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Photographing Landscapes with the Light L16

Tips for capturing Mother Nature

Written and captured by Brian Fulda

Capturing photos of landscapes isn’t hard to do, but it can be a challenge to take one that stands out among the rest. If you can, it's preferable to avoid harsh light for landscape photography. That means don’t photograph your scene when the sun is high in the sky or during regular daytime hours. Instead, wait for the late afternoon light to reach “golden hour,” when the sun’s light takes on orange and reddish hues and casts long shadows, both of which add dramatic effects to photographs. Try experimenting with longer focal lengths like 100-150mm, too—this can be particularly intriguing for mountainous scenes with lots of depth.

For scenes with movement, like the ocean or waterfalls, try mounting the L16 on a tripod. This will allow you to do longer exposures, depending on how much light you have available. Since the L16 doesn’t have aperture control, your best bet is to wait until “blue hour” or dusk, to be able to get longer exposures of 1-5 seconds.

Photo by Brian Fulda

To shoot longer exposures, first mount the L16 on a tripod or a flat surface. Then, put the camera in manual mode and set your ISO to 100 or 200. We also recommend using a self-timer of three seconds to avoid camera shake. Then, try experimenting with longer exposures of one second or more. You will see the water begin to get a milky-smooth effect—that’s when you know you’ve got a compelling photograph.

Pro tip: In very bright daylight situations, some people may have trouble seeing the screen on the L16. You can use your hand as a sunshade, but we also recommend increasing the L16’s screen brightness past its maximum setting. To do so, swipe down from the top of the screen three times and tap the settings gear icon in the top right corner. Scroll down to Display, and turn Adaptive Brightness OFF. You’ll see your screen brighten. One word of caution: This will drain your battery quicker, so make sure to use it sparingly.

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