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7D - Landscape AF

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ZM1977

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Hello,

Some said that the 7D is ideal for landscape photography, which I hope is true, since my primary objective is to shoot landscape, mostly in the Swiss Alps.

I have the 18-135 kit lens, which may be good for a walkaround lens, but plan to buy the Canon 10-22 for landscape pictures, which was recommended here by some members.

Since I am entering the DSLR miracle :-) now with the 7D, I would need some advice on some items. The first is focusing and metering.

Lets take as a sample the well known Matterhorn (I think many of you will know it.), for others, see here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn

Assume that I wish to have the same picture as the first on this site (from the village), with my 7D and current lens.

What AF segment shall I use to capture all the details on the Mountain? Tripod, remote shutter (circ. polar filter) I have and would use.

As you see, only one side of it is in sunlight, the other what you see (Yes, from the Swiss viewpoint) is in shadow.

Where and what AF points shall I use? How shall I take the metering, to ensure that the picture is exposed correctly?

How shall I modify these, if I take a wider angle, go higher on the opposite side of the valley and take a shot. In this case the surrounding mountains in the background, bit more distant, can be in the focus-point area as well (who knows the area, assume I go up to Sunnega or to Rothorn).

Thanks in advance for your advice.

ZM
 
When I shoot land scape and scenic shots I usually use a tripod, cable release and manual focus. I shoot at a higher aperture f8 - f16 for greater DOF, focus about 1/3 way into the frame. If you have the camera set to center point and the lens to MF it will beep if it achieves focus. I check focus throughout the frame I want and try to achieve lock from foreground to horizon.
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Doug

http://douginoviedo.smugmug.com/
 
My suggestion is similar to the other posters. Use tripod, cable release/timer and MLU for the best landscape picture. You can use live view contrast AF which not only gives you the most accurate AF but also allows you to move the focus point to any part of the frame easily.
 
If you have no subject in the immediate foreground then you don't need to hyper-focus. You can look up the depth of field and know how close something has to be before it will be out of focus. Even focused at infinity a wide angle lens will allow subjects close to the camera to be focused.

Also take your shots at different degrees of polarization. At the wider angles the polarizing filter will over-darken the corners of the picture. The effect can be over-the-top fake looking. It will change your exposure by at least a stop also. Make sure and shoot the mountain as the sun is setting and also the next 30 mins afterwards. Also take shots that include ZermattVillage. The illuminated village will make for a spectacular picture. You should also shoot this image at 3 different exposures and combine them into a single picture. Google "HDR" and read how to do this.

Looking forward to re-living my visit to the Matterhorn thru your pictures.

Bill
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img7d
 
The 10-22mm is a far superior landscape lens. I hope you have it when you make your trip.

I want to return to Zermatt to also photograph it. I want to avoid the cloud cover should I go in the winter or summer?
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img7d
 
This is not very hard.

Put the camera on a tripod, so it stays int he same place during bracketed exposures.

Set the camera on P for probram.

Set metering on evaluative.

Set the shutter for sow continuous

Put on the polarizer

Set the Picture Style for landscape

Set the exposure bracketing for plus and minus 2/3.

Set the focus on manual, and focus where the sticking up piece (with bright and dark sides) meets the horizontal part. This is slightly down and left from the center.

Frame the shot so it looks nice, and then zoom out a little bit, so that the corners of the full frame weill not be included when you crop the picture a bit. This eliminates corner darkening / vignetting problems.

NOTE RATIOS: The Wikipedia shot is cropped to a narrower format that your camera will capture, so you'll need to cut off one inch on either side of the frame to get an 8x10 (without this, you'll get an 8x12)

If you want 8x10 and 16x20, make sure you do not fill the frame to the edges.

Take a shot, holding down the shutter release. You'll get three exposures.

Blow up an image on the back of the camera, to check sharpness.

Repeat a couple of times, on general principles, and then, without moving the camera, change bracketing to 1.3 stops plus and minus.

PERHAPS THE 7D allows several degrees of bracketing with one press of the shutter, so you can take five shots at onece (one at the camera's choice of setting, and one a little darker and another even more darker, and one a little lighter, and one even more lighter.

AND YOU ARE DONE IN THE FIELD

Back at your computer, decide how bright you like the light side and how dark the dark side, and see if you have a shot you like.

If not, merge two or more shots using some sort of program like Photoshop.

How much you merge (the HDR -- High Dynamic Range concept) affects how natural or fake the final image looks.

THE WEATHER -- slight overcast will provide more detail in the snow and in the dark side, without the fakery.

TIME OF DAY -- it may be possible to shoot earlier of lighter, with the sun in a better position so that both sides of the vertical ridge are illuminated by the sun. I've never been there, so don't know for sure.

BAK
 
Sure there is.... push the "pic style" button right below the menu button. The 'Landscape" style boosts in-camera sharpening to '4' and makes 2 of the colors more vivid. Standard and Portrait styles de-sharpen from Landscape style.

Ummmm, you are gonna get a barrage of ------> RTFM.. Duck and cover dude.

--
img7d
 
Thanks everyone for the advice, I highly appreciate your help.

The plan is to have the 10-11 hopefully in a months time.

ktownbill

Weather changes quickly there, so there is no good recommendation unfortunately.

I was lucky so far, been there many times, and I could always find at least a day with absolutely clear weather.

My best experience so far, and it was recommended as well by locals, was week before Christmas. -18C on the hills, but no clouds whatsoever :-) Usually these weeks you can get fantastic air for photos.

Summer also, you will find perfect conditions.
 
Several good posts for your answer, my 2 cents to back up what has been suggested.

We don't get to pick the weather, but if you want to assure a photo like the one you show, then do learn about HDR photography and carefully select software to do it.

For HDR use a good tripod and a remote release. You want to keep the images registered in camera as much as possible even if the software can align the images. Shoot RAW. Use aperture priority so that you select the aperture and do not change it for exposures. Bracket your exposure enough to show detail in shadows and highlights. You may have to use manual exposure if the contrast goes beyond your over/under bracketing limits in AV.

Climb the learning curves of the HDR software and get the image you want.
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Don K
 
Most "true" Pros would likely manually meter on the snow, compensate as required, and shoot with a Split ND filter, Polarizer , or both (On a tripod of course!).

For me, I would set-up on a tripod, with my 10-22, in Evaluative metering, with plenty of DOF, and AEB Bracket a full stop, for Merging in Post Processing.

A polarizer may be an advantage, but you need to "check" vignetting if going real wide. Avoid lens flare by using the hood, and possibly your hat, or hand to supplement.

Live View can be an asset, as you can see what's in focus, zooming in if necessary, but be sure to have spare batteries, especially in cold climates.

Leigh

http://www.crscrk.com
 
Thanks Everyone.

BTW in Liveview, can I make the focus point smaller? Now if I try it , the square that is shown as focus, is pretty big for a landscape.

Thx

ZM
 
ZM1977 said:
Thanks Everyone.

BTW in Liveview, can I make the focus point smaller? Now if I try it , the square that is shown as focus, is pretty big for a landscape.

Thx

ZM
Click to expand...
--No, but you can move it pretty much anywhere in the frame. The best thing thought is manual focus with 5 or 10X mag.
Brian Schneider

 
Thanks for all the advice.

Doug wrote:

'When I shoot land scape and scenic shots I usually use a tripod, cable release and manual focus. I shoot at a higher aperture f8 - f16 for greater DOF, focus about 1/3 way into the frame. If you have the camera set to center point and the lens to MF it will beep if it achieves focus. I check focus throughout the frame I want and try to achieve lock from foreground to horizon.'

What is 'focusing 1/3 way into the frame???

As mentioned, I am a beginner...:-) If the subject mountains are e.g. 3 km-s away or say 2miles, how shall I set the manual focus?

Another point to this is, how do you check focus throughout the frame, even at e.g. f16?

Thanks again for your help.
 
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