What are the best settings for landscape photography? A question Tom Mackie is asked frequently. In this video he shares what he considers to be the best dslr camera settings for landscape photography which he uses to produce his work.
This includes whether to use JPEG or RAW files, what is a good aperture setting for landscapes, the iso for landscape photography he uses, which white balance setting tends to work best and camera mode settings, irrespective of whether you use a Canon, Nikon, Sony or another brand.
Ultimately the best settings are going to depend on what you are photographing and the conditions at the time, but we hope this video is a useful reference point.
Here is a complete round up of the kit and equipment Tom uses:
CAMERA AND LENSES
Nikon D850 Camera –
Nikon 24 – 70 mm Lens –
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 14-24mm f/2.8G ED –
Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 300mm –
Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70 – 200 mm f/2.8E FL ED VR Lens –
FILTERS
Lee Filters Field Pouch –
LEE Filters DSLR starter kit –
Lee Filters Little Stopper –
Lee Filters Big Stopper Glass Filter Neutral-Density –
Lee Super Stopper –
Lee Filters s5pl Polarising Filter –
ACCESSORIES
MIOPS Smart Phone High Speed Remote Trigger Kit –
Flight Logistics Sun Compass –
HoodLoupe® Outdoor Loupe for 3.2″ LCD Optics and Base –
BAGS
Lowepro Pro Runner BP 450 AW II Bag –
Lowepro Sac Revolver Top Loader Zoom 75 Aw –
In the spirit of complete transparency, some of the above links are affiliate links. #landscapephotography
THANK YOU!!!!!! very much helped, now i can get some sleep before a day trip☀️💐
Just found your video and am very impressed. I like the way you present the material in a way that is easy to follow and understand. I subscribed and liked it by the way and will be watching others. Thanks for taking the time to help those of us wanting to sharpen our skills.
your viewing loop around your neck is it a Hood man? My i ask you how much did you pay .Can you tell us difference between the two prices.And why one is better then the other. For the money .
Great information. Like any other service, gatekeepers provide value but at a cost. No free lunch here either. Could you give an example of where a gatekeeper might dislike your ideas enough to block you? Nice to see that you value the community that you are building. And it is true that some will complain, but mostly they can be ignored, not to be taken personally.
Thank you
Very informative very well explained
What picture profile would you recommend within the Nikon cameras ?
Great Tom as always. I would like to note that if you use AP it looks that simple and easy IF nothing moves (wind etc) and you don't care about slow sutter. But if you have no so much light and you want to shoot a landscape with no movement at clouds trees….you have to play M and compensate the ISO to give you that faster speed for freeze. Greetings from Greece
If you're not trying to get it right in-camera with one shot using manual, you're a hack. Take the time to learn something.
The 4 most important facts that you missed! Focus 1 third of the way into the scene for best average, Always have the mirror up, and always enable front curtain and use a 3 second delay…
R YOU AT NUSA PENIDA?
he said aperture priority but didnt say what aperture setting he uses
Overall good video, but as you said, remember, if you are shooting raw, you can always change your white balance in post, so I’ll stick with a auto, which my camera usually hits it right on! If I’m not pleased, I can always fix it in post!
Hi
Could you please help me to set the shutter speed
The limit is between 30 seconds and 1/8000 second
Or this is due to the lee filter you use
Appreciate your feedback
Thanks
Superb video! learnt a lot 🙂 thank you for sharing
All good advise with one possible exception…the advice to shoot on ISO 100. Different cameras have different "Native" ISOs. My Nikons, for instance, have a native ISO of 200 at which the camera gets the best results.
Really helpful and easy to understand, thank you.
With regards digital photography, it doesn't matter which metering mode you use, as you will be using the histogram to check your exposure.
What's the name of the little lens you use at 6.15 to look LCD in live view?
Good tutorial, thanks! How do you time your long exposures? What I mean is, if you're using a 10-stop ND, and the exposure should be 4 minutes, how to you tell the camera to expose for 4 minutes in bulb mode?
Thanks for making this short and to the point for this complete newbie who just bought an a7ii
Not much point of setting the White Balance if you shoot RAW and you can change it anytime 😉
Stupid question if I could. The device you use to review an image on your live screen, what is it called? And your videos are great have learnt so much.
I feel like I hear bits of Aussie accent lol but very informative video! Best is the basic language used- a lot of the other videos I can’t quite understand due to the technical terms etc
Practice what you preach.. “use live view” 30 seconds later your using the view finder.. 🙂
I’m joking, nice video again.
Thanks
nice tips simple but direct to the point.. more videos for u sir
Good video thanks
Thanks for the advice , I have questions about shooting in RAW vs Raw and jpeg
Are there is difference between them.
Thank you for all the great tips…
Hi, could you do a video for medium format or for film? There are a lot of new young photographers, like me, that prefer to go the film route
Love your speech and your voice,easy to understand . What is the equipment you use when checking on screen of camera?
Great video nice job
HEY if u could give a simple response- how do u determine ur aperture during landscape shoots? Thx.
is the spot where you are doing this video Lagos, Portugal?
What an excellent and informative video. Thanks.
On the money Tom.. great episode – was ticking my check list off as you was going through stuff.. glad to know that I am on the right road, well, I seem to be on the same road as you! 🙂 TFS
Love your posts. Still haven't thanked for the d850 review that convinced me to go through and finally buy it. Hope you're enjoying Portugal!
Also would love to see a movie "where to focus" in landscape and the recommended aperture.
Thanks!
Hello Tom, thanks for your interesting videos! Do you lock the mirror up before the shutter release? For next ideas would be really nice to know how you make explorations, how you choose your positions and locations. Thanks
What is that hanging around your neck? You used it at one point, but didn’t explain what it was.
One benefit of settling white balance and picture control in camera while shooting raw, is it effects exposure a little. If you expose with all the adjustments that are going to be adding in post then you won’t have to recover the yellow channel (sunrise/set) highlights or blue/magenta channels (shadows) resulting in a cleaner image, which is better for larger prints.
Nice video. Very well narrated. What filter brand and system as well as the holder are you using?
Tom, I have tried it a couple of times in the last year but always went back to manual because I felt more comfortable with it. But after watching your latest video I figure if its good enough for you, I need to be doing it too.
Thank you for your time, effort and knowledge sharing.
Thanks for explaining what kind of metering you are normally using. I look forward for more good and detailed videos.
One thing you didn't mention about color temperature is the effect of filters. I use Lee ND filters which tend to give a bluish cast. While I can correct that in Lightroom, I find that using "cloudy" or "shady" color setting offsets the blue cast very well in Live View, and saves me work in editing. This is especially true at Blue Hour, or at the cusp of Blue/Gold Hour.
Do buy cable releases with a timelapse function a.k.a. intervalometers. First, they do not cost hundreds, they can cost even less than basic branded cable releases. Second, they will allow to overcome the limitations of some built-in intervalometers, like limited max. shutter speed. Paying twenty buck for this functionality is worth it.