Landscape Photography

Whether you live in the country or the city, the Lumix G cameras are perfect for capturing your chosen landscapes. Yes, there are some fantastic landscapes in Scotland or the Lake District, but if you live in a flat part of the country like I do, don’t let this limit your creativity. Landscape can be defined in many ways. It could be rolling fields with wild flowers, flowing water, the sea splashing onto the shore, inner city parks at dusk ‘til dawn with the sun creating long shadows, shafts of light across the ground or early morning people jogging or rushing to work.  The choice is endless.

As I live in the country, I decided to shoot a poppy field I discovered whilst driving to see a client in Cambridge. Whatever you decide to shoot, be imaginative and be creative with your photography. You’ll be surprised how much good stuff there is to shoot on your doorstep.

Camera, useful settings, accesories used

For this shoot I’m using the Lumix G2, but these guiding principles can be applied across the Lumix G range of cameras. Here is some of the equipment and settings I used.

• Lumix G2 with 14mm-70mm lens
• Format 16:9
• Fully Manual Shutter & Aperture
• ISO 100
• White Balance to ‘Daylight’
• Film Type to ‘Nature’
• Auto Bracketing set to 3 exposures
• Centre spot focus
• Typically the Lens was set to its widest angle of 14 mm

Composition

When I first spotted the poppy field, I made a mental note of the sun’s direction and decided to go back later that day to shoot a choice of views. When shooting, I prefer to compose and view the image through the viewfinder but using the screen is also fine. It’s all down to personal choice. When shooting landscapes, try and divide the picture into thirds, for example one third sky and two thirds foreground.

Lumix G2 14-42mm Lens ‘One Third Two Third Composition’

Lumix G2 14-42mm Lens ‘great shots from a low view point’

Always try and fill the viewfinder with the image. Don’t just look down the middle and ignore the peripherals of the frame. Also always try and keep the camera horizontal. You can use the grid lines on the rear screen to help with this.

Explore different angles and camera positions.  You can capture great shots from a low view point.
Create lighting effects by shooting into the sun as I have on the close up shots of the poppies.

Lumix G2 with 45mm f2.8 prime lens is great for close-ups with excellent depth of field

Lumix G2 with 45mm f2.8 : Create lighting effects by shooting into the sun’

Results

I took all my shots using the 3 frame bracketing position.

The close-up shots are with the 45 mm f2.8 prime lens set at full aperture to minimize the depth of field. To achieve this Set the ‘A’ aperture priority setting and adjust the aperture to the lowest value. When shooting areas such as field, you’ll get a better white balance setting using the daylight setting rather than AWB. I also set the G2 film type to Nature. This helped enhance the colour.

If you’re feeling creative a little post processing can improve your pictures.  For example, I have cropped one of my shots in a letterbox format which creates a more contemporary look and feel.

Letter box crop in photo editor creates a more contemporary look and feel to this shot

Tip

If you need to shoot quickly because the light is fading or something’s going to change in your shot, let’s not forget the IA: Intelligent Auto feature of the Lumix G2. In some instances it’s best to let the camera do the technical stuff so you can solely concentrate on capturing the moment.

You can also check out our Landscape (The Great Outdoors) video tutorial for more useful hints and tips.

Phil Surbey