Landscape Locations Tips and Tricks

I am giving tips and tricks posts another try! Last time I focused on Sunbursts, this time I would like to share some tips I have about finding and shooting landscape locations. I love exploring the world around me and trying to capture the natural beauty I see. The world is beautiful and diverse in its landscapes and I feel blessed to be able to see a small part of it.

Tips/Tricks (see below for more details)
1. Locations Scouting 
2. Be ready to walk and hike
3. Get above it all
4. Wide Angle and Zoom

Settings: ISO 100, 25mm, ss1/125, f/8.0

Location: Muriel O. Ponsler Memorial State Wayside

1. Location Scouting - I use a few different methods to find places to take landscape photos, here are some of them:

• iPhone Apps - I love National, State and Local Parks for taking photos and I use Oh Ranger! to find ones near where I am. I also use the built in Maps app to find and navigate to parks. Yelp is great for when I find a park to find reviews and secrets about the park. 
• Google Images - I often find inspiration by searching images and find places I want to explore. I will type in an area I want to explore or a time of day I want to capture to find my inspiration.
• Go for a Drive - My favorite way to find places to photograph is to get in my car and drive. To go down the roads I drive by on a regular basis and never have time to explore or to go to unfamiliar places with no agenda or destination in mind.

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss1/200, f/13

Location: Wheeler, Oregon

Settings: ISO 200, 50mm, ss1/100, f/7.1 

Location: Longview, Washington

2. Be ready to walk and hike - Many of my favorite landscape shots have been off the most obvious trail or have been discovered by walking around just one more corner. I love the discoveries of what is just beyond the bend.

ISO 200, 18mm, ss1/40, f/11 (sunlight wb)

Location: Lincoln City, OR - Siletz Bay

3. Get above it all - There is nothing better than seeing the landscape from a vista to capture the vastness of the land. While I am in no way the best at composition for these shots, I love the feel of being high above and looking out over it all. Finding these vistas is often a matter of just exploring back roads and taking turns that look like they might lead to higher ground.

Settings: ISO 100, 18mm, ss1/250, f/11

Location: Cliff View Restaurant overlooking the Port of Tacoma

4. Wide Angle and Zoom - It is somewhat of an assumption that you should use the widest angle lens you have to take landscape shots and often I agree. However, I am a firm believer in the power of perspective and I feel that sometimes zooming in on a part of the landscape can produce a beautiful picture.

Settings: ISO 100, 50mm, ss1/200, f/11

Location: Grayland State Park

Settings: ISO 100, 36mm, ss1/100, f/14

Location: Cannon Beach, Oregon

“One of the functions of landscape it to correspond to, nurture, and provoke exploration of the landscape of the imagination. Space to walk is also space to think, and I think that's one thing landscapes give us: places to think longer, more uninterrupted thoughts or thoughts to a rhythm other than the staccato of navigating the city.”  ― Rebecca Solnit

I would love to see your landscape and/or sunburst photos and your own tips and tricks. Please share them on my Facebook page!

Tones on Tuesday #30 4.17.12

Welcome back and thank you for coming and joining in despite a brief hiatus last week to find my photography inspiration once again. Many beautiful entries from two weeks ago, but here are 3 that caught my eye...

Mock-Turtle from Jack's Paper Moon

Love the expression and the eyes, adorable! The colors are bright and fabulous as well. Thank you for sharing with us Mock-Turtle! The other photos of Jack and of the dog are super cute too :o).

Rebecca at The Crazy Redhead Photographer

The concept of this shot is so strong! The long exposure of the light and the black and white background gives such a sense of motion. Thank you for linking up Rebecca!

Nessa at Moments & Impressions

The drama of the black and white is amazing and I love how it takes an ordinary object to a different level. Beautiful bokeh in the background as well. Thank you for sharing Nessa!

Mock-Turtle, Rebecca, Nessa please go HERE to grab your showcase button.

Now it's your turn to share your photo with altered tones. Here are the guidelines for Tones on Tuesday:

• The basic idea is to share one photo where you have altered the tones. Such as a black and white, sepia toned, selective coloring or colored photo. Feel free to share the original and edit, or just the edit.
• Please share a photo that you have taken and edited yourself.
• One photo per photographer please. If you have more than one photo in your post please indicate which one if for Tones on Tuesday.
• Please link up with your permalink and not your blog address.
• Attach the Tones on Tuesday button or a link back here to your post
• Leave comments for at least 3 other participants, share the love :o)!
• Have fun!

<center> <a href="http://scatteredhorizons.blogspot.com" target="_self"><img border="0" alt="Scattered Horizons" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_U2oqLh1UmXZMxfX_WPVaPVWJYh_HuiqvmOJi2frJOmTvsFe8rQPCPuzZfqD9Rm5Lz1E9ijR7i5_09GjPNDZeIcGNOwpU1VlkboGqGPGHxc0q-s28fzb99utdKzU6TvONWyodJtseQ/s1600/tonesontuesday2.jpg"></a> </center>

Disclaimer - By participating you give Scattered Horizons permission to share your photo on this blog. Photographers will be given credit for their work.

I took a little break from blogging as I was getting in a rut and feeling uninspired. The break helped and then I went to one of my favorite parks in Lincoln City on Siletz Bay to photograph my favorite subject - sunsets and silhouettes. It was a perfect experience and it reminded me that capturing the magic of nature is why I love photography. For the first edit I did a clean edit in Lightroom with the basic settings and the tone curve and then applied Pretty Presets Sharpening. For the second edit I used the Who Is Wolf BW Deluxe Light Preset. I love the vibrancy of the first and the drama of the second, what do you think?

Settings: ISO 200, 18mm, ss1/50, f/11

"Travel is like a tonic to me. It's more than just getting away from the studio for a brief rest. I need it to recharge my batteries." -Norman Rockwell

Joining the link ups below. Be sure to check out the beautiful shots and join the Tones on Tuesday link up found further down!

         

Flashback: Winter Sky 02.20.11

Today was an amazing day of photography that I look forward to sharing during the week. It seems like I am developing a routine of posting a flashback on Saturday as I am usually out shooting and then posting my shots from the weekend throughout the week. I decided to keep that up and picked a photo from February for my flashback today. This was a couple of months after I got my DSLR for Christmas and I still had no idea what I was doing, but I enjoyed doing it :o). 

Most of the time I pick a trip and find a photo I like for my flashback. In this case, I knew the exact photo I wanted. I vividly remember this sky and the journey to take this picture. I have mentioned before that I love the beach, it is my happy place where I feel most myself. I go to the beach, often with my mom, whenever I get the chance...even in the winter when it is freezing. It really doesn't matter to me as long as I get to be on the beach experiencing it. This trip my mom and I spent a few days on the Central Oregon Coast. As we were driving back up toward home I saw this sky, half storm and half blue, and had to stop. We discovered this lovely wayside, pulled in and here is the shot. I remember the cold, the noise of the ocean, the kids playing and my mom waiting patiently while I took shot after shot. I love that I have this photo and the memories!

Flashback #8
Location: Muriel O. Ponsler Memorial State Wayside
Settings: ISO 100, 25mm, ss1/125, f/8.0 (full auto on tripod)
Post Processing: All basic settings adjusted<
What I Like: The framing of the  sky, the colors, the light
What I Think Needs Work: The depth of field, the sharpness

"To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward." - Margaret Fairless Barber

Linking up with The Paper Mama Challenge - Remember. I will spend some time tomorrow remembering September 11th, I hope you will too!

I Learned: Flower Field 05.21.11

This week I learned the power of a good editing program. I have been working hard on developing my skills with manual mode and hope to begin to do all I can to make my shots look wonderful straight out of the camera (SOOC). At the same time, though, I know how much editing can do for a photo. I want to become more skilled at taking a picture to the next level with my edits. I had been using a free program called Gimp and have had fine results with it. However, after a reading a wonderfully helpful comment from Melissa about how Photoshop features can help with the editing process I decided to look at other programs. After some research I downloaded a trial version of Lightroom and the picture below is my first edit using it. I have also included the SOOC photo and would love to know what you think about my edit - what works, what I could do differently and any tips for using Lightroom. I really enjoyed using the program and found the ability to look at the before and after at the same time very helpful.

I realized when putting this post together that this photo was taken on the same road trip home as my I Learned from last week, which was not planned. Driving home from Lincoln City, one of my favorite Oregon Coast towns, I saw this beautiful field of flowers on the side of the highway. We turned around and spent some time photographing it. I loved the clouds in the sky and the colors of the entire scene. In post processing I cropped the picture to play with the rule of thirds, worked on the red, blue and green color levels, and played with the contrast and brightness.

Settings: Auto Mode - 1/250, f/11

Original Photo

Edited Photo

"Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs." - Susan Sontag

This is what I learned this week, head over to Click it Up a Notch to see what others have learned.

Flashback: Nehalem Bay State Park 08.05.11

I was tempted to skip posting today as I was not feeling well after a difficult dentist appointment, but I saw this picture in my files and felt compelled to put it up. This photo was taken at Nehalem Bay State Park in Oregon. My mom and I spent the day exploring this beach we had not been to before and discovered an Oregon beach rarity...no one on the beach. The walk from the parking lot to the beach is a bit of a trek over the dunes, but beyond worth it for the solitude and the beauty. On this day the sky was a mixture of storm clouds and sun, which made for some beautiful lighting. What I love about this photo is that it captures what the beach is about for me - the expansiveness and sheer space that always makes me feel connected to the world. The leading lines have a lot to do with this as I think they draw your eye to a distant point far off on the horizon. The waves leaving their imprint on the shore and the various hues of the sand also stand out to me in this shot. I think this picture conveys all that I love about the beach!

Flashback #5

Location: Nehalem Bay State Park

Date: August 5th, 2011

Settings: Shot in Auto on Landscape Mode - 1/160, f/13

Post Processing: Color levels, contrast, brightness and sharpening

What I Like: The leading lines, the waves and the cloud patterns

What I Think Needs Work: The hills on the left side

"There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more." - George Byron

I Learned: On the Road with Hipstamatic 05.21.11

One of the first apps I got on my iPhone was Hipstamatic. I had heard about it on a few websites and really liked what it added to the photos I saw. I decided to download it while walking on the beach in Lincoln City, where there was very little signal. Needless to say it did not download until I got back in the car and headed for home. Once it did finish downloading I had to try it out, but was riding in the car (passenger seat :o) on a stretch of highway where it was difficult to pull over. I decided to take some pictures out the window and just see what happened. This picture is one of my favorites from those shots. I was impressed with the colors and the antique feel of the photographs. I used the combination of the John lens and Ina film for my first pictures and that continues to be my favorite pairing, by far!

Since that day I have enjoyed using Hipstamatic for the interesting, unpredicted and instant outcome of having a photo where the only thinking involved is in the subject matter and composition. It is nice to focus and develop one part of my photography skills. However, this week as I have been making the switch and commitment to manual mode, I have learned that creating and controlling my pictures can be fulfilling and rewarding on such a deeper level. With Hipstamatic I pressed the button and the app did the work, but with manual mode I created the photo. Don't get me wrong, I love Hipstamatic and LemeLeme and other iPhone photography apps. But I am loving owning my pictures in a way I haven't in a long time.

Flashback #2

Location: On the road back from Lincoln City

Date: May 21st, 2011

Settings: Lens - John S, Film - Ina's 1969

What I Like: The colors and the lighting

What I Think Needs Work: The subject is a little too centered and linear for me

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel's sake.  The great affair is to move." - Robert Louis Stevenson

That is what I learned this week, head over to Click it Up a Notch to see what others have learned.