Meta's Best Landscape Photography Tips For Beginners

How To Photograph The Best Landscape Photography By Nature Photographer Meta Gatschenberger

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Meta’s Best Landscape Photography Tips For Beginners

Meta’s Wide Angle Telephoto Lenses will capture more of the Landscape in your Digital Photography. She finds her Minolta AF 28–135mm f/4.0–4.5 Telephoto Lens is her Best Telephoto Lens for Landscape Photography, due to its Wide Angle 28mm and Long Range up to 135mm. This lens also does limited Close-Up Photography at 25cm MFD.

Landscape Photography is one of Meta’s favorite type of Digital Photography, because she lives at 3,800’ elevation in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina, which has amazing overlooks along the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park. Meta shoots all of her Landscape Photography with 5 Bracketed Shots for HDR Post Production.

Shooting RAW at 10 to 12 Shots Per Second in High Speed Burst Mode can quickly fill up Smaller SD Cards, which is why Meta uses Faster and Larger SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Cards. Now Up To 1TB!

Western North Carolina Landscape Photographer Meta Gatschenberger, RN, shoots with Sony Digital Cameras and Vintage Minolta Maxxum AF Lenses.

Meta’s “Parkway Bridge in Fall” (Photo: Top) was shot with a Minolta AF 28–135mm f/4.0–4.5 Telephoto Lens mounted on a Sony Digital Camera.

View Meta’s Landscape Photography

Meta's Best Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

Ad • Faster and Larger SD Cards – Shooting 5 Bracketed Shots for every HDR Image or Shooting RAW at 10 to 12 Shots Per Second in High Speed Burst Mode can quickly fill up Smaller SD Cards, which is why Meta uses Faster and Larger SanDisk Extreme Pro SD Cards. Now Up To 1TB!

Meta’s Best Landscape Photography Tips For Beginners

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HDR Photography Using Exposure Bracketing

Landscape Photography Setup For Beginners

Living right off the Blue Ridge Parkway National Park high up in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains, Meta enjoys shooting Landscape Photography, Waterfall Photography and Macro Photography, which often involves Hiking on the Remote Hiking Trails of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Meta has a few Inexpensive Minolta AF Telephoto Lenses to choose from. Wide Angle Lenses (16–24mm) will capture more of the Landscape than a Telephoto Telephoto Lens (70–200mm). Two of Meta’s favorite Landscape Photography Telephoto Lenses are her Minolta AF 24–50mm f/4.0 Telephoto Lens, which is very compact and lightweight for hiking. For more range, Meta uses her Minolta AF 28–135mm f/4.0–4.5 Telephoto Lens, which also has a Macro Mode for Close-Up Photography.

If you prefer using Prime Lenses for Landscape Photography, the Minolta AF 20mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Prime Lens, the Minolta AF 24mm f/2.8 Wide Angle Prime Lens and the Minolta AF 28mm f/2.8 Wide Angle Prime Lens are all very good choices for Landscape Photography. On a Waterfall Hiking Trip to Helen, Georgia, Meta brought along her Minolta AF 24mm f/2.8 Prime Lens and Minolta AF 50mm f/1.4 Prime Lens, but ended using her 24mm much more, because the 50mm was way too close to the action on a APS-C Camera (75mm Equivalent).

Meta's Best Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

Ad • Disposable Shower Caps – Meta discovered this tip while Whale Watching off the Coast of Southern California. Hotel Disposable Shower Caps can be used to protect your Digital Camera and Lens from Rain, Fog and Mist. They are so small and compact, you can keep a few of them in your camera bag or pocket!

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Landscape Photography Tips For Beginners

• Compose Your Photo focused on a Main Subject.
• Use Leading Lines to Draw Your Audience into the Photograph.
• Compose using the Rule of Thirds or the Fibonacci Spiral.
• Have a Foreground, Subject and Background – This Helps Tell Your Story.
• Take Time To Compose Your Photos – Watch for Distractions around the Edges, like branches or leaves.
• Photograph in RAW with Exposure Brackets which can later be used for HDR Photography.
• Don’t always photograph at Eye Level – Try getting Lower or Higher.
• Photograph both Horizontal and Vertical Positions.
• Avoid shooting midday between 10 AM and 2 PM.
• Take Advantage of the Blue Hour and the Golden Hour.
• Watch Your Histogram and Light Meter – Under Expose if Necessary.
• Avoid Clipping the Whites, which are impossible to recover.
• Keep It Simple – Take Only the Gear you Need – Not Everything You Own.
• Shutter Speed – Use a Sturdy Tripod to Slow Down Your Shutter Speed.
• Aperture: Use f/11 to f/16 to get Everything in Focus.
• White Balance – Auto White Balance.
• Program Mode – Lets You Control ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed.
• Use Wide Angle Prime Lenses and Telephoto Lenses for Different Background Compression Effects.
• Filter – Circular Polarizer Filter Slightly Under Exposes and Cuts Glare.

Meta's Best Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

Wide Angle Telephoto Lenses vs. Wide Angle Prime Lenses – A Wide Angle Telephoto Lens (28–135mm) will make the background appear closer than it really is (compressed), when compared to using a similar Wide Angle Prime Lens (28mm). Try with both types of Wide Angle Lenses to achieve different effects in your Landscape Photography.

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Landscape Photography Camera Settings For Beginners

Camera: Sony a99 II Digital Camera or Sony a77 II Digital Camera
Lens: Minolta AF 28–135mm f/4.0–4.5 Telephoto Lens or Minolta AF 24–50mm f/4.0 Telephoto Lens or Wide Angle Prime Lenses
Tripod: Slik Pro 700 DX Tripod with a Sony Wireless Remote Control
Camera Mode: Program Mode
ISO: Auto ISO Limited to ISO 800 (APS-C) or ISO 1600 (Full Frame)
Aperture: f/11 to f/16 to Capture Everything in Focus.
Focus: Expand Flexible Spot
Filter: Circular Polarizer Filter and/or Red Enhancer Filter
Shutter Speed: Photograph Bracketed Mode 5 Shots, 1EV apart

Meta's Best Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

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Meta’s Best Cold Weather Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

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Winter Photography Tips

Meta lives high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina at 3,800’ Elevation, where it snows most of the winter. This makes Winter Landscape Photography challenging. Here are some of Meta’s Best Winter Photography Cold Weather Tips...

• Keep Your Camera Batteries Warm – Most Li-Ion Camera Batteries will freeze below 32°F. Camera Batteries also don’t last as long with they’re cold, so always pack extra Camera Batteries. Store your spare Camera Batteries close to your body in pockets or wrap them in HotHands if in your Camera Bag. Sony NPFM500H Digital Camera Battery Operating Temperature: +32F to +104°F (0°C to +40°C).

• Overexposure Your Shots for Pure White Snow – Cameras can get confused by the brightness and whiteness of pure white snow, often displaying grey on your histogram. Use your histogram to overexpose your shots by one to two stops, so that you’ll have a wide enough range in your histogram to edit in post production, without losing any information or color.

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• Keep your Camera Protected from the Elements – Cameras, Lenses and Filters can quickly accumulate dew and condensation in colder weather. For very cold weather photography, Meta uses a 4W Dew Remover Heated Lens Wrap. Meta also stores her Cameras in a large protective zip-lock bag, with a 5 Gram Silica Gel Pack, to help absorb any moisture. Allow your Camera warm up to room temperature before removing it from the protective bag.

• Use a Sturdy Tripod such as the Slik Pro 700DX Tripod. Shooting Long Exposures with a ND Filter and bracketed shots can help blur out any falling snow.

Meta's Best Digital Photography Tips For Beginners

Ad • Dew Remover – For shooting Long Exposures on Cool Summer Nights a 4W USB Powered Dew Remover keeps your Lens from Fogging up. When powered by a Compact Anker 3350 USB Power Bank, it can run all night.