Hi fairy,
Unless you're grab shooting, you would want to use a tripod for serious
landscape photography, so light usually wouldn't be an issue in the
choice of aperture. Some landscape photographers espouse using as small
an aperture as possible to maximize depth of field. In fact, several of
history's great shooters called themselves the f64 club or something
like that, because that shot everything at small aperture for maximum
depth of field. (Large format lenses generally stop down to f64.)
However, there are numerous landscape opportunities where a large
aperture would be desirable. I frequently prefer to throw some
foreground objects out of focus and sometimes choose an aperture just
for that purpose. What's more, many of our Pentax primes are sharper at
f11 or f8 than they are at f22, yet still provide adequate depth of
field for an infinity focus landscape shot. In other words, the choice
of aperture should depend on what your artistic goals are as well as the
characteristics of the equipment your using. I've noticed in some of
your still lifes that you are quite skilled in using depth of field to
your advantage. The same rules can be applied to landscape photography.
(By the way, I'm sure someone whose memory is better than mine will
provide some clarification and correction in regard to the f64 shooters.)
Paul
Tanya & Russell Mayer wrote:
>
> Hey everyone, just a quick question before hubby kicks me off the
> computer...
>
> This may seem like a totally dumb question, but please remember that
> everything I know about photography I have taught myself, so you can expect
> that I will have missed a few things here and there.
>
> At a BBQ on Friday night (don't say it, I know BBQ = meat = very naughty
> for Good Friday, but I'm a vego anyways, so there...my kids ate sausages
> though. hehe)... Anyways, at a BBQ on Friday night, a woman and I were
> talking about photography and she claimed that she had this friend who was
> an "expert" on landscape photography, which I basically know ZILCH about.
> She claimed that his number one tip was to shoot EVERYTHING in landscape
> photography at f22 to ensure maximum depth of field. Ok, so here is my
> question, (and please forgive me if I am wwaaaaay off track here), but when
> you are shooting, say a lake, or a beach scene at 6.30 at night and you need
> more light, doesn't it make sense to shoot as wide open as possible? The
> lady I spoke to argued the point of depth of field with me, but unless I am
> reeeeally mistaken, I thought that the theory behind a lens which focuses at
> "infinity" meant that after your subject is a certain distance away from the
> lens (eg. 8 metres on my Vivitar 28/2) the focusing switches to infinity
> which basically means that everything is in focus anyways? I mean, if that
> is not the case, than what is the use of having a "fast lens" when only a
> miniscule amount of your shot will be in focus?
>
> I am sure that I sound really backward and totally clueless to even very
> basic photography rules on this, but if her friend is truly an "expert" then
> wouldn't he be correct in his f22 theory? And if he is, can somebody please
> elaborate on this for me, cause I have definitely lost the plot
> somewhere....
>
> Oh, btw, Merry Easter!! (Well, some people say "Happy Christmas" you know!)
> 8-)
>
> fairy.
>
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