# Basic settings for landscapes / gardens



## abbottry (Oct 10, 2013)

I'm trying to help my father in law with his Landscaping businesses website, I'm a developer so I get the website part, but I just bought a Nikon D7100 to take photos for him to post. I'm having trouble with settings as given the wind, the leaves and flowers are always moving, and I get blurry photos unless I use Auto mode 

Any advice for taking photos of plants, outside? Settings wise..


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## Dao (Oct 10, 2013)

To stop motion, you need to shoot with a faster shutter speed.


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## bratkinson (Oct 11, 2013)

Photography isn't a matter of learning 'these settings for this...those settings for that...etc'. Unless you understand the exposure triangle and the compromises necessary, using Manual mode will result in far more wrong exposures than not. 

Each exposure has different lighting situations that must be considered in making a photograph. Decisions about subject lighting, background lighting, depth of field, subject movement, etc, must all be carefully considered. Fortunately for all, there's enough 'latitude' in settings to cover most situations.

In your situation, I think I'd start by setting the camera to shutter priority mode (I don't know what Nikon abbreviates it as) and set the shutter speed at 1/125th. That should stop the leaves fluttering, etc. If needed, 1/250th might also be needed. As the camera will then be forced to adjust only the aperture and ISO speed, watch out for apertures with smaller f-stop numbers than 5.6 or 8 (smaller f-stop numbers = larger apertures). The smaller aperture sizes (larger f-stop numbers) will get the most depth-of-field, thereby keeping the most in-focus area.

I'd also limit the auto-focus selection to one of the center 'cluster' of focus points, and then be cognizant of which focus point was selected.  Alternatively, set the camera to select only the center focus point.  The reason I say this is in most cases, given a choice of AF points, the camera will choose the closest one, not necessarily the one you WANT it to.  Depending on the resultant depth of field, the focused-upon subject will be sharp, but 5 feet behind it, a bit soft or even blurry.


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## abbottry (Oct 11, 2013)

Thank you for your advice! You are correct about understanding rather than remembering, and I like to think I have a basic understanding. I'm going to play with this today and see what I can come up with. Thank you again!


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## Designer (Oct 11, 2013)

abbottry said:


> I'm trying to help my father in law with his Landscaping businesses website, I'm a developer so I get the website part, but I just bought a Nikon D7100 to take photos for him to post. I'm having trouble with settings as given the wind, the leaves and flowers are always moving, and I get blurry photos unless I use Auto mode
> 
> Any advice for taking photos of plants, outside? Settings wise..



Good on budget, I see.  Go ahead and get a speedlight (I recommend the SB-910).  When shooting in bright sunlight you need to mitigate the shadows some with flash.  Also, get the flash off the camera or if you can't do that now, bounce the light off a large chunk of white foamcore.

You might also get a tripod because some shots are just better on a tripod.  Get a good sturdy one, not a cheap flimsy one.

As mentioned, keep your shutter speed up for windy conditions, or just wait for a less windy day.  Select a small aperture ( while keeping the shutter speed up) on a fairly wide lens to increase depth of field.  

The flash will also help by "freezing" the motion of blowing leaves.


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## shaylou (Dec 24, 2013)

I have to disagree with the flash comment and agree with the comment about understanding exposure. Rarely will you use flash as fill for landscapes because the flash will not reach as far as you are shooting. I suppose if you are shooting a small garden it could be handy but other then that flash is not a wise investment for this scenario. Not to pick on anyone but a tripod is also not going to help your situation. The issue is with motion from the subject. The way to correct this issue is simply stopping the motion and we do that with shutter speed. Increasing the shutter will freeze the movement and by doing so will stop the blurriness you are seeing. The reason understanding exposure is key here is because for every action there is a reaction. Meaning when ever you make an adjustment to the exposure you effect the other adjustment. If you increase your shutter speed you are decreasing the amount of time the light spends on the sensor and therefor reducing the total amount of light in your exposure. The result will be a darker picture. So with that in mind you will need to add light back into the exposure either by increasing the aperture or increasing the iso after you increase the shutter speed to stop the action.


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## TCampbell (Dec 24, 2013)

You can wait for a calmer day... or increase the shutter speed to freeze any motion.  As long as the shutter is at or above 1/500th you'll probably be pretty good... but a little faster sure wouldn't hurt (and may be necessary if it's especially windy.)

For outdoor mid-day sun, the exposure baseline is the "Sunny 16" rule that says you can use f/16 and set the shutter speed to the inverse of the ISO.  

It turns out for landscaping you want a pretty good depth of field anyway... so f/16 isn't a bad idea (and certainly do not use anything less than f/11).   Assuming f/16... you could set the ISO to 800 and then use a 1/800th second exposure.  Just keep in mind that that's the light for full sun (no clouds) and middle of the day.  It may be more flattering to shoot the landscape during the "golden hour" (within an hour of sunrise or sunset.)  This helps eliminate harsh shadows that you get at mid-day but it will cut the light.

You may also want to employ a circular polarizer to cut the reflections off the foliage.  The waxy coating that most leaves have will create some reflections and wash out the color.  A circular polarizer helps block those reflections and will help bring back the true color of the leaves (it also intensifies the blue in the sky.)  But be aware that it will cost you some light.  How much light is variable and depends on how you've tuned the polarizer, but I find it often costs me at about 2/3rds of a stop.


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