Landscape photio advice needed

[Learner]

I've been interested in taking landscape photos to take advantage of the numerous travels that I take for work. A few questions to seek the advise of the experts in the CR Forum:

1) what aperture do you typically use when taking seacapes, mountains, fields?
2) I've seen a few interesting photos taken at F22 - is this advisable? Don't you lose sharpness & detail due to diffraction?
3) Where do you focus when there are no special focal point?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[mackguyver]

1) what aperture do you typically use when taking seacapes, mountains, fields?
f/11 to f/16 usually work best

2) I've seen a few interesting photos taken at F22 - is this advisable? Don't you lose sharpness & detail due to diffraction?
Yes, you do lose a fair amount of detail to diffraction, but some for some scenes it might be necessary. Focus stacking works better, however.

3) Where do you focus when there are no special focal point?
You can generally get away with focusing at a point 1/3 of the way into the frame - i.e. mountains or other background are 300 feet away - so you focus on something roughly 100 feet away. If you have close subjects like flowers, focus closer and use LiveView and the Depth of Field button to check focus, which is a good idea for all landscape shots.

 

[CarlTN]

I've been interested in taking landscape photos to take advantage of the numerous travels that I take for work. A few questions to seek the advise of the experts in the CR Forum:

1) what aperture do you typically use when taking seacapes, mountains, fields?
2) I've seen a few interesting photos taken at F22 - is this advisable? Don't you lose sharpness & detail due to diffraction?
3) Where do you focus when there are no special focal point?

Many thanks in advance!

Depends on the focal length (and the lens and camera system), but you are correct. F22 will introduce softness from diffraction. I generally shoot at f/11 to f/13 during daylight hours with my Sigma 24mm lens. But if I want a shallow DOF shot, then I open it up closer to f/1.8.

Basically, if you're in a hurry like I wind up doing, it helps to have IS. Purists will shout from the rooftops that handheld IS images don't count as landscapes, but they do. They can be nearly a sharp as a longer exposure on a tripod, if you're careful. In my opinion the main reason to use tripods for daylight images, is when you want to blur water or other things that are in motion. Or if you are nuts about shooting everything at ISO 50 or 100. But if you're that nuts about that, you should be using a D800 and a Zeiss lens...at least until Canon bring out their high MP camera (and even then you'll need a Zeiss lens).

 

[Drizzt321]

...In my opinion the main reason to use tripods for daylight images, is when you want to blur water or other things that are in motion. Or if you are nuts about shooting everything at ISO 50 or 100. But if you're that nuts about that, you should be using a D800 and a Zeiss lens...at least until Canon bring out their high MP camera (and even then you'll need a Zeiss lens).

Or, if you're really a purist, you'll insist on a 50 pound wooden tripod with 8x10 film plates with a donkey or two and an assistant to carry it all for you

 

[CarlTN]

...In my opinion the main reason to use tripods for daylight images, is when you want to blur water or other things that are in motion. Or if you are nuts about shooting everything at ISO 50 or 100. But if you're that nuts about that, you should be using a D800 and a Zeiss lens...at least until Canon bring out their high MP camera (and even then you'll need a Zeiss lens).

Or, if you're really a purist, you'll insist on a 50 pound wooden tripod with 8x10 film plates with a donkey or two and an assistant to carry it all for you

...but...but...but then you didn't do all the work yourself, so you can't truthfully do what those types do, and complain about having to hike 50 miles in the dark to the location while carrying said huge field camera with cast iron tripod on your shoulder!

 

[mackguyver]

...In my opinion the main reason to use tripods for daylight images, is when you want to blur water or other things that are in motion. Or if you are nuts about shooting everything at ISO 50 or 100. But if you're that nuts about that, you should be using a D800 and a Zeiss lens...at least until Canon bring out their high MP camera (and even then you'll need a Zeiss lens).

Or, if you're really a purist, you'll insist on a 50 pound wooden tripod with 8x10 film plates with a donkey or two and an assistant to carry it all for you

...but...but...but then you didn't do all the work yourself, so you can't truthfully do what those types do, and complain about having to hike 50 miles in the dark to the location while carrying said huge field camera with cast iron tripod on your shoulder!

LOL and speaking of that, "When the Banner Peak photo became famous, Harold loved telling everybody, 'I held Ansel's ass while he made that picture!'"
Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/ansel-adams-wilderness/poole-text

 

[tron]

...In my opinion the main reason to use tripods for daylight images, is when you want to blur water or other things that are in motion. Or if you are nuts about shooting everything at ISO 50 or 100. But if you're that nuts about that, you should be using a D800 and a Zeiss lens...at least until Canon bring out their high MP camera (and even then you'll need a Zeiss lens).

Or, if you're really a purist, you'll insist on a 50 pound wooden tripod with 8x10 film plates with a donkey or two and an assistant to carry it all for you

...but...but...but then you didn't do all the work yourself, so you can't truthfully do what those types do, and complain about having to hike 50 miles in the dark to the location while carrying said huge field camera with cast iron tripod on your shoulder!

LOL and speaking of that, "When the Banner Peak photo became famous, Harold loved telling everybody, 'I held Ansel's ass while he made that picture!'"
Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/ansel-adams-wilderness/poole-text

LOL, until I read the reference I tended to think that Harold was Ansel Adam's donkey ;D ;D ;D

OK donkeys don't speak but still that was deducted from above (without the url reference) ;D ;D ;D

 

[CarlTN]

...In my opinion the main reason to use tripods for daylight images, is when you want to blur water or other things that are in motion. Or if you are nuts about shooting everything at ISO 50 or 100. But if you're that nuts about that, you should be using a D800 and a Zeiss lens...at least until Canon bring out their high MP camera (and even then you'll need a Zeiss lens).

Or, if you're really a purist, you'll insist on a 50 pound wooden tripod with 8x10 film plates with a donkey or two and an assistant to carry it all for you

...but...but...but then you didn't do all the work yourself, so you can't truthfully do what those types do, and complain about having to hike 50 miles in the dark to the location while carrying said huge field camera with cast iron tripod on your shoulder!

LOL and speaking of that, "When the Banner Peak photo became famous, Harold loved telling everybody, 'I held Ansel's ass while he made that picture!'"
Source: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/10/ansel-adams-wilderness/poole-text

LOL, until I read the reference I tended to think that Harold was Ansel Adam's donkey ;D ;D ;D

OK donkeys don't speak but still that was deducted from above (without the url reference) ;D ;D ;D

LOL!