Nikon D7000 Landscape Questions

[fattasseri]

Hello there,
I am writing to see if any of you can offer some suggestions for taking primarily landscape pictures. It is for a trip I will be making to the Canadian Rockies for 4 days over labor day weekend i.e. next weekend.

Equipment on hand:
1. Nikon D7000
2. Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8
3. Nikon 18-200mm
4. Nikon 35mm f/1.8
5. Wireless remote
6. Gitzo tripod with spikes
7. Really Right Stuff L bracket and ball head for tripod
8. Nikon Polarizer filters
9. B + W GND screw in filter 0.6 (for ultra wide lens) with step up / step down rings
10. Camera bag

Shooting:
1. Sunrise / Sunset, landscapes
2. Lakes, waterfalls, surrounding mountains
3. Wildlife if I see any
4. Portraits as appropriate

Location:
Canadian Rockies, Banff, Lake Louise for 4 days; staying at a hotel

Experience:
Have been using the camera with the 35 mm and 18-200 mm lens for about a month shooting in JPEG Fine. Not impressed with the results so far because I have many things to learn from using the equipment, settings, and shooting techniques. I have limited use so far to portraits, and indoor shots.
This weekend I plan to use the Tokina Ultra Wide 11-16 f/2.8 to shoot outdoors and sunsets. I have purchased a couple of books that focus on techniques...I am still going through them. Before I make the trip to Canada, I wanted to know if any of you can answer a few questions.


Questions:
1. Can you suggest a thorough guide for the D7000 other than the Nikon manual?
2. Is it worthwhile to purchase Thom Hogan’s guide for the D7000 which includes a CD-ROM and a condensed version?
3. Should I consider other resources that I can take into the field that are more practical than Thom Hogan’s guide?
4. Are there proven settings I can use on the D7000 for sunrise / sunset, waterfalls, and other landscape pictures that I will be shooting? If so, please suggest.
5. Any other equipment that are deemed important for landscape, sunrise / sunset?

If you can offer other suggestions, I am all ears. I have to experiment a lot, but because I am making a trip into Canada primarily for the scenery, I want to be prepared and have an idea of what works before I get there.

I will share my pictures for critiquing after I return.

Thanks
Finney

[dmcantrell]

Hi Finney!

I read all your questions, and the only one I have a response for is #4.

Personally, I like to make panoramics. You have all the equipment already - tripod / camera / 18-200.

Here's a (very) brief tutorial
* Shoot in portrait orientation
* Shoot in manual mode
* Make sure bracketing is off and auto-iso is off
* Use the 18-200, at around 35-70mm or so
(not at the maximum, and not the minimum. That particular lens doesn't perform at its best at the max/min focal lengths.)
* Set the aperture to f/8 or f/11
* Take the exposure reading in "A" mode in the center of the scene, and make a note of the shutter speed.
* Put the camera into manual mode and set it to the shutter speed you just measured
* With the camera on the tripod, and the camera in portrait orientation, take a series of photos (sweeping the scene from left-to-right) all at the exact same settings of the scene you wish to capture. Try to get ~20-30% overlap in each frame.
* Spot check the results on-site before you tear down the setup
* Stitch together in your favorite post-processing software
* Have fun!

[Redneck]

The D7000 is not different than any other modern DSLR. The basics still are aperture, shutter speed and ISO. Handling is very easy and pretty much self explaining.
I don't think you need any other D7000 documentation than the Nikon manual. However you might want to think about general photography books or start with the Pixtus cheat sheet to see how aperture, shutter and ISO work together to get the exposure you want.

I would recommend shooting RAW though.

[Hanky]

Nikonians has a book out, no idea how good it is but froim what I've heard anything is better than the Nikon manual. I have a National Geographic Field Guide for Landscpe Photography* that's a good read, picked it up at HalfPrice books.
ISBN: 978-1-4262-0054-0

[shnitz]

Andre beat me to it. At the end of the day, your 3 basic settings that determine a photograph's exposure are aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. Do you understand these settings implicitly? If not, then it isn't worth getting a D7000 manual. Any multitude of online photography tutorials will help you out. The advantage of digital photography is that you can PRACTICE. Try the same shot with different settings right now, to learn how the settings will affect your images. Turn up the ISO way too high, to see how grainy and washed out images become. Put that 35mm lens on your camera, and shoot in Aperture-priority mode to see how the background is affected by different apertures. Instead of using landscape mode, you might as well adjust these settings yourself, for more control and better photos.

For landscape mode overall, using the lowest base ISO possible (which is 100 on the D7000) will give you the best colors and highest dynamic range in your images. Turn off auto ISO. For focusing, either be sure that you know where you want the camera to focus, and use a specific autofocus point, or turn off autofocus, and use Live View to help you magnify and get the focus where you want. Then, turn off live view and take the picture as normal.

Set your camera on the tripod, so that you can carefully frame your images and reduce shake. Use the remote, instead of your hand, to fire the shutter, to reduce shake even further. Since your camera has it, use the "mirror up + remote" setting to reduce shake even FURTHER. All of this is because your shutter speed for landscape will be too low for holding by hand, and when you look critically, even the hand-holdable shutter speeds can show some shake. Since you're on a tripod, turn off the VR.

Shutter speed is relatively not worth worrying about for landscape photography, except for making your photos bright enough, unless you need to freeze the motion of running water, blowing branches, etc. Overall, it's OK in landscape to let the shutter speed run into the multiple-seconds range if you have to, unless you see a detrimental effect in your images. As mentioned, shoot in aperture priority mode. Shooting at f/8-f/11 is the sweet spot for getting sharp images with your camera and lens (or even darker, but you start getting diffraction softness in your images, so try to stay around f/8-f/11). Coincidentally, that's often the best range for landscape photography, because it ensures a nice deep depth of field. Use these settings, and if your photos are too light or too dark for your liking (use your histogram to determine this, checking highlights and shadows) then just use exposure compensation to lighten or darken for your next shot. Since you've already set the ISO and aperture, all the camera can do to affect the exposure is adjust the shutter speed. This means that if you shoot in M mode (full manual), if you set the ISO and aperture, adjusting only the shutter speed, you will accomplish the same thing.

Thom Hogan is a very down to earth photographer. I reference his website often, since he gives no-nonsense, reasonable reviews of his experience. I don't hesitate to recommend buying his guides. But, don't fall into the trap of trying to learn too much online, without figuring your camera out for yourself. There are tons of times where someone will ask a question about how their camera will react if they adjust some setting. I sit here on the other end, reading it, and am pulling my hair out, yelling at the screen, "You have the equipment right there in your hands! The 'film' is as free as it gets, take a picture and see for yourself!"

[venchka]

Too much stuff.
Not enough time.
Moraine Lake. Start/finish at the outlet end of the lake. Walk the shoreline.
Open mind. Open eyes. Shoot what you feel is right.
Don't shoot other people's postcards.
Eat at Deer Lodge a mile or less below Lake Louise.
Emerald Lake.
Sunrise is tough. The mountains hide sunrise.
Look for alpenglow at sunset. Usually found oposite the setting sun.
Waterfalls.
Be prepared for rain, fog & snow. Keep shooting. Make bad weather work for you.
Have fun.

Ps: Histogram all the way to the right WITHOUT highlight clipping. Turn on highlight clipping. If the screen is blinking, backoff exposure until the blinking stops. A few pinpoints blinking are ok.