Landscapes
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Landscapes are the best money shots after people. They are printed as posters and used as wallpaper on computers and as the visual subject of demonstration videos for HD TV. Everybody loves quality landscapes and everybody tries to take these shots. Sadly, however, in the hands of the amateur they often fail to inspire.

Nondescript distant vegetation provides a poor, low contrast target for auto focus, especially for SLRs with SIR sensors, and the focus can often be unsatisfactory. Manual focus may be a better option with SLRs, especially for distant subjects.

Lighting is also critical and the sky needs to be taken into account. As always, shooting into the sun is not normally a good idea, although it can produce some magic landscape effects, such as the sun breaking through the clouds on an overcast day. Shots late in the day when the light is golden often provide a mellow alternative to the more accurate and common midday shots. A clear blue sky is always a lovely backdrop for any landscape, as well as guaranteeing quality illumination for the subject, so on any clear day grab your camera and go!

A wide lens is a useful tool for landscape photography, but one must careful in choosing a subject for an ultra-wide lens lest you wind up with all sky and foreground. Once your initial infatuation with fish eye distortion is gone you will need software to de-fish your wide angle shots. Software that has the manufacturer's lens profile built in is the most simple and accurate way to go. Not all good landscapes are wide-angle though, and from a distance it is often good to take a mid range lens and zoom in to highlight a specific feature.

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Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1000 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"GSWW - Nelson Bay" (Nelson Bay, 2006)

Here we see an uphill section of the Great South West Walk between Cape Nelson and Cape Grant. It is a study in the colours and textures of the varying coastal scrub, the sand & wood of the track and the summer sky.

This was one of the earliest pictures I took with my A610.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/2.8
1/40 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Shady Grotto" (Cape Nelson, 2006)

A dense cover of Moonah trees on the east side of Cape Nelson produces a number of shady grottos, inspiring the GSWW designers to name it "The Enchanted Forest".

As you can see from the exposure, the light in the grotto was really very dim, necessitating a delay to minimize shutter press blur. The highlights outside in the sunlight are blown as you would expect with such contrast. Bring on 48 bit colour!
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Blue Lagoon" (Portland, 2006)

The Fawthrop Lagoon is normally green or brown, but this day the sun was at the right angle and the sky was so blue that it coloured the entire lagoon. It is perhaps only photography and plain air painting that make one so aware of the great changes of colour that come over a scene with differing light.
Picture Canon A610
8mm (41mm)
f/4
1/1000 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Golf Course" (Portland, 2006)

Another man-made landscape and a study in manicured grass.
I feel that it's generally hard to go wrong on a sunny day.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/320 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Bill's Walk" (Portland, 2006)

It was a bright summer's day as I walked along this seaside track. I wanted to capture the feeling of the path as it wound between trees passing in and out of dappled shade.

The problem with shade in bright sun is that it is invariably darker to the camera than it is to the eye, due to the reduced dynamic range. "Lighten shadows" alleviated this problem quite well, although I feel a better camera would do this scene greater justice.
Picture Canon A610
17mm (83mm)
f/4
1/640 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Murrell's Hill" (Cape Nelson, 2006)

I travel this road several times a week as I do my cycle lap of Cape Nelson, so it was natural that I should photograph it.

The hill provides a focus for the eyes which are led to it by the road that runs below the summit. The overall theme is farmland but the hill gives it a focus and a variation.
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/320 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Wannon Vale" (Sandford, 2006)

The late afternoon sun makes rural fields glow with warmth. This is a classic Australian rural shot, it has redgums, cattle, fences, a road, ... it even has a windmill.

Again, bringing up the shadow has lost colour information, but it's still better (IMO), than leaving half the picture dark.
Picture Canon A610
10mm (46mm)
f/4
1/100 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Volcanic Scrub" (Mt Eccles, 2006)

A shot of bushland at Mt Eccles woodland after the recent bushfires.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/2.8
1/60 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Dry Stone Wall" (Mt Eccles, 2006)

The texture of the old dry-stone walls in the volcanic country of Mt Eccles makes a stunning scene set against the dim grey sky of a rainy day, and the grey tree trunks and bracken regrowth after a recent bushfire.

Unfortunately the A610 didn't get something quite right here and the pic was rather washed out. I repaired it as best I could, but the upper half is still too light and lacking contrast. Perhaps the low light intensity combined with the overcast light asked for too much dynamic range? Perhaps the auto white balance was confused? Anyway, for all its faults its still a good pic, (IMO).
Picture Canon A610
22mm (104mm)
f/4.5
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Limestone Scrub" (White's Beach, 2006)

A sunny day and the A610 was rarely confused under such conditions.

I love rock shots! Texture, texture, texture.
Picture Canon A610
15mm (72mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"White's Cottage" (White's Beach, 2006)

This stone cottage nestled among the grassy dunes was too photogenic to pass up. See it, frame it and Snap!
Picture Canon A610
15mm (72mm)
f/4
1/1000 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Henham Track" (Grampians NP, 2006)

I went to the Grampians National park some months after a massive bushfire and got many shots of the vegetive regrowth. The track running to the mountains shot always works as the eye follows the track.

Partial cloud is always a problem with landscapes shots due to the uneven light. I lightened the shadows in PP but one is generally better off with no cloud or all cloud.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/1000 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Mt William Rocks" (Grampians NP, 2006)

Again the rocks. Man, they have so much texture, how can you not love them? And with the trees, shrubs and sky for variety it must be a winner (IMO).
Picture Canon A610
13mm (60mm)
f/4
1/60 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Nigretta Falls" (Southern Grampians Shire, 2006)

I took a number of shots of these falls taking in more of the surroundings, but for this gallery I chose this closeup that really focuses on the water. By excluding the surrounds there is nothing to distract the eye from the rock, the fall and the pool.
Picture Canon A610
29mm (140mm)
f/4.1
1/80 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Wannon Backwater" (Southern Grampians Shire, 2006)

I love closeup shots of water. The camera freezes it completely making it appear like jelly with every ripple engrained on the surface. The semi-reflective nature is also fascinating to me and in this situation; its tendency to form bubbles.

The rocks are also interesting in their own right and perfectly complement the water.
Picture Canon A610
7mm (35mm)
f/4
1/100 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Wannon Falls" (Southern Grampians Shire, 2006)

The most famous falls of the Southern Grampians and a subject for a famous painting by Chevalier.

A classic subject. All you have to do is get it properly framed and in focus. It is always worthwhile for a classic subject trying a few different framings. It's easy to chose the best when you have them on your computer. Better too many shots than not enough!
Picture Canon A610
17mm (83mm)
f/4
1/1250 sec
ISO Auto
P Mode

Full Size

"Western District Sheep & Shed" (Southern Grampians Shire, 2006)

An iconic Western District scene: the sheep, the paddock and the shearing shed... that IS the Western District!

I saw this scene where I didn't expect it, but I had the camera with me, so I was able to walk around to find the best shot and bingo!
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 18-55 VR
18mm (27mm)
f/8
1/30 sec
ISO 400
A Mode

Full Size

"Forest Path with Log" (Nun's Bush, 2006)

What you can do with wide angle. The A610 couldn't have taken this shot as the track bent around behind me and I couldn't have got far enough from the scene to use its 35mm (equivalent) max wide angle. The 27mm (equiv) on the kit lens got it in nicely.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 18-55 VR
46mm (69mm)
f/16
1/160 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Wind Turbine with Dead Moonahs" (Cape Nelson, 2009)

It's all a matter of contrast. The man made, sleek, mechanical turbines are the exact opposite of the old, dead, gnarled, native, organic trees. The sky and bracken give the necessary background.

Seeing the new through the old gives the opportunity to waffle on about any number of metaphors and messages.
Picture Nikon D60
Nikon 18-55 VR
55mm (83mm)
f/11
1/60 sec
ISO 200
A Mode

Full Size

"Windpump Farmland" (Cape Nelson, 2009)

Here is the quintessential Australian rural scene: paddocks drying off, wire fences in all directions and a few farmhouses in the distance with the old galvanised wind pump as the visual focus in the centre.

I saw it one late afternoon when I didn't have my camera with me, but I remembered it and came back some days later when the sky was right at the same time. Persistence pays off!