par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

I like to go by reviews on B+H and compare with price in mind. I got the 28mm Distagon.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/662715-REG/Zeiss_1771_844_28mm_f_2_0_Distagon_T.html

par4fore Loc: Bay Shore N.Y.

Great work.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

For landscape I use a Nikon D810 and a Nikon 16-35 F4 lens. Works perfect for me.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thank you!

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Have you tried doing pano with the longer end rather than a single shot with the shorter focal length?

DStone Loc: Outside Winston-Salem, NC

Beautiful stuff! Care to share the techniques you used for the second shot?

littlebear76

For landscapes where I want the expanse of the scene to be expressed, I use a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8; for all others, I use my standard Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8.

WessoJPEG Loc: Cincinnati, Ohio

These are beautiful.

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

If I had only one landscape lens for a full frame it would be the 20mm.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Thanks!

1. I found the one rock in the middle of the stream that was large enought to keep my boots above water.
2. Took a single shot with my 24mm. liked the composition, didn't care for how distant the brightly colored trees were in the distance.
3. Decided to try 2 panos, one with my 85, the other with the 45. I needed a little tilt (betwwen 1 and 2 degrees) which I assessed in Live View to get improved DoF without needing to resort to smaller than F11

4. I exposed for the highlights in the distant trees, using the camera's spot meter. I wanted to show some water movement, but not silky smooth, so wanted .8 sec (could have been 1 sec, but not longer than 1.5. I took out my ND 32 so I could use ISO 100, because the foreground was in deep shadow under tree canopy, and the light was completely blue skylight.
5. I leveled the tripod, then leveled the camera (I used a video leveling bowl on the tripod and a ball head for this - easy enough to do once you've done it a few times). Shot 5 images, camera in portrait orientation, overlapping each previous image by 50%

Below is the stitched uncropped and unedited version.

I did some very little cropping, then in Lightroom, I used a linear gradient to lighten and desaturate the foreground, and at least 6 more radial gradients to adjust color saturation, brightness and clarity for the reflection in the water in the center of the image, the rocks on the left, the small tributary stream on the left, etc etc. I then opened the image in On1 10 to apply some dynamic contrast to enhance the overall sharpness of the image, and applied a "fall colors" preset filter at about 40% to bring out some of the color. The stitched image is 11,301x7158 pixels.

I also attached the one I did with the 85mm for comparison. I used 12 shots for this one, but I two shots per frame with exposure bracketing to get six HDR merged images - then I stitched those together. I did it a little bit later which accounts for the change in light.

You can see why I don't feel a need to shoot landscape with anything wider than 45mm most of the time.

The last image was a single shot with a 24mm. It works because there are no foreground elements that would appear disproportionate to the rest of the image. I used about 9 mm of vertical shift, since there was not a lot of room to get all the trees in, it was cold and windy and I was lazy, not wanting to change my lens or set up a pano.

Based on my search of over 100,000 images in Lightroom, using search term "landscape" the one I use most is the 45. But I also use my 24-70 quite a bit as well, but not as much at the wide end. So if I only had one lens, it would be the 45 for sure.

45mm

(Download)

85mm

(Download)

24mm PC-E camera level, lens shifted up

(Download)

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I have a Tamron (wish I had gotten the Nikon but it was a gift from the wife) 10-24mm, and a Nikkor 18-70mm that I use for landscapes. They work pretty good. I use them (mainly) for real estate photography.

Mary Kate Loc: NYC

Very nice. Looks like Central Park.

Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC

Is there really a RIGHT lens? Excellant landscape photos may be taken with lens from 20 to 600mm.

Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida

Appreciate your taking the time to explain the process. Very good.

RickL Loc: Vail, Az

I use Prime fx 50mm. 1.8.