Hey Everyone! Hope your week is going well! This week is the 3rd in a 4 part series on Landscape Photography Gear. This week we are going to cover Tripods and Filters. Two important parts of the Landscape photography Kit. In Part 1 we talked about Camera Bodies and Part 2 Lenses and now in Part 3 Tripods and Filters.

Tripods. Since the Ansel Adams times to today a tripod is a useful piece of Kit for your Landscape Photography. With modern camera bodies and in camera stabilization tripods aren't as needed as they used to be. Some Landscape photographers don't like tripods at all but I think they do have their place although I don't use them as much as I used to. For shooting in low light conditions or where I want to show motion like waterfalls or capturing clouds crossing the sky. And in Astro Photography it's a must. So what kind of tripod? I don't think the make and model is as important as the quality of the tripod. Tripods are made in all different kinds of materials from aluminum , wood, carbon fiber and plastic. I prefer carbon fiber they are lightweight and strong. They also come in many price points from cheap to very expensive. I would land somewhere in the middle around 200 dollars you can get a fairly decent one. You want a tripod that is large enough to support your camera and your heaviest lens with ease. They come in weight ratings so make sure to find them while doing your research. If you have the choice between a cheaper one and a somewhat expensive I would go for the somewhat expensive . They will last a long time! I've got a travel tripod that I've had over a decade and I've just bought a heaver duty one in the last year because my gear has got heaver. I spent about 200 bucks for each.

Filters. Filters can be a very important part of a Landscape photographers Kit. There are really two types of filters that you should have. The first one is the most important items in your Kit is the Polarizer filter. A polarizer filter can take the shine and reflection off of shiny surfaces and enhance the colors of leaves and foliage. The polarizer can't be duplicated in photoshop and makes blue skies bluer and just enhances  your photos. A must have. The next filter is the Neutral Density filter. It cuts out the light and allows you to slow down your shutter speed. This works great for flowing water like a waterfall and makes the water blurry and smooth giving water that dreamy look. These filters come in different strengths or stops of light. The more stops of light the darker. A 10 stop neutral density filter is almost completely black. When shooting waterfalls a Polarizer to cut the glare off of the water and a neutral density of 2 or 3 will make great shots. Neutral Density filters also come in a Veritable type that will have say a 2 to 8 all built into one filter. Now filters also come from cheap to very expensive and the same rule I used with most things is not to buy cheap and not expensive somewhere in the middle will be a good quality.

Well there you have it 3 out of the 4 part series. So until next week Get out and Shoot! 

Hey if you want to check out my photography go to my instagram account Max Stansell Photography there are over 2000 post there. Here is the link

 Max Stansell Photography Instagram Link