In the last installment of Quick Tips for Photographers we talked about Shooting the Moon. Well I’ve got another great tip for you to make even better images of the moon.

Make the Moon Look Really Big

Most people automatically shoot images of the moon with really wide angle lenses. The natural assumption is that a great Landscape image will look even better if it includes the moon. This is true, but the thing is, the moon is really far away and if you shoot it with a wide lens, it’s going to look really small. You’re far better to use the longest lens you’ve got. This will allow you to take advantage of a principle called Telephoto Compression; this is where distant objects appear to be closer, and larger, than they really are when they are magnified

So how do you make this work with the moon?

1. Figure out when you need to be at your chosen destination so that you see the Full Moon when it is near the horizon. I prefer to do this at sunrise or sunset so that the light of the moon is nicely balanced with the landscape around it. Note that for every Full Moon there will be at least 2, and sometimes 3, opportunities when the rising or setting moon coincides with the rising or setting sun. You can use TimeandDate.com to figure out when the next one will be.
2. Find a really scenic vista that you can see unobstructed from a long way away.
3. Back up a long way so that you can fill the frame appropriately with the main subject (other than the moon), and still have room to include the moon.
4. Arrive plenty early so you have time to get your gear set up in advance of the rising or setting moon, and so that you can change positions if you don’t have the moon perfectly aligned with your main subject.
5. Make plenty of images as the sun and the moon rise and set. The light will be perfect for only a few minutes for each opportunity.
6. Be prepared for the weather to totally bust you more often than not. I honestly try to make moon images almost every month, and in the last year I’ve only been successful 3 times. That’s just how it goes as a landscape shooter. Sometimes the weather cooperates, sometimes it doesn’t.

Almost every new SLR camera shipped in the last few years has included a feature known as “Live View”. For Point and Shooters it has been a given that you would be able to see a live image of your intended subject before you squeeze the shutter, but for digital SLR’s it has always been a little bit more complicated.

The thing is, there’s a darn mirror inside the camera that gets in the way, and it has to be moved before the camera sensor can see the same scene that the lens sees. It took the manufacturers a few years to figure out how to make it all work elegantly (in fact it’s still not perfect because autofocus performance takes a big hit in live view mode, but that’s a subject for another article). In the mean time SLR shooters never got used to having live view on the back of their cameras, and it’s one of those features that gets used very rarely (almost never) by most serious photographers.

Here are 5 reasons why you should use Live View for landscape photography:

1. Bigger Viewfinder: Let’s face it, the viewfinder in your SLR is small. Even if you’ve got one of those fancy-pants professional cameras that shows 100% of the image that the sensor sees (most non-pro SLR’s only show 90-95% of the scene), it’s still very small. With a bigger view you can get better compositions and more easily see the distractions and annoying backgrounds that you might not notice otherwise. Simply put, bigger is better baby!
2. Testing Critical Focus: While in live view mode you can zoom the image on the LCD (typically 5x or 10x) to get a much better idea of what you are actually focusing on. This is particularly helpful for macro photography, but it’s also great for landscapes.
3. Stronger Compositions: The image displayed on the LCD during Live View typically includes grid lines to help you compose your image. These lines can help you check that your horizons are straight and level and that your trees and buildings are vertical. They can even help you improve your composition by clearly showing guidelines for compositional rules of thumb such as the “Rule of Thirds.”
4. White Balance Preview: When you change the white balance setting in your camera, the image in your viewfinder doesn’t change, so you really can’t be sure how it’s going to look. Fortunately the image on the LCD changes instantly to show how your white balance affects the image. Sure, you can change the white balance in software (such as Adobe Lightroom) later (if you shoot RAW), but why not get it right in the camera instead? I find this feature to be invaluable when I’m trying to decide if I really have a good image in front of me…
5. Exposure Simulation and/or Live Histogram: For some users the single biggest reason to use Live View is for the exposure simulation (the live preview image in the LCD will automatically adjust based on the exposure settings to display the brightness of the final image). Alternatively you could simply choose to show a live histogram (which would also represent the final image rather than what you’re seeing on the screen) overlaid on the live image. Both of these features are very useful for preventing blown highlights or underexposed images. You can even use both at the same time.

There are many other great reasons to use live view for all types of photography. These are just a few of the best reasons that are most applicable to landscape shooters. Do you use live view? Please leave a comment telling me about your experiences with it… If you haven’t used it before then you should definitely give it a try on your next shoot!