The Landscape Photography Gear Checklist I Wish I'd Had Years Ago (Plus My Solo-Trip Safety Plan)

Sunrise at Crater Lake. I left my cabin in the dark and drove up through the snow to get here, and even with all my planning I almost missed it.

Raise your hand if you've ever arrived at a location and realized your memory card was still sitting in your computer at home. On one of my free Zoom call, one attendee said she once drove an hour to a shoot and found she had no batteries! Another photographer has done it too. It happens!!!

Every great photograph starts with a decision to go out the door. But what you bring with you, and what you leave behind, decides whether you come home with the image you pictured or just a story about the one that got away. Here's the gear checklist I actually use, plus the safety plan I follow every time I head somewhere remote.

Keep all your gear in one place!

This sounds too simple to matter, but it's my biggest gear tip. My husband and I live on a boat, so I don't have many places to lose things. But when my tripod lives in one closet and my telephoto lives in another, I end up running around the house at 4 a.m. and something will get left behind. Give your gear one home. Packing becomes a five-minute job and nothing gets forgotten!

Camera bodies: use what you have!

It honestly doesn't matter what camera you photograph with. A DSLR or mirrorless body gives you the most control, but one of my favorite workshop and photo walk regulars shoots only with her cell phone, and she makes beautiful images that bring her, and others, so much joy! If you're still shooting on auto, that's okay too. Go take the photos, and we'll get you off auto over time.

If you can, bring a backup body (even your phone counts) for remote trips. A camera that dies on day one of a week-long trip is heartbreaking.

Lenses: match them to your subject!

• Wide-angle (12–35mm): Grand vistas, dramatic skies and foreground-heavy compositions.
• Standard zoom (24–70mm): Your everyday workhorse.
• Telephoto (70–200mm): Compresses distance and isolates details in a big scene.
• Super telephoto (200–600mm): Basically a must for wildlife, because you simply can't (and shouldn't) get close enough.
• Macro (or extension tubes): I didn't even know macro lenses existed until a few years ago! If you love flowers, dewdrops and tiny details, a macro lens will change your images.

Tripods: they're NOT just slowing you down!

I know some photographers feel a tripod slows them down or keeps them stuck in one spot. I get it, and you don't need one when the light is great and you're shooting at normal shutter speeds. But a tripod is a must for me for:

• Long exposures (silky water, streaky clouds, night skies)
• Focus stacking, where you blend several frames so everything from front to back is sharp
• HDR brackets, where you blend several exposures to hold detail in bright skies and dark shadows
• Blue hour and night work

Add a good ball head (or a gimbal head for big telephoto lenses). Then use a remote shutter release or your camera's 2- or 5-second self-timer. The less your finger touches the camera when the shutter fires, the crisper your image will be!

Filters: how you control light in the field!

Today's cameras have amazing dynamic range, and plenty of photographers fix everything in Lightroom or Photoshop. That's totally fine! But filters let me create the image I came for, right there in the field.

• Neutral density (ND) filters cut the light so you can use a slow shutter speed in bright conditions. With an ND on, I can make the ocean ghostly white at one o'clock in the afternoon. I don't have to wait for clouds. Same with a waterfall in bright, hot sun: without an ND, your only choice is a fast shutter that shows the water's power. With one (or two stacked), you can make it silky smooth!
• Circular polarizer: It cuts reflections, deepens blue skies and makes colors pop. In the rain, especially with fall color, it's a game changer. It's also the secret to a vivid rainbow. You can capture one without a polarizer, but you'll do a lot more work in post. My CPL stays on my camera the majority of the time when I am photographing landscapes and seascapes.
• Graduated ND: Balances a bright sky with a darker foreground.
• Reverse graduated ND: Perfect for sunrises and sunsets, when the brightest band of light sits right on the horizon.

Power, storage and the little things!

• Extra batteries, and lots of them. Cold weather drains batteries faster and makes them sluggish. Be sure to put a "dead" battery (one that the red low light has come on) and put it against your body or a "hottie" warmer to warm it up and then you will be able to use it more!
• Multiple high-speed memory cards. Fast cards matter when you shoot bursts of birds or wildlife. Never rely on a single card.
• Portable battery pack for charging in the field on long days.
• Memory card case or wallet so you know which cards are full.
• Lens cleaning kit: microfiber cloths, an air blower and a lens pen.
• Rain covers so you can keep shooting when the weather gets interesting. A two gallon ziplock works perfectly! 
• Headlamp with a red-light mode for night photography. Red light keeps your night vision intact and won't ruin other photographers' shots.
• Hiking poles, a GPS device, and a notebook for field notes.

Clean your sensor before you go!

Sensors get dirty so fast. Cleaning before a trip saves you hours of spot removal later. I shoot mirrorless, which I find much easier to clean than a DSLR. When I start seeing spots, I use the little swab sticks with a sponge tip, put one or two drops of sensor cleaning fluid on the sponge, and wipe gently across the sensor about twice. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, take it to a camera shop like Glazer's and have it done.

What I use: 

[Full Frame: https://cameraklean.com/en-us/products/vsgo-full-frame-sensor-cleaning-swabs]

[Crop censor: https://cameraklean.com/en-us/products/vsgo-aps-c-sensor-cleaning-swabs]
 

My solo-trip safety plan!

This part matters to me more than any piece of gear. Many of us, especially women, head out alone, so please plan for safety too.

1. Share your itinerary with someone who isn't on the trip: your partner, your best friend, whoever. Include your departure time, destinations, planned return time and emergency contacts.
2. Check cell coverage before you go. Your carrier's own coverage map is usually most accurate. Crowdsourced coverage maps can help as well. If you'll be out of range, tell your person when you expect to be unreachable. 
3. Share your location from your phone. When I go off-roading, I share my location with my husband.
4. Have a way to reach someone without cell service. Many newer phones can text by satellite. It's not fast (I've stood there turning in circles waiting for the satellite to come around), but it works. Before my phone had that feature, I borrowed a friend's Garmin GPS messenger for my trip to Leslie Gulch in eastern Oregon, because I knew I'd be way out of service.
5. Download offline maps in case you lose signal, which you probably will!
6. Get the vehicle ready, too. Oil change, tires, gas. It's all part of the plan!

Your next step

Print a checklist, pick one place in your home for all your gear, and you're halfway to a smoother adventure. If you want help building a full trip plan, from gear to shot list to the drive home, check out my in-depth Digital-Photography-Adventure-Planner!

Now, go have a great adventure!