| A good landscape photographer is always well | | | | pleasanter journey with a flashlight. |
| prepared. Don't leave home without these ten | | | | 5. Lenses The great thing about SLRs (or DSLRs) |
| items. | | | | is that you can change the lens to suit the |
| 10. Filters for Black and White If you're planning on | | | | occasion. A wide angle lens allows you to fit |
| taking black and white photographs, you'll want | | | | everything in, but also has the effect of making |
| yellow, red and orange filters to darken the sky, | | | | everything except the foreground look smaller |
| and green to emphasize the different shades of | | | | than it did in real life. In contrast, a telephoto lens |
| green in the vegetation. | | | | will allow you to pick out one detail of the |
| 9. A neutral density (ND) filter will allow you to | | | | landscape. Sometimes the right detail is much |
| use a slower shutter speed, to blur moving water | | | | more evocative than the whole mountain. |
| and make it look wetter. | | | | 4. Tripod In order to have a large depth of field, |
| 8. Filters for Color A graduated filter will allow you | | | | you need a small aperture. Sometimes, this |
| to even up the lighting between the sky and the | | | | requires a long exposure to compensate. That |
| ground. When the ground is covered with snow or | | | | means there's a danger of camera shake, unless |
| ice, put the dark area at the bottom. At all other | | | | you use a tripod. |
| times, put it to the top. A polarizing filter will | | | | 3. Photoshop or similar. Editing your photo on the |
| reduce reflections on glass or water (but not | | | | computer can rescue all manner of problems, |
| polished metal) and will make the sky bluer | | | | including mistakes in exposure or framing. If you |
| without affecting other colors. The effect is most | | | | don't want to pay for Photoshop, there's a free |
| pronounced at 90 degrees to the sun. | | | | shareware package called GIMP which covers all |
| 7. Spare Batteries When you have a magical | | | | the basics. |
| landscape in front of you, it's infuriating to find | | | | 2. Camera Obviously you can't possibly take |
| that your camera battery's gone flat. Always | | | | photos without this. As everyone knows, there |
| take a spare. While you're about it, make sure | | | | are plenty of cameras on the market. Bear in |
| your cell phone is charged, just in case, and | | | | mind that a more expensive camera will give you |
| remember batteries for the next item. | | | | more flexibility, but not necessarily more quality. |
| 6. Flashlight the best time to take landscape | | | | 1. And the most important piece of equipment at |
| photographs is nearly always the "golden hours" -- | | | | all - your brain. |
| an hour after sunrise and an hour before sunset. | | | | The best camera in the world won't take good |
| That's when the grazing light from the low sun | | | | photos if a monkey's using it. On the other hand, |
| emphasizes the contours of the land. And it's also | | | | I've seen great photos taken with a biscuit tin. |
| when the light turns a magical honey color. The | | | | Yes, really, a biscuit tin, with a pinhole in the front |
| catch is that if you want to be on top of a | | | | and photographic paper inside. Of course, it's much |
| mountain for the gold hours, you have to either | | | | easier to take great photos with a good camera, |
| hike up in the dark before dawn, or hike down | | | | but you still need to know what you're doing. |
| after sunset. Either way, you'll have a safer, | | | | Otherwise you'll have "all the gear and no idea. |