Colorado bound!

I'm newer to the photography scene and just booked my one week vacation, starting next week in the beautiful state of colorado. does anyone have any tips for shooting beautiful landscapes outdoors? thanks much!

Well, Paula....not knowing what camera or lenses you have at your disposal, it's a little hard to give any advice. I personally would use a wide angle prime lens or a wide angle zoom, something in the nature of a 28-105, or a 24mm prime. Even an 18-55 lens would be good for a start. Bring a tripod, too. Oh, and lots of batteries and memory cards. Ya never know.

thanks jack, trying to figure out how to do a signature with my stats like you have. thanks for the suggestions.

ok, think i've got it.

Paula, I've done a lot of shooting in Colorado and this time of year it's going to be snow, snow and more snow. I would definitely get a CPL filter to bring out the color and pull down the glare. Also, along with the CPL I would use neutral density filters, a one stop and a two stop will be the most useful for snow glare. Also in the snow turn off the Auto White Balance. It will only give you gray snow. For white snow use a white balance of shade or cloudy. To keep the blue color to impart the feeling of cold use the sunny setting. Experiment with it to get the color you want. The 18-105mm is a great walk around lens. The 35mm, f/1.8G will give you the sharpest scenic shots of the two. And don't forget the tripod, and don't forget to use it. (Been there )

I envy you! One of these days I'm going to travel out west with my camera *sigh*

Another suggestion for using filters. The 35mm takes 52mm filters and the 18-105mm takes 68mm. Get two adapters, one 52mm to 72mm and the second 68mm to 72mm. That way you only buy one set of filters for both lenses. Also using the 72mm filter will allow you to stack a CPL and a ND filter without getting vignetting at the corners. Hope this helps.

Suggestion: Mr. Bautsch needs a new title. "Master of Filters".
8)

Not to pick nits, but the 18-105 uses a 67mm filter.

You'er right, my bad. Thanks for pointing out the error.

thanks joseph, i went out today by the lighthouse and used your suggestions of shade and/or cloudy. it was really helpful, thanks again. paula

Anthony Hereld said:

I envy you! One of these days I'm going to travel out west with my camera *sigh*

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I'm out west! Come on up to Canada to my neck of the woods, and we'll go shooting together, Anthony.