Last minute landscape advice sought

[Kevin]

Started thinking through some of the semantics of shooting landscapes while I'm gone to the Canadian Rockies and have a couple of questions I'm hoping I can get advice on yet before I leave.

Say I'm shooting a scene with a mountain in the background, an area of trees in front, a lake in front of the trees that extends all the way to the foreground. Let's say there are rocks or stumps or logs in the water immediately in the foreground that I want to include in the composition but I want everything in focus from the rocks/logs/stumps all the way to the mountain in the background. If I'm shooting a wide angle lens (24-70) at ~24mm and shooting about f11-16, where should I focus? On the rocks in the foreground? The trees behind the lake? Infinity? (Mountains)

Also, with digital, at what point does diffraction come into play negatively affecting the image? The book I've been reading suggest using f22. I asked Eric who shoots a lot of landscapes and he shoots usually about f11. So I'm thinking of sticking to f11-16.

Any guidance (quick) would be appreciated. I leave Tuesday morning. :)

[Keith]

Hmmm I would be more worried that you have a battery charged up or forgot to pack it :p My two cents worth, if you want to push the viewer’s eyes from the foreground to that distant horizon, which, of course, you do, you’ll need to stop down your f-stop. F-11, f-16, or f-22 will enable you to have good depth of field. I personally like f16 on a couple of my old lenses, have yet to use my new Canon gear so this week should pose interesting in every which way :D I think one should always pay attn to the sweet spot when shooting these kind of f stops...........The bigger struggle one will have is not blowing out the skies to expose the trees and mtns. Split grads help, but in shooting in good light eleviates allot of these problems...................stop sweating and start packing cool;

[Rudi]

If you want to get technical, you can just use the DOF scale on the 24-70L. Now go pack! :D

[Kevin]

I am packed! :rolleyes:

I'm just trying to ensure that I get the best possible results. Who knows the next time I'll be able to make another trip like this.

I had read once before focusing 1/3 into the scene to ensure sharpness front to back but was curious what mechanism others use.

As for diffraction, I don't know much about it but know it affects image quality. Eric pointed me to a site (http://www.lonestardigital.com/aperture_diffraction_limits.htm)that has some info on it. It explains when diffraction sets in for each camera body.

Still interested in hearing others' opinions though. :)

[David Cramer]

If you have a digitally-sized sensor (ie not full-frame), diffraction can start to set in over f/11. The interesting thing to me is that I have seen several landscape shots using a digital sensor (Nikon) at f/22 that showed no diffraction at all. All of these shots had a distant focal point, with very little foreground, so that may play a factor. In my own shooting, diffraction seems clear in the NIkon bodies over f/11. I experienced this on my first trip to Yankee Boy Basin in Colorado for wildflowers. I shot everything at f/16 and over, and all the shots had diffraction (D2x with 17-55). I went back and shot everything at f/13 and under, and they came out crisp and sharp. I'd suggest that this is something you can plan for to some degree, but ultimately have to get to know your own gear through experience. Shot scenes at various f stops so you can compare them later. As you know, camera shake, atmospheric conditions, etc etc will play a role.

One other note that Keith may know more about. I've read that polarizers are less effective at high altitudes. I live around 5500 feet and use one regularly with good results.

[MGlennn]

Years ago when I was more "into" landscape photog I used a little "trick" that someone showed me or maybe I read it somewhere.....haven't read about it lately or thought about it much but here it is.....see if I can remember....

Focus your lens on infinity....then back off on it manually (all manual focus lenses back then) just a bit....I think there is a way to look at your lens DOF scale and tell where to stop...but I just eyeballed it....what you want is for the mountains to remain in sharp focus but a FEW MORE FEET closer to you come into sharp focus using this method....

here is a pretty good article... http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm

Have fun up there ...I am sure all the pics will look great !! :D :D :D :D

[Kevin]

Thanks for you input guys! I think I'm getting a better grasp on this now. Glad I stumbled on this diffraction discussion. I would've shot at f22 and wondered why my shots didn't look good. Think I'll stick to f11 but will also take a couple of shots at f16/f22 just to see if there's a difference.

I also looked at some dof calculators and think I've got a good idea about the focusing issue. I just want my scenics to look like Roman's that he recently posted. ;) right! :rolleyes:

[imageswest]

It's pretty easy to find the diffraction limit for your camera. Take a reasonable close-focusing lens (a macro is ideal) and use a sheet of paper with clean, sharp text on it as a target. Set your camera on a tripod, focus very carefully (take a few test shots at f/11 to make sure focus is accurate) and then shoot a series of frames from f/11 to f/22. I prefer to set the camera on aperture priority, and then change the aperture in 1/3 stop increments. When you view the images at 100% magnification, it should be fairly obvious where the sharpness begins to drop due to diffraction.

With my D200, f/13 seemed to be the point where sharpness started to drop off, although f/16 can still look good with a little extra sharpening. Beyond that, things get pretty mushy.

[Desert Rat]

Yep that is the article i was referring to .. Seems interesting doesn't it? I can get away with F/11-F/16 sometimes with shooting landscapes.. At other times i can only get to F/11 before i see the sharpness drop off...

[Jonathan]

It's pretty easy to find the diffraction limit for your camera. Take a reasonable close-focusing lens (a macro is ideal) and use a sheet of paper with clean, sharp text on it as a target. Set your camera on a tripod, focus very carefully (take a few test shots at f/11 to make sure focus is accurate) and then shoot a series of frames from f/11 to f/22. I prefer to set the camera on aperture priority, and then change the aperture in 1/3 stop increments. When you view the images at 100% magnification, it should be fairly obvious where the sharpness begins to drop due to diffraction.

With my D200, f/13 seemed to be the point where sharpness started to drop off, although f/16 can still look good with a little extra sharpening. Beyond that, things get pretty mushy.

Thanks for the advice..these seems very useable!