is easily confused by the high contrast scene in front of it don t fight it, put it in manual mode and take control ISO keep it as low as you can Aperture I like to start at f/8 or f/11 this wide my DoF is insane I close down (f/16,f/18, f/22) if I want starbursts or if I want to drag the shutter to blur the water Shutter speed 3 choices Freeze the water, like with a crashing wave Blur the water a bit Long exposure blur the water a LOT! Timing your shutter with the waters movement
Camera Tools Histogram Use the Histogram to know if the exposure is correct The LCD is a tremendous tool, but it is NOT a good tool to judge exposure The blinkies When turned on overexposed areas will blink on your LCD On mirrorless, the zebra stripes will show you what is overexposed BEFORE you click the shutter! Live View Zoom in and check your focus
Did I mention its dark? Finding a composition This is where scouting pays off! High ISO experiments f/8, 30 seconds at ISO 100 = f/8, 2 seconds at ISO 1600 Nothing worse then waiting 30 seconds and deciding that the composition sucks! Go to a high ISO, bang out a few shots to nail your comp, then drop back to a low ISO for your keeper shot! High Power flashlight to help with focus & frame edges Use Live View and a high power flashlight to see what is in your frame Use the flash to light up an object to focus on The Albert light