My name is Jez Sugars I have been a photographer for 30 years, and worked in the photographic trade for 25 of those years. I have dabbled in almost all types of photography over the years, but for the last ten years I have specialised in country and urban landscapes.
With the quality of camera stabilisation you can do almost anything hand held now, but there are still creative shots where a tripod is essential. Here I share three ideas to consider.
#1 - Neutral Density
Is the timeless effect of slowing movement into a long exposure from 5 seconds to a couple of minutes using filters on the front of the camera. The style allows for a creative fine art output, which is often presented in black and white. A good tripod is essential to this. To give the stability needed, and to provide the ease to frame the shot in all environments.
Neutral density is for the landscape or urban photographer who wants to create images that are more dynamic and thought provoking. Due to the extension of the exposure you really get a sense of impermanence, as rivers and weather becomes beautiful flows of movement. The structures in the image becoming more rooted to the environment and the temporary becomes background. This style of image making is best where there is movement, such as moving water or our good chunky British clouds being pushed through the frame.
At the same time it is great for architectural work in busy cities because the people are removed or become blurry background. I use a 10 Stopper to create this effect, but a lot of traditional landscape photographers use graduated filters to hold back the sky from over exposing when the contrast is too harsh.
To achieve this effect, attach your filter using a holder and step up ring (please note the diameter of the lens you want to use to purchase the correct size of filter), holder and step-up ring. Once assembled put your camera in manual, drop your ISO to low, and close down your aperture to somewhere lower than F11. Now is the time to start doing some test shots. I normal start at 4 seconds and work my way up to a couple of minutes doubling each time. Tweaking the setting as I go.
The image below was taken at the famous Pulteney Bridge Weir in Bath using a 10 stop ND, camera set at ISO Low, F11 with a 120 second exposure. Giving a lovely creamy effect on the moving water, and long enough for the reflection of the pillars to develop in the camera.
The photograph below was taken on a busy Saturday at Winchester Cathedral. It was the peak of summer and this path along the side the Cathedral is a pinch point where there is a heavy flow of people. I set up my tripod just in front of the path, so I had people heading toward the camera and around the tripod in both directions. With a 34 sec exposure at F16 with a ISO low those people become ghosts. At the time of shooting it felt very hectic and challenging spot to be working, but with that ND filter the location has become a nice study on line and light.
The image below was taken in Cardiff Bay shot at F14 ISO Low and was a 59 second exposure. The tide is leaving to the left, the clouds are coming towards us, alongside the spinning of the big wheel it achieves a great sense of movement. There is a push and pull within the image which adds to the surreal qualities of the environment.
Any type of tripod can be used for this style, you don't need any specialist features, though a lighter travel tripod can be best around town, and a more solid tripod can be best in the countryside.
#2 Macro Photography
As a photographer, we are always looking for a decisive moment, or to capture the essence of the environment, but with macro our human perspective goes into searching for hidden details. Macro is about elevating the small unobserved scenes that we normally disregard to the central subject, and when enlarging the scale we reveal a whole new world.
I find this the most challenging type of photography, due the low depth of field of macro lenses, and nature doesn’t like to wait for you to compose your shot, and focus. Once you have spotted the detail you are interested in, I find that the best practise is to really visualise the shot before you compose it.
Macro lenses have a ratio of 1:1 compared to most lenses being 1:2.8 and higher, and this is what increases the scale. It also means the focus is paper thin, so manual focus is the way forward. A tripod really helps with this, allowing you to compose your shot and add accessories like lighting to enhance your shot, which then frees you up focus the very thin depth of field in the correct area without moving out of the sweet spot. Modern cameras have focus peaking and in camera magnification to assist with this.
To get as much depth of field as possible you will need to shoot with a small aperture, somewhere north of F8, so to maintain a reasonable shutter speed your ISO is going to have to be at the more sensitive end ISO 2000 plus.
To really capture a great image you will need to be able to position the camera perfectly and often need extra constant light or off camera flash, as macro scenes are often in shady spots. I find that this is where a Multi-Angle Centre Column comes into it's own, with the ability to take the camera to the subject and attach accessories to the centre column.
To take macro to the next level, you will want to get the whole scene in focus. For this, you will need to stack the focus points. This means you will take a group of images all at a different point in the focal range and combine them in one great photo. Stacking can take a couple of seconds to expose, so a tripod is perfect for the job.
The flower photograph below was taken in a basic studio set up with two constant lights and is a good example of stacking. This image is a composite of ten images stacked on top of each other to achieve the depth to see more of the subject. But still to have that macro feel. You can stack hundreds of images if you want and you can buy software to assist with this.
#3 Night & Low light
What I love about night photography in urban environments is the sense of people, but no one is present. With our buildings and utilities always on show in a modern Landscape, it can make for an interesting image or story.
Cameras now have superb ISO abilities and some great results can be achieved hand held, but to really get an award winning image you will need a tripod to slow down the exposure time down, remove camera shake, and enrich the saturation. Lowering the ISO reduces the noise produced at higher ISO’s and gives you better quality images.
For astral photography other than the moon, you will need the brightest lens F2.8 and below. The image below is a 40 sec exposer at 3200 ISO using a fish-eye open to F2, when I shot this image you couldn’t see the Milky Way with the naked eye, but using a sky map on my phone I could point it in the right direction and capture this great photograph.
In Summary:
Image stabilisation will continue to improve, but there is still a role for the humble tripod. These are just three ideas, and feel free to tag us with your images @vanguardphotouk
About the author:
I hope this blog was helpful, and if you want any advise please email me at jeremy@vanguardworld.co.uk
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