Mark

Landscape photography tips. I’ll begin by talking about what happens during a hike out on the trail. Secondly, Collecting thoughts and looking for subjects. Finally, I will finish by importing them into the computer and adding software enhancements before posting them onto social media.

I want to start the article on Friday’s hike in the evening.

After a day of shooting food for my sister’s blog, my sister, her daughter, and I went for a walk.
The weather was pleasant, and the light was low and not quite over the hill. On the way back, which was just about when the sun was setting, I saw a possible image. I wear glasses and usually have a leash on them, but didn’t this time. As I was walking up a hill to get a better host, I tucked my glasses under my right arm. I took a picture and figured I needed to hike some more up the hill. Little did I know that my glasses had fallen while going uphill. It wasn’t till I finished taking one more photo that I realized my glasses were not under my arm!

Use a leash for your glasses!

A long story short. I would have to stay overnight and try to find the glasses the next morning. So, Saturday morning rolls in, and my sister and I head out to the area that I thought I’d lost my glasses. Within five minutes, she found them! I was lucky. B&W landscape photography tips will begin. So tip #1, if you wear glasses, make sure you have a leash or place them in the camera bag or pants pocket.

Look for subjects that catch your eye.

Tip #2: Be on the lookout for subjects. B&W landscape photography tips include considering what to photograph. After finding my glasses, we walked for about an hour. This week several horseback riders and bicyclists were on the trial. As a pair of riders approached, I lined up a photo and shot a couple of images. I have to consider a 1/360th shutter speed to stop the horseback riders. One of the two was going to be worthy. I used my Leica M10 Monochrom with a 35mm lens. That means I need to move to frame the image correctly.

Later, along the trail, I found another image of Mt. Diablo in the background. More of a pastoral image as the tree sat among the hilly fogged mountain. Again, I found a couple more photos.

Importing images and processing them.

Tip #3: Shoot Raw images. Finally, I like to shoot Raw images because they hold the most information and the most flexible file to edit. I process them in Capture One Pro 20 software. First, I create a new session with Capture One Pro 20 on my external SSD hard drive. Then I insert the cameras SD card on my laptop, and copy the image files to the SDD Session sub-folder named capture. Then, I open the session in Capture One Pro 20 and open the session and click the capture folder, and the files will appear in the image browser.

I like to use mostly Curves and Levels. If I use High Dynamic Range sliders, I use them sparing and watch out for halos or glowing edges in the image. I will then move to grain to get a film-like look. I’ll finish up by added some tint with the 3-way color editor. The color editor allows you to tweak Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows to your liking. The tool’s breakdown is the saturation slider 0%-100% on the left, the tone slider in the center, and the brightness slider on the right. Each part of the tool has a tab that allows you to slide in the effect when you grab it. If you are toning a color image, desaturate before using the 3-way color editor.

Lately, I used warm tones for the Highlight and Shadow and cool tones for the Midtone. The combination seems to create a pleasing palette to my eye. Well, I hope these B&W landscape photography tips are helpful. Be patient and try to make some new images. Enjoy photographing!

How to series on photographing. Part Two: Image Processing.

Adobe Lightroom Classic first.

So now that you shot an image with the correct exposure, what is next? Well, you will need to process the image in editing software. I will demonstrate in both Adobe Lightroom Classic and Capture One Pro.
I will demonstrate importing to Adobe Lightroom Classic first. This demonstration will be for Leica Monochrome images. Color images will have a couple of more tools to consider for image adjustments. More on this at the end of the discussion. I import images to an external SSD drive. I found a youtube video that shows how to set up an external disk catalog.

Take the memory card and mount it to your computer. Open the folder of images and copy them directly to the LR Images folder you made from the video. Then launch Lightroom Classic. On the menu, go to File-Find Catalogue. Find your external drive and open up the folders you just made, and you should find a .lrcat document with a Lightroom icon. Click or double-click that icon to select it. Then in the Library mode (designated by the menu on the top), click on the Import button on the bottom left column. Select your image(s) and click Import. In the menu, click on the menu tab “Develop.”

In the right-hand column, you will look for “Curves.” I like Curves because it’s a global tool in that when you create a steep curve, you increase overall contrast, and when you flatten the curve, you decrease the total contrast. Using this tool will allow toning an image without a pitfall of possible glow around specific parts of your image. You may look for a youtube video to demonstrate how a curve works in photo editing. You can experiment with the other tools, but know that the Curves are powerful and help you avoid image glowing.

Once I like the look, I right-click on the image to edit in Adobe Photoshop. In Photoshop, I will add a very slight color tint using Image-Adjustments-Selective Color. You will select the circle Absolute at the bottom for more color movement. You will edit by scrolling the color to Whites, Neutrals, and Blacks. In Whites, you can adjust the highlight tint to your liking. I like to minus 1 Cyan, add 1 Magenta and add 2 or 3 Yellow. In the Neutrals minus 1 Cyan, add one magenta and add 1 or 2 Yellow. And about the same for the Shadows. Visually look at the image for fine-tuning to your liking. Save your image, and that’s it.

So if you shoot color and want to convert to Black & White, you will need to click at the top Treatment row from “Color” to “Black & White in the left-hand column, then use the color sliders to fine-tune the filter effects. The use Curves to adjust the contrast and tones.

For those using Capture One Pro 20.

Launch the program and in the Menu scroll to New Session. Name the session and select a location on your external hard drive. Then mount the memory card and copy the images into the session on your external drive into the “Capture Folder.” Open the Capture One Pro 20 application and under the Library icon on the left, make sure the session you created is selected and click the Capture folder to see your imports.

Capture One Pro has two items in the left column “Exposure” tab. Level and Curves. I

Capture One Pro has two items in the left column “Exposure” tab. Level and Curves. I use curves for global contrast and image enhancements and Levels to sometimes globally open up the middle to three-quarter tones.
Global edits will stop halos in your image. In curves, you have two chances to make curve edits, One in Luma and one in RGB. Use Dynamic Range sliders sparingly to avoid halos. I also add grain to my images, which is in the magnifier glass icon named “Details.” Make sure you make these adjustments at 100% to see the effect you are giving.

Also, under the “Color” icon in the left-side column, you can add tint to your image. Scroll to Balance and select the three-way color wheel. I like to add a touch of warmth in all three, but experiment and use the sliders sparingly to create your expression. That about covers the fundamental aspects of image toning for both programs. If you shoot color and want to edit in Grayscale, Under the Color icon, you have a Black & White tool. You will need to check the Enable Black & White button. Comment if you have any questions or comments. Thank you!

Summer is upon us, and I’m finding myself roaming the hills in Alamo and Danville to occupy myself during this pandemic. The trails are wide and allow for passing with at least six feet of distance. These photos are with my B&W camera.

This view is of Mt. Diablo. The oaks trees are plentiful, and rolling hills in the foreground covered with dry grass.

Wispy clouds that I thought were very expressive. I composed the image with a profile-like cloud to the left with the oak trees in the foreground.

This image was mostly about the flow and glow on the clouds. I balanced the clouds with the hills and trees.

This composition caught my eye back in Spring, and I made this image in B&W. The trail gracefully winds throughout the image.

I made these photos while visiting my sister’s family. I usually end up trying to keep up. This image was composed as they were farther on the trail.

The sun peering through the trees makes a dramatic impact. The light rays illuminate part of the dry grass.

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