Best Camera Settings for Landscape Photography

Landscape photography can feel slow-moving at times, until it suddenly feels just the opposite. So, you need to know how to set your camera quickly and accurately or you'll miss the shot! This video will help you get to that point, whether you're a beginner or advanced photographer.
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This video is not sponsored! You can support Photography Life and Spencer Cox Photography by buying anything through my affiliate links!
Here is all the photo equipment I use: bhpho.to/3XUv32a
And here’s my video gear to film this video: bhpho.to/3Yt8th1
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Some more resources related to this video:
Hyperfocal distance focusing method: • Hyperfocal Distance - ...
Best aperture for landscape photography: • The Best Aperture For ...
Similar info but in blog form: photographylif...

[@stubsey7475]

As a relative newcomer to photography, can I say how welcoming it is to have someone who presents with such clarity, in a concise and thankfully simple manner. I will be spending quite a time viewing your other videos and learning from them. Thank you Spencer.

[@alakhazom]

The website is fantastic as well. As a newcomer,i would recommend Mike Browne-the basics of photography are explained in such a simple,easy to digest form!

[@larrys2065]

So glad you're making videos again! Keep up the great work. You are the most clear and concise person that I've seen talking about photography in detail. Thank You!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, Larry, I really appreciate it! Planning to do a video per month this year and ramp it up over time.

[@SniperPhotography]

One word Brilliant

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Glad to hear you liked it!

[@danielling792]

Your explanation is clear succinct and complete.

[@ToddGrivetti]

Excellent video. New to Photography Life. Glad I stumbled upon this site.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, welcome to the channel!

[@markjarrett9400]

We back l have missed your videos

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you very much, Mark! I have missed making them.

[@ksnmurthy4476]

A fantastic tutorial. An authentic details with convincing explanations. Thank you Spencer.

[@touchtennis]

Great to have you back!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Glad to be back!

[@jnt6155]

thanks again for a great video

[@maheshmsmgwildlife4231]

Super, lesson and good suggestions..mahesh USA./ India.

[@michaelsouth7058]

Congratulations on the 75k, well deserved.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you! Glad you're enjoying the channel.

[@mbrady005]

Good to see you back Spencer. Bungee Cord, Genius!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thanks, Michael! It’s a great trick and I’ve found it much more useful than the usual backpack method.

[@ImYoDK]

Thank you much for the intel since I bought my first dslr the other day! this information helps me a lot and appreciate it!

[@alakhazom]

Oh, finally another video from you. You have such a good material in written form-so easy to draw ideas from it. Plus your photos are quite clean,sublime and inspiring.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Much appreciated! All the articles do make it easier to brainstorm these videos.

[@dilip24383]

Thank you for sharing this tips.

[@PaolaAndrea4184]

Just what I needed; a video that’s simple to follow, and understand. Thank you from Australia

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Glad you liked it, and hello back from Colorado!

[@lynnswango8768]

You are a very good instructor,

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, Lynn!

[@zubairshimon985]

Very helpful. You have every quality to become a good mentor. Keep it up!!!

[@paulorrmorais3697]

Very very good video!!!

[@fahimsarabi258]

Good advice thanks

[@scottallencolorado]

thanks for the great video.

[@Suhailkhan53]

Awesome video ❤

[@manishmishra6945]

Wonderful video.. thanks much

[@Kmo1970]

Informative video 👏

[@lew5268]

Very pleased to see you back on KZbin!!! Please continue!!!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Absolutely! I’ve been planning to post for ages and finally had the time. The pace this year will be about one video a month if I had to guess.

[@ambrosechiu2338]

you are the best and thabk you🏆

[@alcoleman2890]

Really great video. Thanks. I'm subscribing to your channel.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, Al!

[@mariosnicolaou8770]

Thank you for another excellent video Spencer. I love the bungee cord connected to the camera bag trick :)

[@davidkrugs6466]

So very, very helpful. Just awesome pictures 📸. Your presentation is outstanding and so easy to follow. Thanks so much.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Sure thing, David! Thanks for saying so.

[@patrickmolloy6994]

re stability n windy conditions. I use a long bungee that I loop around my foot! great video 👍

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

I like that idea! Thanks for adding this. Sounds quicker than using a backpack. I'd just want to make sure that my own movements aren't transmitted to the camera if I'm shuffling around.

[@tsdelaney]

Thank you very much, Spencer! Really clear explanations and suggestions!!!

[@mushirrazaqureshi8381]

Thanks a lot 🙏 very nice & up to date presentation 👏I m really excited to watch your next video on new topic. 😊

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Happy to hear it, thank you!

[@tribesman1594]

One word. Excellent 👌

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

One word. Thanks!

[@gavinmcgoldrick7800]

Great video. Easy to understand.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thanks, Gavin, glad you liked it.

[@videnteglobal]

Welcome back Spencer, I always find your articles I Nassim's) and videos very informative.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, I’m glad to hear it! We put a lot of effort into those articles and these videos and I’m always glad when they’re useful.

[@alfredolandaeta4468]

Your videos help me to take better photos.. clear and concise.. keep posting good tutorials !

[@Poita00]

Good to have you back Spencer, love your tutorials.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you! I’m glad to be back :)

[@christophharman5325]

Pleased to see you back! Your vids are so informative and presented in easy-to-understand format. Thanks!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, Christoph!

[@mazdaram226]

Simply brilliant, thank you …

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Glad you liked it, thanks!

[@slymar66]

Thank you!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Sure thing!

[@michaelvail2446]

Love your work and style. Looking forward to seeing more of you. Thanks for all you give us and congrats on the 75K!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you for the encouragement, Michael! More to come this year. Aiming for 100K by December.

[@ffelsar]

Hi Spencer, your videos are extremely useful I must say, Incredible job being for free. Thank you very much.

[@TheXone7]

Unbelievably useful, thank you!

[@adinardinar2642]

Sangat cantik sekali karya anda 👍👍👍 terimA kasih sudah berbagi ilmu nya 👍 Salam kenal dan salam sukses selalu 🙏👍🙏🙏🙏

[@jayant6012]

Hey Spencer.. great work mate!! .. please bring in more videos „frequently“, content is superb.. hard to get these days.. keep up the amazing work!!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you! Will do, I’m planning to post videos more frequently this year.

[@rajawijetunga4753]

Thanks! Short and sweet.

[@geraldverniers8577]

Thank you

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Of course!

[@kristianlaca]

Thanks

[@c.alcazar2584]

Thank you I love that you go right to the point, very explicit can wait for your next videos, great pictures enjoy and stay safe

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Sure thing! Glad you liked it.

[@vikramrghanekar]

Nice to see Photography Life, well, coming back to life. I would suggest you put links to your video from 2019 about hyperlocal distance in the description. Thanks.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

That's a great idea, consider it done! I also linked to a couple other resources that may be useful for people who liked this video.

[@stevejohnston7118]

Great video. Simple, easy to understand and follow! Look forward to seeing you more in 2022! THANK YOU!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Very happy to hear it, thanks, Steve!

[@paulschmolke188]

Very worthwhile, understandable, logical and good example images. Thanks! 👍🏽

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Sure thing, thanks for the feedback!

[@MrTmiket0007]

Thanks for sharing another wonderful video, keep up with the awesome content 👍

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Glad you liked it! Will do.

[@a.keithclarke7975]

Thank you, I love your videos. You explain things in a very brief and clear manner. Without all the 'important detail neglecting' and unrelated fluff many others use to 'fill in' their screen time! And your double distance focusing video was a life saver, I'm not out in the field trying to be a mathematician, you solved that issue!

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thanks for saying so! And I’m in the same boat with the double the distance method. Why in the world it’s not more well known, I will never understand.

[@bruceatkinson932]

@@PhotographyLifeChannel Any chance of providing a link to the 'double distance focusing video'? Thanks

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Sure thing, Bruce, here it is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naTYfmaYiLiqmpY

[@neilmackey9626]

Knocked it out of the park as usual, Spencer...good to see you back in action! 😀 When you have the histogram up, do you ETTR at all based on how your histogram looks? Cheers!

[@andrewdg90]

Love the content! Keep it going! Will you be testing and reviewing the Arsenal 2? Does it seem worth it? Thinking on pre ordering one for my EOS 90D

[@wirelessg14]

Thanks, Spencer, good video. I have a different take re: the statement that your WB setting doesn't matter b/c it can be adjusted in post. What I've noticed is that when shooting inside if I take a custom WB reading and adjust that during post, it seems much easier to make subtle adjustments to the WB. Many times I found that w/out the custom WB starting point I couldn't get the WB I desired. Shooting outside under sunny or cloudy conditions and leaving WB adjustments to post does seem to more easily allow me get the color I want; but I've found that when the light is getting dimmer or may be more mixed, taking a custom WB and adjusting in post is better than not taking a custom reading. Also, changing WB often affects exposure; now, most of the time the shift in exposure is very noticeable on the histogram and perhaps not significant, but it might push your whites too far for what you want in an image. I understand that with rapidly changing light it might not be possible to repeatedly take a custom WB, but in such situations I do try to get more than a single custom WB reading, if possible.

[@robertgiguere875]

Another great video! Thank you. Question: Do you turn off stabilization when using a tripod, even when your shooting long exposures?

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Yes, 99% of the time. For tripod-based photography, I only keep it on when it’s extremely windy and I’m shooting with a medium to long lens.

[@bobmcadams3951]

The audio sounds great. What camera and microphone did you use?

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

I used two! The Rode Videomic Pro shotgun mic was on my camera, but it doesn't do great in the wind. When wind noise ruined that audio, I used a Sony ECM-44B lav mic with a Tascam recorder. I was happy with the combination but in the future would probably just go with a lav mic.

[@MOAB-UT]

Good tips. I didn't realize F stops were different on APS-C. So I should go UP one F stop on my camera to get real F/8?

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Good question! They're not different per se: If you shoot full frame and aps-c cameras side by side at f/8, the photos will still be the same brightness and the aps-c picture will literally look just like a crop of the full frame picture. But when you zoom out the lens on aps-c to match the field of view of full frame, you're now using a wider lens, and wider lenses have more depth of field. It's the same reason why the roughly 2mm lenses on smartphone cameras have such enormous depth of field. The end result is that you'd multiply your aperture by your crop factor to get the equivalent on full frame. So if you're shooting at, say, 18mm and f/8 on aps-c (assuming a 1.5x crop factor), you'd get the same field of view and depth of field on full frame at 27mm and f/12. Or, vice versa: something like 20mm and f/8 on full frame would be replicated at about 13mm and f/5.3 on aps-c. I hope that clarifies things.

[@MOAB-UT]

@@PhotographyLifeChannel Thanks.

[@HR-wd6cw]

On the newer cameras with IBIS, I think it is safe to leave IBIS on, and can help you if your camera moves slightly from wind. This is different than leaving lens IS/VR on, which will cause softness in your image as those tend to continously look for movement, where IBIS does not seem to have such an impact. Of course if you're in an area where there is no wind you can turn it off completely, but if it's questionable or there's a little wind (or slight wind gusts) I would leave IBIS on. Regarding tripods, IF you find yourself shooting a lot of landscapes, it may prove to be helpful to buy a tripod that's designed for that (ie. heavy duty, sturdy and fairly wind resistant, like a CF tripod.... they aren't cheap but they are helpful if you're serious about landscape photography). I mean many photographers have two or more tripods (I have a dedicated landscape tripod which is heavy, but it's sturdy and wind resistant) and then a smaller travel tripod (both are CF) which is not as stable, but is lighter and smaller. Focusing in landscape photography is "easy" but it can also be complex, especially if you have a lot of depth in the scene you want to get in focus, and/or you have something close to the camera. Of course this portion would go beyond the scope of this video (into hyper focal distance, or double the distance, among other techniques) but it is easy in some cases, but harder in others. If in doubt, focus stack at a reasonable aperture, like f/5.6 or f/8 and merge in post. Personally for me, I've found that spot metering helps the most, since I tend to bracket my shots when doing landscape (I may not merge all the images, but it does give me a DR value I can work with, but this also depends on the tones in your scene. If you use full matrix and your scene is overly dark, it could cause the camera to want to overexpose areas, so I've found using manual mode, and spot meter gives me the best results (but that's just me).

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

I tend to leave IBIS off when I’m using a tripod, but I’ve never seen it harm a photo’s sharpness (other than once with a third-party lens whose own VR system didn’t play well with IBIS).

[@dance2jam]

I really hate doing this, because I get some really good information from Photography Life, but that doesn't mean I should let mis-statements go unchecked. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but in the first 3 minutes you make the following statements: 1. "I recommend to addi the histogram and the blinkies option(I don't disagree), (because) they just tell you when anything in your photo is overexposed". As I'm sure you know, that isn't entirely true on several fronts. First, the histogram is a reading of the JPG file with the baked in picture profile settings (Wait, didn't you say when shooting RAW all these settings didn't matter? Ops - if you're using the histogram as a guide it sort of does). The blinking are perhaps a better guide because at least they show you where in the image the problem is occuring. That said, the overall histogram just shows the overall total luminance, not per channel in the image. 2. The other issue is that these items show regions that are over-amplified or over-exposed. If I turn up the ISO/Gain too high, yes, these areas may bet clipped, but that is not because of overexposure, but over amplification. Overexposure will have a similar effect of clipping highlights. Why would the advice from light stand folks be to never put the sandbags on the ground (because the weight of the bag is no longer effective holding the stand), and the recommendation here be the exact opposite (to place a weighted back pack on the ground in windy conditions - rather than just make the back pack heavier) - on the ground, does this really help better stabilize the tripod? I was surprised you didn't also show which way to point the legs in wind or on a hill to best stabilize the situation.

[@mikegordonbrasov161]

Great! Help pls; ¿How prevent against moisture get in the camera/Lens? (When shutting in this weather like your photos) ; fig, humidity in the air, cold under zero in winter, etc. I Know we can cover it, but the moisture in tbe air can still get in the camera, right? Any tips, like warming camera with some hiting belts? Algo; my canon EOS m50 instruction, says to not usé it under zero degrees Celsius. But I Am in Norway, and moisture and freeze, is inevitable😅

[@rajenderpinglereddy2931]

Can you tell me where to focus to get front to back sharpness, before I squeeze the trigger !

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Sure thing! It’s called the double-the-distance point. I covered it in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naTYfmaYiLiqmpY

[@nexusnde7835]

Hi there, I am one of those subscribers that subscribed to your channel, when you weren't posting anything..!! Just love your channel, I am also from Australia, ( European back-ground) just a quick question while we are in the subject of best settings for landscape , my problem (only a couple of year into photography) what do you recommend in those situations when you need to take a photo in a split second, I'll give you an example, I was just walking not quiet ready as I only just left the car park and walked into my local national park, when unexpectedly and for the first time, I saw a couple of deer , it was in the early hours of the morning (still a bit dark ..!! )And I just did not have time to set up, I know my fault right? what do you recommend young feller? A fast shutter speed , automatic ISO? what aperture? ETC. So in few words ... How to take photos in a hurry :) thanks and welcome back.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying Photography Life! Sure thing, I think I can answer that. I would use aperture priority mode. Quickly set your aperture to a wide value like f/2.8, and quickly boost your ISO to the point that your shutter speed floats to a reasonable value (like 1/250 if the deer are just walking around). Then just take the photo! You should be able to do that in a matter of about 10 seconds or less with a bit of practice. You do have a bit of flexibility on the aperture and can use something like f/5.6 or f/8 if it's bright out. But in your situation around sunrise, f/2.8 will give you more light to work with.

[@nexusnde7835]

@@PhotographyLifeChannel Thanks a lot it sounds like a plan :) I will try it and see How I go, so much to learn , the more I am getting into photography, the more I know there is so much more to learn, anyway you have a great day. And thanks again.

[@brianloeffler6551]

Hi Spencer - I enjoyed the video. I noticed you are using a Nikon, and so I was curious to know if you have it set to AF-S or AF-A.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thanks Brian! I use AF-S for landscapes and AF-C for macro/wildlife/sports. But it might just be out of habit. AF-A is a lot better than it used to be, in terms of quickly determining whether there’s movement in your scene. I’m sure you could use AF-A without a problem if you prefer it.

[@brianloeffler6551]

Hi Spencer - I have a Nikon D7500, and so thanks for sharing your thoughts on it.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

@@brianloeffler6551 Great camera. I tested it a few years ago and was very impressed. I think AF-A should work perfectly well for landscapes on that camera. If you think it’s having troubles in low light or low contrast subjects, it might be worth trying AF-S in those rare cases.

[@fonsecalopes]

💪

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

😄👍

[@AbhilashaKitchenQueen]

💕💕👌💕💕👌💕💕

[@gemstyxwalls1419]

You can't upload Raw files to Nikon Image Space. Or Facebook.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

It’s very easy to get a JPEG out of a raw file. Can’t go the other direction though.

[@gemstyxwalls1419]

@@PhotographyLifeChannel Thanks for the response.

[@fatfeministhippy]

This was such a helpful video. Really clear, practical, and such good tips. Thank you!!!

[@billyxxx81]

Great video Spencer 👌 As always, super clear, clever! Thank you.

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Of course!

[@ktoday3219]

Great video. Congrats

[@PhotographyLifeChannel]

Thanks, I really appreciate it!