Golden Ears- Foreground detail with background vistas.

The rule of thirds on a perfect evening.

Most of my landscape photos are done using a wide-angle lens of some form.  Relative to a full frame digital camera, a 35 mm focal length is very mild while a 15 mm is often far too wide.  Remember, this is relative to a full frame camera, so an APS crop-sensor camera would use 23 mm and 10 mm respectively.  I tend to use values between 20 to 30 mm relative, but much of that really depends on what exactly is being photographed.

The above shot is a good example.  I was using an APS-C sensor camera with a 53 mm focal length, which works out to about 80 mm relative.  It is a far cry from the values previously cited, but I wanted to capture the details in the post while not diminishing the beauty of the background.  That is why using a wide angle for landscapes doesn't always work well.  If I used a 40 mm lens (relative) and got the fence post the same size as above, the mountains in the background would only be half as big.  The shot would be completely different.  At 28 mm, the mountains would be about a third of the size.

When shooting landscapes, I often have my 20-35 mm lens on my full frame camera, but keep my 28-300 around just in case I need to zoom in a bit.  The ultra wide-angle lens works most of the time, but not always.  A standard kit lens (18-55 mm or 28-80 relative) will do quite a lot for you.  If you are looking for a good ultra wide-angle lens, there are many third-party manufacturers out there which produce zooms like 10-20 mm, 11-18 mm, or even an 8-16 mm for reasonable prices.  Go to this website if you want to see what is available.

A big reason I use the wide and ultrawide angle focal lengths is because of the great depth of field they give you.  Lower focal lengths give you more depth of field at any given aperture.  I usually also choose a higher f/number such as f/11 or f/16 and am careful about my point of focus to get as much in focus as possible.  The above shot was done at f/13 and my point of focus would have been somewhere behind the fence post.  The beautiful thing about digital cameras is the fact you can check your shot afterward and tinker with the various settings as desire or necessity dictate.

Go somewhere local with attractive scenery and play with foreground and background relationships.  Try different focal lengths, keep apertures relative small and check your shots afterward for quality and focus.  Remember the rule of thirds; don't let the foreground overwhelm the background or be overwhelmed by the background.  Zooming in and out and changing your position will go a long way towards allowing you to find the right balance.  Most importantly though, have fun.

Thanks for reading.   www.ericspix.com