Whether you’re a novice landscape photographer or have sold thousands of your photos through stock agencies, there are some fundamental rules of landscape photography that stay with you as a photographer, even once you’ve honed your craft and learned how to break the rules to develop your own style. Below we’ve pulled 26 landscape photography tips which working pros have told us they still use on a daily basis.
Controlling depth of field is the key to successful photography. Managing what is in focus (and out of focus) is strongly linked to the enjoyment of the image and this varies greatly with relation to subject matter. Landscape photography, for example, uses a large depth of field, keeping the entire image in sharp focus from corner to corner. This invites the eye to explore fine detail and truly experience distances, from distant cloud shapes to the wet sand at your feet.
It’s a new (ish) year, and with several months of warm, sunny (ish) weather ahead of us we thought it is the perfect time to reevaluate our landscape photography. It’s quite easy to fall into routines, visit the same places and find yourself taking the same pictures. So in the post below we’ll show you how a little bit of effort on your part can go an awfully long way when it comes to capturing stunning landscape photography.
No more driving to the local scenic spots during your lunch break, parking in the car park and walking 20 paces or so to lazily shoot the same old view that every other visitor to the site does. We’ll reveal the benefits of getting up at dawn to shoot sunrise scenes, making the effort to trek up mountains for better views, and the joys of seeking out bluebells in a forest, lone trees in fields and surging waterfalls.
Photo composition. The key to it all. You can make sharp, well-exposed images with your camera every time, but if they’re poorly composed then they will have completely missed the mark. But don’t beat yourself up over this. In fact, one of the big secrets of famous photographers is the fact that even they don’t get it right every time.
Photo composition is an acquired skill that we learn to fine tune as we build experience. To help you along we’ve compiled the latest of our photography cheat sheet series: an infographic of 3 simple ways you can improve your photo composition to make your landscape images look better.
When photographing landscapes, seascapes or architecture, there’s no excuse for not getting a level horizon. Even the slightest tilt of the camera can ruin an otherwise attractive shot. This can be difficult to get right by eye alone, even if your camera’s mounted on a tripod, but there are plenty of techniques and gadgets you can use to ensure your shots are perfectly straight and your horizon level.
When you first start out in landscape photography, observing a few of the classic conventions can really make a difference to the kind of results you get. Just knowing how to adjust aperture so you get maximum depth of field in an image is a big help, as is understanding some of the classic theories [...]
What is hyperfocal distance? Hyperfocal focusing is a specialised application of depth of field theory that’s perfectly suited to landscape photography. Calculating hyperfocal distance actually quite simple to get your head around.
When managing depth of field, you need to think in terms of the zone of sharp focus as a distance range, from the near limit (the closest object that will appear sharp) to the far limit (the farthest). With hyperfocal focusing, you place the far limit at infinity, and this automatically maximises the depth of field available.
The lone element in a minimalist landscape is hardly a new device. Popularised by the great painter and printmaker Edward Hopper, known for his solitary figures interacting with their environment, this great device has carried over into photography – particularly landscape photography.
For landscape photographers, using a single tree as a point of interest in your photos can be a great way to add drama and scale to your images. But how can you follow this great tradition and take pictures of trees on their own that stand out from all the others?
Below we offer 10 great tips for making your pictures of lone trees more creative.
Coastal landscapes are some of the most popular subjects to shoot at any time of the year, thanks to their enormous creative potential. Bad weather means added drama, and the endless push of the tide means plenty of opportunity to hone your skills at long exposures.
Top landscape photographer Guy Edwardes shares his top ten landscape photography tips for shooting watery scenes.
Polar explorer Ben Saunders shares his adventure photography tips for getting great images in extreme environments like the Arctic
