Switzerland photos and what I learned

petertennekes — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:18:35 +0000

As you could have read in a previous post I was planing a trip to Switzerland. I also tried to think a bit in advance what kind op pictures I would like to come home with.
The results you can find here: Switzerland Gallery
What I’ve learned:

For a picture of mountains to work they need to be placed into context. This can be the valley, other mountains or a foreground object like a cabin. For this reasons pictures taken while on top of the mountain hardly ever reflect the true magnificence of the scenery
One day is too short. If you are photographing landscapes staying somewhere for one day is too short. Landscape photography is a lot about being at the right place at the right time. The right time relating to time of day and of year and under the right weather conditions. The right place is of course the best location to capture the landscape. If you are just there for one day you need luck.
Don’t take too many pictures. After a 1 week trip I returned with 1500 pictures. The trip ended 3 weeks ago and I am still not done sorting through them. Many of them are nearly duplicates. For most shots it is not needed to shoot more than one. Make your shot check in the preview that is is ok and move on. A lot of other pictures were just not good composition wise and of most of them I knew at the time of taking that it wouldn’t be brilliant. So next time I will try to limit myself and only take a picture when I feel the composition is good.
Of course the great thing about digital photography is that you don’t have to care about how much film you have, but it is also a disadvantage as you are more likely to not think enough about the composition.
Check your camera! It sound obvious, but I had a number of shots failed because I forgot to set the settings back (ISO value, still manual focus etc etc) I also had some images with dust spots. So check your camera.
As mentioned in a previous post walk. I spend 2 days in the alps (in the Jungfrau region) one of those days walking and the other going by train and with a cable car up the mountains. Almost all of the successful alpine landscape pictures were taken during the day walking. It really helps to get a feeling of the landscape.

I hope you have also learned something from my trip. Let me know if you have any comments by leaving a comment.

Happy shooting!
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Photography how-to: zoom blur

petertennekes — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:11:26 +0000

Here is a simple technique to make creative images by adding zoom blur. You most likely can achieve a similar effect in post editing, but here I’ll explain how it is done ‘in the field’.

First composition: First pick a suitable subject. The subject should have a good contrast to the background so it sticks out. Set up your camera on a tripod. The subject needs to be placed in the center.

Now set the focus and switch to manual focus. What you will be doing is zoom and press the shutter at the same time. In order for this to work best the shutter speed needs to be long enough. So lower the ISO setting to 100 or lower, set the aperture to the highest F number. Also set your camera to continues shooting, so that if you keep the shutter pressed it keeps taking pictures.

Now the tricky part is to time the shutter press and the zooming. The easiest way to do this is to go back and forth so that you continuous zooming in or out. In this way in the 1/30st of a second that the shutter is open you are most likely zooming in or out. And if you keep the shutter pressed you for sure have one with the right effect.
In your favorite application you can crop the image so the subject is off center.

Hope you’ll have fun trying this out. Let me know if you like it by adding a comment.

Happy shooting!
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Switzerland photos and what I learned

Photography how-to: zoom blur