How to Take Photos of Landscapes and Cityscapes

Aaron Reed captures nature scenes and cities after dark with his Tamron SP 28-75mm and SP 24-70mm VC lenses.

Article by Jenn Gidman

Images by Aaron Reed

The day that Aaron Reed took a photo of an elderly man digging for clams at sunset on an Oregon beach was the day he decided to become a photographer. That was seven years ago: Today, the Pacific Northwest native focuses on landscapes, nature photography, and cityscapes at night, with clients that include Microsoft, National Geoographic, and Outdoor Photographer.

In Aaron's arsenal are his Tamron SP 28-75mm and SP 24-70mm VC lenses. "Besides the cost savings and spectacular image quality I get with the 28-75mm, I'm equally appreciative of how light it is," he says. "I like to carry as little weight as possible when I shoot, mainly for mobility and quick setup and takedown. And while I absolutely love wide-angle nature photography, I've found myself creating more focused compositions that call upon the midrange zoom this lens offers."

The versatility and Vibration Compensation (VC) feature on the 24-70 have proven similarly valuable for Aaron-not only for his work in the field, but also because of a recent addition to his family. "Six months ago, my wife and I were blessed with our first child," he says. "Having that VC on the 24-70 allows me to capture clear, sharp photographs of her handheld in low light that I otherwise wouldn't be able to get."

Out in Nature
It seemed fitting for Aaron to segue from his first photographs on an Oregon beach to nature landscapes. Aaron tries not only to capture the natural beauty of a location, but also the feeling he experienced while photographing it. "I also take the rule of thirds one step further," he explains. "After I've loosely set the important subjects along those invisible horizontal and vertical lines, I place as many intersecting leading lines as I can in the image, creating a crisscross effect for the viewer. For the 'Golden' image you see here-which I shot with the 28-75 at 71mm, at F/19 for 1/2 second-the swirling fog was the icing on the cake. I placed it just off-center, where all the lines lead in the image.

His love for capturing moving water was also evident from the moment he starting pressing the shutter button. "The visual effect of showing motion in a single framed image was incredible to me, and that fascination has never left," he says. "Photographing a small stream or waterfall holds a certain mystery. To create these dreamy water scenes, all you have to do is place your camera on a tripod and adjust your settings to allow your shutter to stay open for at least a half of a second. I keep my exposures to somewhere between a half-second and 1 second to maintain some natural detail and texture in the water while still showing this motion."

Aaron's favorite season to create landscape images is autumn. "The beautiful, fleeting colors that nature provides us during the fall allow for dramatic, beautiful imagery that can be captured from morning till night-and the changing light of day plays on these colors in a way that's almost always interesting," he says. "During this season, I try to find subjects that provide strong natural contrast, like a forest of trees or a body of water that reflects the transforming colors of the season. I created a bunch of images during a three-day period last autumn within just a few miles of each other using the 24-70."

Shooting during the renowned "golden hour"-the hour before both sunrise and sunset- helps Aaron achieve the lighting that defines many of his images. "Bright, harsh sunlight is the sworn enemy of the landscape photographer," he says. "The shadow-casting sunlight washes out color and leaves your images flat and lifeless. The bright light destroys your highlights, and once they're gone, they can't be recovered during post-production."

To add to the soft lighting he prefers, Aaron also seeks out clouds and other atmospheric properties such as fog to help create a dynamic mood for his imagery. "Both of these events came together inside Yosemite National Park when I created an image called 'Float' of the world-famous Half Dome and Yosemite Valley," he says. "I stopped at this widely visited overlook right as sunset approached and was ecstatic to see the entire valley blanketed in thick, heavy fog. Just after the sun had completely set, the clouds started to move in from above, perfectly framing Half Dome between them and the fog below. This image was the result of a 30-second exposure that allowed both the clouds and the fog to create movement within the image, creating beautiful contrast against the immobile, unwavering granite walls of Half Dome."

The Day's Culmination in the City
Aaron's foray into urban landscapes at night started for a simple reason: "I didn't want to stop shooting just because the sun had gone down," he says. "Each city has a vibe or a beat to it that feels alive after dark. I was already fascinated by long-exposure water photography and became equally enamored capturing the traffic moving through the city and lights reflected on the water at night. Because these urban scenes have been largely created by man, I try to emphasize the interesting pieces of these creations, how they connect to each other, and how we fit into them in our daily lives."

To create well-exposed, colorful urban images after dark, you simply need to let your shutter stay open longer to let more light fall on your sensor, Aaron explains. "In nature photography, those long exposures can create blown or unrecoverable highlights when exposing for the shadows, but after dark, this is rarely a problem," he says. "After choosing an aperture, you just choose a corresponding shutter speed or let the camera pick it for you in Aperture Priority mode. Usually you can get a beautiful exposure this way, but if not, it often takes just a small adjustment to the shutter speed to protect the highlights or increase the light in the shadows. I rarely use neutral density filters, exposure bracketing, or blending for night photography that I may otherwise have to use during the day."

One of the first night photography scenes Aaron created was in the Emerald City. "I had just moved to Seattle in 2009 and took this picture from inside the Gas Works Park," he recalls. "The water on that lake is rarely calm, but I caught it on a night where there wasn't a single breeze, so I was able to take the picture of those beautiful city lights reflecting in the water. To get rid of unwanted color casts from unnatural light sources in situations like these, I adjust my white balance in-camera so my images look more natural and the colors more accurate. Plus, the reflected lights appeared very long that night, allowing me to use the rule of thirds, with the bottom two-thirds making up the reflection and the upper third the city itself. I captured this image using the Tamron 28-75 at 57mm, F/14, ISO 400 for 30 seconds."

Capturing traffic is another way to show how a city comes alive after the sun goes down. "I was standing one evening on Seattle's Jose Rizal Bridge over the I-90," Aaron says. "The sun was setting behind the city and the clouds had been perfect for most of the day. The one challenge that this location creates is a large variance of light from top to bottom. When you expose for the city, the sky will be very bright or blown out completely in most cases, while the trees and hillside in the immediate foreground fall into very deep shadow. To adjust for this, I used a 3-stop graduated neutral density filter to limit the amount of light on the top third of the image, maintaining accurate exposure and detail in the sky and balancing the exposure with the city itself. I brightened the shadows in the foreground during post-production. This image was also captured using the Tamron 28-75mm and was shot at F/22 for maximum depth-of-field, at 56mm for 15 seconds. This amount of time allowed for the rush-hour traffic to snake through the city with ease during the exposure."

To see more of Aaron Reed's work, go to www.aaronreedphotography.com.