Your Landscape method and kit

[texchappy]

I've been pondering doing some Landscapes of my wide open South Plains now that I'm retired. I'm wondering how do you go about shooting landscapes? Kit? What is your ideal kit? Tips and Texhniques? Links?

TIA,
Tony

 

[gb hill]

Take a look at Brooks Jensen's Kokoro project for some good inspiration.
http://brooksjensenarts.com/kokoro/kokoro.html

For my kit I shoot my Canon SLR with 35mm lens. Sometimes a 28 or 50. I like shooting B&W film ASA 50 to 100. I like the fine grain in my landscapes.

 

[Darthfeeble]

+1 on the Canon, mine's a 6D and I prefer my 16-35 2.8L Canon lens. I also will use my M9 with the 28 Elmarit. Tripod, tripod, TRIPOD! The sweet spot aperture on both these kits seems to be f11. Go have a great time enjoying the beautiful scenery in your neck of the woods.

 

[Doug]

Dedicated to landscapes, I'd choose a medium-format rig for the tonal richness and detail. And a moderate-range zoom lens to aid with framing, since camera positioning is often a challenge. For example, the Pentax 645 series is favored by some landscape artists.

 

[Roger Hicks]

Most of my best landscapes have been taken with standard or long lenses; the only good wides have been on panoramic format. True in all formats.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Santtu Määttänen]

I don't know what would be ideal, but for now the best, lightest and rather good quality set up is Cambo Wide 90, backback, tripod, lightmeter and coffee (food is nice if you're out and about longer)

EDIT to add:

As for tips, shoot what talks to you and try to convey that to the audience of your pictures. That's pretty much the only non technical tip I can give with out knowing you personally. For technical tips there are tons of material available in multitude of forms. But I feel personally that the best basics is the trilogy Camera, Negative and Print by Ansel Adams. It's quite common to find and describes most parts of the image making quite well.

Other then that I would recommend landscape painting books, they have good amount of info on composition, style and history behind it. I could dig up some titles if needed/wanted.

 

[filmtwit]

Haselblad Xpan, usually the 45mm f4 lens, but occasionally the 90mm f4.
Mostly 35mm B&E (tmax100 most if the time) and either an orange filter or red depending on how much I want to darken the sky (and the time of year).

 

[Santtu Määttänen]

Haselblad Xpan, usually the 45mm f4 lens, but occasionally the 90mm f4.
Mostly 35mm B&E (tmax100 most if the time) and either an orange filter or red depending on how much I want to darken the sky (and the time of year).

I've been wanting a XPan since it came out. Still haven't found the funds for one. It's a lust I must fulfil one day, but due to the special nature of it, it's hard to justify.

 

[kxl]

I have two:

1. 'Normal' landscapes - Nikon D800e and a 35 or 50 for the majority of images or 20 or 24 for near/far perspectives.

2. infrared - Sony A7R converted to full spectrum IR (and various IR filters) with a 28 or 35 or 50mm lens.

 

[02Pilot]

Most of my best landscapes have been taken with standard or long lenses; the only good wides have been on panoramic format. True in all formats.

Cheers,

R.

This echoes my own limited experience with landscape photography, especially of the wide-open spaces the OP is planning to shoot. On a relatively recent trip to Arizona, I shot mostly with a 50 and a 90, and I was pleasantly surprised how well this worked. The 25 I brought got very little use, virtually none in landscape shots.

 

[texchappy]

My options for a standard view would be:
Zorki 4 with 50 industar
Canon T4i with 40/2,8 or 18-135 STM or 851,8
Nikon F2 with 35 or 50/1,4 or 105/2,5 or 180/2 ( all but the last preAI
Xpro1 with 35/1,4 or 18-55 (and the 18/2)

 

[CMur12]

For landscapes I mostly use a TLR on a tripod with slow, fine-grained film. Though my TLRs include Mamiyas with multiple lenses, I have shot most of my landscapes with normal focal lengths. In my experience, a waist-level finder and a tripod are a wonderful combination for an unrushed, contemplative approach. The waist-level finder allows one to view the image with both eyes and to lay it out as if onto a canvas. I am more sensitive to alignments in the image with a waist-level finder than I am with a one-eyed finder at eye level.

I do occasionally shoot landscapes with 35mm SLRs, also. Once again, I usually use a tripod and slow film, and I find that an angle finder makes this process much easier. It requires less tripod extension and I find it easier to look down into the eyepiece of the angle finder than it is to line myself up behind the eye-level finder of the camera on a tripod. My favorite focal lengths for 35mm landscapes are 85mm and 28mm.

I wish you an enjoyable retirement!

- Murray

 

[Swift1]

I currently have 3 main landscape kits...

Speed Graphic 4x5 with a 127/4.7 lens

Bronica ETRSI with 40, 50, 75, and 150mm, 120 back, 135W back, WLF, and unmetered prism.

Hasselblad 500c/m with 80/2.8 and a Rollei pano head, just for doing landscape triptychs.

I also have found that I usually prefer normal and short telephoto lenses for landscape.

 

[aizan]

mostly pentax 67 and ebony rw45, with a little fuji 6x9.

for the plains, I'd recommend the pentax 67 with the 105mm and one of the teles: 150mm, 165mm, 200mm, or 300mm.

 

[rhl-oregon]

I'll make a pitch for Sigma DP, especially the Merrills, which are light and can take a very light tripod (nice for your retired back/legs on longer treks). Sigmas need time for study and practice if you're new to them, but their IQ will repay mastering their technical distinctions, including the development software

The Sigma Quattro series can use a dedicated hood with diopter (I have one with my Q2), but other lcd hoods from Lensman or Varavon work; I use those for for my Sigma DP1, DP2M and DP3M.

DP3m (75mm equiv fov)

Dp2M (45mm equiv fov)

Film alternative for me is the Fuji GF670, though it also makes a good companion for the Sigmas, doesn't add much weight, and permits 6x6 or 6x7. (But when *I* retire, I plan to spend a lot of time on the coast and in the desert with a Linhof Super V....)

 

[rhl-oregon]

If you haven't looked through Tsiklonaut's recent thread on Iceland & Faeroe Islands, much of his work is with a Pentax 67 and a panoramic beast (I forget which), with a Fuji GA 645zi for lighter work (ha ha). He shoots a real gamut of film, and loves his gradient filters.

 

[Michiel Fokkema]

If I had time and money I'd go for a Linhof 4x5 set up. With less time and money I'd use my Hasselblad SWC as I do now.

 

[02Pilot]

One additional thought that may or may not suit your tastes: pinhole. It's a really different look, but I think it could be very effective in that sort of terrain.

 

[narsuitus]

... how do you go about shooting landscapes? Kit?

1. Large Format: 4x5 inch view camera with 90mm lens; ISO 100 - 200 black & white sheet film

2. Large Format: custom 4x5 inch flat plane or curved plane camera with pinhole lens; ISO 100 - 200 black & white sheet film

3. Medium Format: 6x9cm rangefinder with 65mm lens; ISO 100 - 200 black & white or color film

4. Small Format: 35mm SLR with 28mm lens; ISO 100 - 200 color film

5. Small Format: APS-C digital camera with 23mm or 16mm lens: ISO 100 - 200 for color; ISO 800 for black and white infrared

 

[filmtwit]

Don't forget that you can still shoot single frame with it like a M6 (though the lenses are kind of slow).

I've been wanting a XPan since it came out. Still haven't found the funds for one. It's a lust I must fulfil one day, but due to the special nature of it, it's hard to justify.