Landscape Photography

Hello and Welcome.

Gorgeous! And welcome.

What lens you choose depends on whether you want to stick with wide angle scenes or want to zoom in on subjects. Regardless, you might want to choose lenses that will work on both full and crop sensor cameras so that if you buy a full frame body in the future you will be able to use the lenses you already have.

It depends on what you shoot, and how you want to shoot it, but if I remember correctly, my first two expansion lenses were a 50mm prime f1.4 (though the 1.8 is an amazingly good deal, maybe the best budget conscious lens you can get) I use the 50 mainly for video and low light. The next one after that was a tele zoom, 70-300mm, bt I love it. I am a big fan of the tele look, with the compressed depth.
The primes are nice because they tend to be sharper, you can get that classic shallow depth of field with the aperture wide open for so much less as the zooms that have really wide apertures are really expensive generally.

zooms are so bloody convenient though, I would be spending all of my shooting time changing lenses if I had no zooms.
You could go wider than the 18-55, get an 8mm fisheye or something, if you want yo go wider, but I imagine you would get more use out of a telephoto zoom lens. Or a prime, 50, or 35, or what else do they make a 28?
I don't know what your budget is but the 75-300 4-5.6 is not very expensive. Make sure to get the version with image stabilization,

You've got a wide-angle zoom, if you're happy with that then a telephoto zoom would be the next step - but I wouldn't go for too wide range of focal lengths. If you can afford it the 70-200f4L is an excellent lens at a fairly modest price for top-end lenses. If you're not happy with your kit lens then the 17-40f4L is another good deal (though you may need to use software to correct for chromatic aberration for some shots but you can do it in the software that comes with the camera). Zooms with a huge zooming range tend to have poor image quality at the ends of their ranges.
I don't know anything about the EF-S lenses except that they only work on crop-sensor cameras. If you get an EF (full frame) lens then you can keep using it if you decide to get a top-end full frame camera later on. If you don't think you will ever want one then you can probable find significantly cheaper but still excellent lenses in the EF-S range.

Forget about lenses and hardware for now, you can get too bogged down in becoming a hardware junkie. Learn the basics and hone your general skills. Learn how your camera works and what the various settings can do for you.

Just a side note, the shot you linked to has a crooked horizon. Crooked horizons kill a shot like this. Easy to straighten using pretty much any editing software. It also has a very noisy sky. Usually that's because it's been over sharpened or over saturated. But I will say that the colors pop and overall it has the makings for a great sunset shot.

Learn about art and what makes a great landscape painting. I believe Louisville has a good art museum. Go there and study landscapes. Pay attention to the Dutch masters and their use of clouds and weather. Study great landscape photographers like Ansel Adams, Galen Rowell, and Marc Meunch. Not only their work but read about what they talk about and their approach to things.

Also, books are good. Some great photography books are "Photography and the Art of Seeing" by Freeman Patterson, "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson, "Developing the Creative Edge in Photography" by Bert Eifer (long out of print, but lots of cheap copies on Ebay), "Rick Sammon's Digital Imaging Workshops: Step-by-Step Lessons on Editing with Adobe Photoshop Elements" (the editing techniques apply to any processing software). Subscribe to Outdoor Photographer.

Join a contest site like http://www.digitalimagecafe.net/. They have a critique section and some of the finest photographers I've known participate there.

Take classes at your local community collage and/or join a photography club.

Most of all, have fun on the journey. It never ends. And welcome to FAA!

Welcome. I agree with Chuck. You need to master your camera and the art of photography before investing and more equipment. I don't shoot Cannon so I can't recommend a certain lens, but when you're ready, get a zoom lens. You'll find it handy. I have 2 camera's. One with my Wide Angle, and the other with my Zoom. Just makes it easier to capture something that I might miss while switching out lenses. Prime lenses have great quality (I haven't invested in one yet because I like the zoom options). Also - don't go cheap on lenses. The lens is more important the the camera body. You want good glass. Your photos are nice. Straightening the horizon would be good. If you don't have Lightroom or Photoshop, there are some great free programs out there such as Gimp (knock off of Photoshop). Study other similar photographers on FAA. Youtube is also an excellent place to learn anything you need to know about photography.

You should be able to answer this question yourself. Why do you need a second lens? What limitations are you running into while shooting? If none then you don't really need one. But it's your money and maybe you just want one.

Are you missing shots because the 18-55 isn't wide enough? Then get an ultrawide like a 10-18mm.

Are you missing shots because the 18-55 isn't long enough? I'd sell it and get something like an 18-200mm.

Both of those lenses would cover most common landscape situations.

And as a landscape shooter light and timing are everything. The less time you spend fumbling changing lenses the more chances you have of getting the amazing shots.

My most versatile lens is the Sigma 50 - 500mm. It works on both my crop sensor and full sensor bodies. I use the EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM for most landscape shots but have also used the Sigma for landscapes if the composition allows for a tighter shot. The only other lens I currently use is a macro for flower and tiny critter shots. I'd love to sell all the other lenses that I no longer use because these 3 cover all my needs.

Enjoy and keep busy. Welcome!

i'd start with a tripod with a level on it to keep the horizon straight. but it really depends on what else you shoot, how many landscapes will you shoot, what your budget is. what your weight limit is.

while you lens sounds like a kit lens, i would stick with what you have and gain as much out of that as you can so you know what you need. 18mm range should be fine for now, since your new. when i first started i got a bunch of lenses... they all sit waiting to be used because i found the one lens i use for everything.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Which lens is that, Mike?

Tamron 28-300vc. not a fast lens, but it's all purpose. if it need landscape ability i stitch it. it could be wider and faster, but its lightweight (compared to other lenses), and pretty affordable. i shoot only hand held so it needs the stabilization.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Zoom ZOom ZOOm ZOOM. I do like the fixed f-stops verses the variable ones. For landscapes which is mostly what I shoot I do prefer a wider angle. I had a Tokina 16-50 f2.8 Nikon mount used on a DX (APS-C) body. 16-50 translates to 24 to 75mm equivalent. Just purchased a new Tokina 12-28 f/4, that's 16 to 42mm. Both lenses are very sharp and I would recommend them to anyone. Welcome and happy shooting.

Welcome, John. There's a lot of good advice given above and you would do well to consider all of it. And remember, the best piece of equipment used for photography is the one between your ears. Improve that and you will see a dramatic improvement in your work. And finally, as with music, practice, practice, practice.

My suggestions:
Do not buy anything but full frame lenses. Since you're serious about your photography, these will be lenses you can "grow into" when you (at last) acquire a body full frame sensor. I was relatively poor when I started photography, and shot for years with only a F1.4 50mm. I learned to see for that lens quite well.
Use a tripod.
Use a cable release.
Use Mirror lock up.
Compose as if it were a view camera.
Bracket. for single exposure, but also for hdr
Bracket for focus (Focus Stacking).
Pan and stitch to create very wide angle images.
Watch the weather, not to avoid it, but rather to be there when the weather is right. Rain, Fog, storms, clouds and even clear blue skies and sunshine can all be your friends, but it helps to learn to pre-visualize what to be alert for before you are even there.
Tags: tag with location at every level: park (Yosemite) , name of shooting location (tunnel view), name of objects in landscape (Bridal Veil Falls, Yosemite, Horsetail Fails, El Capitain, Half Dome, etc etc, Nearest village, town, city, county, and state.

It depends on your budget. Full frame lenses are going to be very expensive. Since you're on an APS-C camera, you can get some very nice crop lenses for much less. The nice thing about lenses is that the good ones hold their value just about indefinitely. If and when you decide to upgrade to a full frame camera you should be able to sell most of your crop lenses for about 90% of what they cost new, or 100% of what you paid for them if you bought them used.

On that front, and if you decide you want more lenses, for landscape you're mostly going to want wide.

- The Tokina 11-16 f2.8 would be high up on my list as a fantastic UWA lens.
- I would look to replace your kit lens, either with the Canon 17-55 or, if that's too expensive, the Sigma 17-50 2.8. Both awesome lenses in the focal length range that you'll be using most.
- One zoom would be good. The Canon 50-250mm is very affordable and pretty good quality.
- As others have mentioned, a GOOD tripod is going to be perhaps your most worthwhile investment for landscape photography. If you can afford it, I wouldn't cheap out here as most photographers have a closet full of borderline tripods they compromised on before finally realizing that they needed to spend the money to get a high end one.

Mostly though, just go shoot. There's no better way to learn than by doing, and researching the stuff that has you confused as you do it.