LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY : Lesson 1 : Using Tripods and Metering Modes

Here I was playing around with different exposures. The first image is slightly underexposed, the middle one has the correct exposure and the bottom one is slightly overexposed.

During this lesson on landscape and location photography we were learning about how important a tripod is in this situation. You may think a tripod is not needed during landscape photography, as the landscape is stationary and doesn't move, however a tripod enables the photographer to capture multiple images at multiple exposures of the same frame. The photographer can then use all of the images in Photoshop, taking different elements from each one and creating the 'perfect shot'. A tripod also increases the image quality because the ISO can be at its lowest of 100 - this means there will be the least amount of noise captured in the image, but it will be darker as the camera won't be as sensitive to light as it would be if using a high ISO (e.g. 1600). This means that when using a low ISO, a tripod is crutial as a longer shutter speed will be needed, which can't be achieved if the camera is handheld.

Another thing we covered during this lesson was the basics of composition. We revisited the rule of thirds, which when used makes images more aesthetically pleasing. We also learnt to really take time to consider the composition rather than taking lots of random photographs, because without a good composition, the image won't be that interesting and you would have wasted your time taking random photographs if they didn't have a good composition. A good composition will draw the viewer in. It's also good in a lot of cases to have a focal point in an image, this will initially attract the viewer's attention and hopefully from there will lead their eye across the image. 

We also learnt about Metering Modes. There are three different metering modes - Matrix, Centre Weighted and Spot. Matrix mode is for a flat image (possibly on a cloudy or dull day), whereas Spot mode is for a day where there is a lot of contrast and the sun may be quite bright.