My name is Sean Hetrick and I’m currently a senior at Utah Tech University studying Mechanical Engineering, and while my career will probably be in that field, my main hobby that I enjoy is landscape photography.
Frequently Asked Questions (Q&A)
Why do I enjoy landscapes over other photography subjects?
- I first took a high school photography class in the 2020-2021 school year and although the class covered many photography genres such as portraits, macro photography, and architecture photography, I found natural landscapes to be more interesting because they’re a far more dynamic photography subject than the other ones I listed.
- For example, lighting and cloud conditions are always changing based on the weather, and trees and flowers start blooming vibrant colors throughout the spring season after being buried in snow just a few months ago in the previous winter, which makes this genre of photography very dynamic.
What equipment do I use?
- My equipment includes the Sony a7r: an older digital mirrorless full-frame camera that was first released in 2013, the Sony FE 24-240mm f/3.5-6.3: a zoom lens, the Viltrox FE 20mm f/2.8: a wide angle lens, and a small handheld Manfrotto Tripod.
What techniques do I use?
- Although most people who capture landscapes use tripods, I try avoiding tripods as much as possible because they take a long time to set up and they limit the photo’s composition.
- With regard to photo composition, I think it’s important to balance the left and right sides of a horizontal photo with two equal-sized subjects (like two trees), and then include a natural path (like a river, canyon, or rock formation) to move my viewer’s attention toward the middle of the photo.
- As for camera settings, since I’m handholding the camera I usually use shutter speeds of 1/100 sec or quicker to prevent motion blur, and apertures of f/9.0 or narrower to get more of the landscape in focus.
Would I recommend this hobby?
- I would definitely recommend landscape photography as a hobby because it combines exercising, traveling to new places, using photos to bring back memories, and artistic activities like making galleries, photo editing, and photo exhibitions.
- Even if you don’t own a camera, I still believe this hobby is worth a try because of these benefits, but it does help to use a mirrorless or DSLR camera with this hobby because these cameras provide higher photo detail since their lenses usually have better optics than tiny phone lenses.
How can you contact me?
- On the navigation bar, I have a contact page with a form that you can fill out that sends your message to my personal email.
