FXA Perth landscape photography workshop experiences and my lessons learned

Landscape photography has become one of my favourite genres of photography since I changed over to the Fujifilm X mirrorless camera system. It’s hard to go wrong with the combination of experiencing nature and its beauty with the creativity of photography. When I heard from our fellow FXA Perth reps Gus and Chong that they were looking into organising FXA Perth’s first ever landscape photography workshop down in Margaret River, I was stoked! I was also excited to hear a fellow FXA Facebook community member James Posilero will be running the workshop. I’ve long admired his beautiful landscape photography that he shares in the group. It was a fun and educational weekend down in the Margaret River region of Western Australia. It was also the perfect sized group of 6 photographers. We got to know each other, our photography interests and also learned from each other.

The workshop took place on a weekend back in November 2018. I brought along my Fujifilm X-T10 and Fujinon 18-55mm f2.8-4, along with a bunch of filters. We drove down early on a Saturday morning and drove back up to Perth on after brunch on Sunday. The focus of the workshop was on sunset and sunrise landscape photography. James organised for us to photograph Canal Rocks at sunset on Saturday and Sugarloaf Rock at sunrise on Sunday. We spent Saturday afternoon scouting around Sugarloaf Rock in preparation for our sunrise shoot. We walked around the area, tried out compositions at different locations and also learned the lay of the land since we’ll be walking around in the dark before sunrise. We also spent the afternoon checking out the famous WA photographer Christian Fletcher’s beautiful gallery in Dunsborough and James held an informal discussion about landscape photography (camera settings, photo editing, gear) over coffee.

To be prepared for our sunset shoot at Canal Rocks, we arrived on location around 1 hour before sunset to scout and set up for our shots. I found it challenging to find a spot that I liked, without being in the way of so many visitors who were there to view the sunset. I decided to climb further up and framed a shot of the canal with the sun setting towards the right side of my image (see above). While this is not my favourite shots from the workshop, I put into practice some of the tips given by James and also experimented with how the changing light affected my camera settings.

After I had packed up my gear, well after sunset, I came across a different composition that I thought was nice. The image above is probably my favourite image from my Canal Rocks shoot. As the light was mostly gone at this point, I bracketed my shots +1, 0 and -1 with the intention to experiment with some post-processing. I made this image through combining the exposures in Aurora HDR and I quite liked the outcome.

The next morning we were up at 3.30am to get ready and drive out to Sugarloaf Rock for our sunrise shoot. The sun was set to rise around 5am so we in position well before this.  It was unfortunately quite a cloudy morning so we didn’t get to see the sunlight lighting up the sky and illuminating the rock. None the less, I did manage to get an image or two that I liked. My aim here was to try out different settings, with the intention to doing some experimentation with post-processing when I got home. I wanted to try out a long exposure hack of combining multiple exposures in photoshop to simulate long exposure as well as some HDR photography.

I learned so much from James and the rest of the participants in a short space of time. I photographed outside of my comfort zone and gained a better understanding of some of the camera settings and techniques used in landscape photography. Finally I also want to share some lessons I took away from the 2 day workshop that I will be considering every time I head out to do landscape photography.

1. Come prepared for the weather and physical environment

Being prepared for the weather is one of the most important things to ensure that I’ll enjoy shooting in the outdoors. For example if you’re heading to the coast in the afternoon for sunset or before the sun rises, it will be likely to be windy or cold, so make sure you have enough layers to keep you warm. Dressing for weather means you are not focused on being uncomfortable. Instead you can focus on being creative and excited about the photography.

Maintaining a good level of physical fitness and wearing comfortable shoes is also really helpful. You’ll more than likely be walking on uneven surfaces or climbing over rocks and bush to get to your desired location for your shot. It’s easier to be in the creative mood and mindset when you’re comfortable out in the elements.

2. Photograph during the golden hours to capture great light

The time of day is critical for landscape photography. While it’s definitely possible to take great images in any light, photograph during the golden hours to maximise your chances of taking a great photo. Try waking up early before sunrise to catch the sunrise lighting up the landscape and the sky. If you live in the east coast, expect to see some great sunrises. Typically you would also see fewer people around so early in the morning. If early mornings aren’t your thing, get to the location before sunset and photograph the landscape during the beautiful golden light. Also be sure to hang around after the sun dips down the horizon to experience blue hour and some vibrant colours in the sky. I got one of my favourite shots at Canal Rocks by sticking around just a bit longer after sunset

As the beautiful light that you see around sunrise and sunset time can be quick to disappear, it’s best to scout out the spot you want to photograph at beforehand, during the day. James taught us how to “see” without a camera when we were scouting around Sugarloaf Rocks and Canal Rocks. We walked around to “see” different compositions without the distractions of a camera, then decided on the composition we would each like to shoot when we came back during the golden hours.

If you want to go the extra mile in planning your landscape photography shoots, photo apps such as PhotoPills can also be useful to help you predict the position or angle of the sun, milky way position etc. to further help you with your composition. Thanks James for showing us the different apps you use to help you in your landscape photography. I’ll be trying it next time I head out.

3. Focus on compositional elements for stronger images

Composition is critical to make great photos. Here are some of my personal favourite compositional elements that I try to incorporate when shooting landscape photography. Make sure the horizon of the image is straight. Many modern cameras such as the Fujifilm X-T10 have an inbuilt horizon line overlay on the LCD screen and on the electronic view finder displays. Rule of thirds, where you aim to place your subject on one of the four intersecting points, is a classic composition guideline. Find an interesting foreground element or leading lines that invites your viewers into the image make for stronger images.

4. Creating sharp images

In landscape photography, creating in focus and sharp images with a sense of depth is important. James gave us a few handy hints on how to create in focus and sharp images during our workshop. A small aperture will keep your foreground and background in focus, however James advised us to use a mid-range aperture such as F8 to F11 and avoid extreme ends of the aperture range of the lens for the sharpest images. Using a very small aperture can result in diffraction and reduced the overall sharpness of your photo. He also taught us how to focus to use manual focus and focus peaking to maximise sharpness and also how to expose the image properly using the histogram (expose to the right where the peaks are just in the histogram to avoid over exposing)

When the aperture is small, consider increasing your ISO or reducing your shutter speed to maintain a well exposure image. Be mindful that reducing your shutter speed may mean more camera shake if you are hand-holding your camera to take your photo.

This is where a tripod comes in handy. When shooting landscape photography it’s best to use a sturdy tripod and a shutter release remote control. This minimises camera shake and help you create sharper photos. Buying a high quality tripod that holds up against the elements is particularly important if you are shooting in windy or wet conditions or if you’re shooting landscapes at night. Buying a sturdier tripod is definitely on my gear list. The wind and seaspray experienced during our shoot demonstrated how my current tripod might not quite hold up to the elements.

5. Using filters

Using filters is a great way to further improve your landscape photography photos. There are two types of filters I would suggest using, polarising filters and neutral density filters.

Polarising filters deepens the colours in the sky by bringing out the blues which contrast against the whites of the clouds. It also cuts out the glare and reflections in the image, which generally increases the vibrancy of some of the colours in the image. The polarising filter is particularly useful when you are photographing landscapes containing water (e.g. waterfall, seascapes), sky, reflective surfaces or colourful subjects.

Neutral density (ND) filters reduces the amount of light that enters the camera. This is useful when you want to achieve a slower shutter speed to capture movement during bright times of the day, which can’t be achieved by adjusting your ISO and aperture. For example, if you want to capture movement in the water or of clouds in the sky. There are different “strengths” or darkness levels of ND filters to choose from. Typically you would want to have a few different strengths on hand. This gives you the flexibility of picking the appropriate darkness level you need to get your desired shutter speed. As you are intentionally slowing down your shutter speed, be sure to use a tripod to ensure your photo remains sharp.

6. Know your gear

Last but certainly not least, be comfortable and familiar with your camera gear. These days you would be hard pressed to find a “bad” camera on the market. It’s all about finding a camera system you enjoy using and learning to use it so it becomes second nature when you pick it up to shoot. I enjoy shooting with my compact Fujifilm X-T10 as its light to carry which is especially important when hiking or getting to location on foot.

During golden hours of the day, around sunset and sunrise times, the light can change quite quickly and dramatically. Knowing the features of your camera, the location of the buttons and the settings will make photographing on location less stressful and more enjoyable. You’ll spend less time fumbling around with your camera and less likely to miss your shot.

This is one of my longer blog posts that I’ve written so far and I hope you interesting or useful in some way. I would love to hear if you have any other landscape photography hints and tips in the comment section. Thanks for stopping by today.

J.