Common mistakes for Beginner landscape photographers

'obviously' is a tough word in the 'beginners' thread. And so many different camera types in use too.

Are you referring to cameras with viewfinders? And do they all leak? Does it stand to reason?

By which I mean "obviously if you don't have a massive hole in the back of your camera".

If you have a bloody big hole in the back of your camera (an OVF) then it will inevitably leak light into the system and can bork the photo to a greater or lesser extent, that is evidenced by the image above and many shots that I have taken and discarded.

Talking of Nikon, their pro cameras have in built OVF shutters to block this out (still need to remember to close it!), the semi pro ones come with a clip on cover and I believe the consumer models come with a cover too now, and yes if you don't use them then you can end up with problems with your image if you are composing with a tripod (i.e. eye not at the viewfinder) and especially with long exposures where any form of low light is magnified.

I don't know about Canon DSLRs but I imagine they are similar as the system design is basically the same.

Cameras with and EVF, as in my edit you quoted, do not suffer this as they don't have a bloody big hole in the back of the camera to let light leak in.

Does it stand to reason? yes if you look at the design of a DSLR but more importantly it stands to the evidence which has already been posted.
 
Aha. You now mention DSLR. It's getting clearer...

I didn't know mirror-up would still leak light.

But my EVF cameras have a 'bloody' big hole in the back of the camera too. And OVF rangefinder-like cameras do too.
 
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TBH I would not expect 'most' cameras to leak light all over the sensor/film in the way suggested unless a bright light was being shone into the viewfinder, as in the examples given (low sun behind the camera or head torch being shone in). With the mirror up it should be a closed system, but is obviously not intended to be 100% light-tight.

Ian's point seems to be that to a beginner it's not 'obvious', nor does it 'stand to reason' - rather its something one learns when more advanced in the craft and using a particular camera.
 
TBH I would not expect 'most' cameras to leak light all over the sensor/film in the way suggested unless a bright light was being shone into the viewfinder, as in the examples given (low sun behind the camera or head torch being shone in). With the mirror up it should be a closed system, but is obviously not intended to be 100% light-tight.

Ian's point seems to be that to a beginner it's not 'obvious', nor does it 'stand to reason' - rather its something one learns when more advanced in the craft and using a particular camera.

You are right "Most Cameras" is a poor description, as it only effects SLR / DSLR cameras, due to the way they are made.
Others such as Mirrorless, Rangefinders, etc are not effected by this problem.
You are wrong about it needing bright light entering the viewfinder though. Take for example a 10 stop filter, this reduces the amount of light entering the lens by 1024x, so even a little light entering around the edges of the mirror, is going to be picked up by the film/sensor.
 
There's a lot of technical stuff in here which is important to know but the majority of it is decisions to be made once you've decided what type of image you want to create.
Things like tripods and filters are required for some shots, useful for others, completely unnecessary sometimes and can at the other extreme be detrimental to a photo or cause you to miss an opportunity.
Similarly rules on maximising depth of field, composition, even having a focal point isn't always a given.

That said my biggest mistake would be learning all the techniques but not understanding how, when or why to implement them and when to ignore it all and break the rules to get the shot you want to make.
 
Three things I've learned over the last couple years that might help others. They took me ages to learn and I just kept making the same mistakes over and over again :D

When you’ve found a scene you want to photograph, leave the tripod alone. Move about with your camera to find the best view and composition, and ONLY THEN reach for your tripod. It’s too easy to have the camera permanently stuck to the tripod, and then take your photo from whatever height it’s set at. You'd be surprised at the amount of time a few inches left/right/up/down etc makes all the difference.

The last thing to do before you press the shutter is to check the frame for things you don’t want (especially the edges). If there’s something in the image that you don’t want, find a way to get it out. A painter’s job is to put things they want in the image, whereas a photographer’s jobs is to get rid of things they don’t want.

Don’t just keep zooming out to get stuff in. I’ve done this myself many times and had a lot of bad photos because of it. Don’t think “oh, if I zoom out slightly I can get this bench in. If I zoom out a bit more again I can get this tree in on the edge as well” The result is that you’ll have a photo where the subject is tiny, and you have a lot of crap in the frame that you don’t want or need.
 
Don't underestimate the speed the sun goes down. It's fast. Dither around too long at sunset and it's gone. Especially with a long lens. Be there well early.

The speed of the sun is in fact 110,000 kilometers per hour. So write that down on a piece of paper and carry it with you at all times.

Which is great until you realise that the sun is not actually moving at that speed at all. But it's 'you' that is moving at that speed in relation to the sun. The sun is stationary. Apart from the fact that it's really whizzing around the galaxy at a stonking 720,000 kilometers per hour. Write that down too. Because that's fast. Always carry professor Brian Cox around with you just in case.
 
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Don't underestimate the speed the sun goes down. It's fast. Dither around too long at sunset and it's gone. Especially with a long lens. Be there well early.

I'm fairly certain that the sun sets at the same speed ever day and that the focal length of the lens has absolutely no bearing on this process.
 
I'm fairly certain that the sun sets at the same speed ever day and that the focal length of the lens has absolutely no bearing on this process.
The sun is travelling at the same speed all the time. But the apparent speed at which it disappears below the horizon changes constantly throughout the year and also depends on your latitude.

Additionally, if you use a long lens, the sun will pass through the frame much quicker. So its movement is more noticeable with a 500mm lens for example.
 
Additionally, if you use a long lens, the sun will pass through the frame much quicker. So its movement is more noticeable with a 500mm lens for example.

This is all in your mind, using a 500mm lens or naked eye the sun will go down just as quickly. I would not recommend using a 500mm lens to stare at the sun you could damage your eyes.
 
This is all in your mind, using a 500mm lens or naked eye the sun will go down just as quickly. I would not recommend using a 500mm lens to stare at the sun you could damage your eyes.
Agree with the last sentiment, but Ian is right, the smaller angle of view of a longer lens means the sun will pass through the frame more rapidly...
 
This is all in your mind, using a 500mm lens or naked eye the sun will go down just as quickly. I would not recommend using a 500mm lens to stare at the sun you could damage your eyes.

Try the moon then, with a long lens you will soon see how fast we are moving ;)
 
But the moon is only travelling at a weedy 3,683 kilometers per hour, according to shiny faced professor Brian.
 
OK I was trying to do some maths. The sun has to get through 360 degrees in 24 hours, which is 15 degrees per hour, or one degree every 4 minutes. I read somewhere that the sun subtends about half a degree from the earth, so takes about two minutes from the time on edge "touches" the earth to the time it disappears. True, that time does not alter depending on the lens used. However, most folk regard "sunset" as the time leading up to until shortly after actual setting, so probably a few degrees. A 500 mm lens apparently has an angle of view of 1.8 degrees, so you do have less than 10 minutes of the sun in the frame, if "resting " on the horizon. More time in the frame for wider lenses.

But, there are lots of other effects making life interesting, I suppose!
 
This is all in your mind, using a 500mm lens or naked eye the sun will go down just as quickly. I would not recommend using a 500mm lens to stare at the sun you could damage your eyes.

With an OVF not an EVF
How the sensor fares may be different.
 
Well that was fun :)

I just spent an enjoyable and interesting hour or so reading through the previous 300 posts and picking out all of the useful points, then typing them into a list, while also adding some of my own too. They are essentially bullet points as some need lengthy explanations to really make sense, and often one point is followed by an immediately opposing view - which makes it interesting :D

Anyway - the list stands at 80 !!!

So without doing an indepth analysis of what's missing, it seems us landscapers need to know & consider many of those 80 points in taking a shot (though I admit about 10 are more for humour really), and of course the better you are the quicker you ignore all the ones that aren't truly relevant to the shot you're after, meaning you're more likely to get better shots, and more of them faster than an inexperienced person

I'm sure I could easily add lots more points to consider with a few days thought and have the basis of a book there !!! :)

Landscape Photography is such fun :)

Dave
 
Well that was fun :)

I just spent an enjoyable and interesting hour or so reading through the previous 300 posts and picking out all of the useful points, then typing them into a list, while also adding some of my own too. They are essentially bullet points as some need lengthy explanations to really make sense, and often one point is followed by an immediately opposing view - which makes it interesting :D

Anyway - the list stands at 80 !!!

So without doing an indepth analysis of what's missing, it seems us landscapers need to know & consider many of those 80 points in taking a shot (though I admit about 10 are more for humour really), and of course the better you are the quicker you ignore all the ones that aren't truly relevant to the shot you're after, meaning you're more likely to get better shots, and more of them faster than an inexperienced person

I'm sure I could easily add lots more points to consider with a few days thought and have the basis of a book there !!! :)

Landscape Photography is such fun :)

Dave

Hopefully, you'll illustrate your book with your own photographs to put all our information into context for the benefit of wider readership ! Alternatively, I suppose you could always pinch those too [emoji6]
 
Hopefully, you'll illustrate your book with your own photographs to put all our information into context for the benefit of wider readership ! Alternatively, I suppose you could always pinch those too [emoji6]

Plenty of photos on TP mate :D

Oh and not one of those points are new to me, though a few I haven't done myself lol

Dave
 
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ive never had light leak through the view finder, bit of urban myth in my opinion

No it's a fact, you will get this during a long exposure. That's why professional cameras like the Nikon D810 have a rear eyepiece shutter fitted.
 
Yep, my Contax RTS and RTS II have eyepiece blinds.
 
my longest exposure ever is 10 minutes...

ive also read into lots of articles saying its a myth also, the only place i hear about it, is on facebook or a forum

Why for at least 25 years have professional cameras had an eyepiece shutter fitted to the camera and why with lesser priced models do they give you a little plastic eyepiece cap. They came with your model of camera when new !
 
my longest exposure ever is 10 minutes...

ive also read into lots of articles saying its a myth also, the only place i hear about it, is on facebook or a forum
My 650D manual says that light leaking in through the viewfinder will affect the light meter and cause poor exposure. They don't mention it affecting the image in any other way.
 
It's also likely to vary camera to camera. Some cameras are even prone to light leaks in the lens mount with long exposures.
 
My 650D manual says that light leaking in through the viewfinder will affect the light meter and cause poor exposure. They don't mention it affecting the image in any other way.
My Olympus DSLR had the same thing in the manual
 
It's likely to be a problem doing long exposures under bright ambient condition using 10+stop filters. It won't be a problem doing long exposures after dark.
 
It's likely to be a problem doing long exposures under bright ambient condition using 10+stop filters. It won't be a problem doing long exposures after dark.

It depends on the light after dark. If spotlight lighting a building is pointing towards the rear of the camera it will affect things.
 
I've just experienced light leaks today when using a 6-stop filter and with the sun behind me. It looks like a multicoloured vertical band in the pictures. Resolved by using the eyepiece cover. I also noticed that the metering was around 1 stop different (i.e. it metered for a shorter exposure) as well. This is on a D610. I've never noticed any before when doing long exposures so I think it's purely down to the sun coming in the viewfinder.
 
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