Landscape Photography
Shows spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes.
Top 10 Tips:
Top 10 Tips:
- Maximize your Depth of Field: ensure that as much of your scene is in focus as possible. The simplest way to do this is to choose a small Aperture setting (a large number) as the smaller your aperture the greater the depth of field in your shots.
- Use a Tripod: a way of ensuring your camera is completely still during the exposure.
- Look for a Focal Point: All shots need some sort of focal point to them and landscapes are no different – in fact without them, your photographs end up looking rather empty.
- Think Foregrounds: One element that can set apart your landscape shots is to think carefully about the foreground of your shots and by placing points of interest in them.
- Consider the Sky: Most landscapes will either have a dominant foreground or sky – unless you have one or the other your shot can end up being fairly boring. If you have a bland, boring sky – don’t let it dominate your shot and place the horizon in the upper third of your shot (however you’ll want to make sure your foreground is interesting). However if the sky is filled with drama and interesting cloud formations and colors – let it shine by placing the horizon lower. Consider enhancing skies either in post production.
- Lines (Element of Art): ask yourself as you take Landscape shots is ‘how am I leading the eye of those viewing this shot’? There are a number of ways of doing this (foregrounds is one) but one of the best ways into a shot is to provide viewers with lines that lead them into an image. Lines give an image depth, scale and can be a point of interest in and of themselves by creating patterns in your shot.
- Capture Movement: landscapes are rarely completely still and to convey this movement in an image will add drama, mood and create a point of interest. Examples – wind in trees, waves on a beach, water flowing over a waterfall, birds flying over head, moving clouds.
- Work the Golden Hours (Light): dawn and dusk – because that’s when the light is best and he find that landscapes come alive. These ‘golden’ hours are great for landscapes for a number of reasons – none the least of which is the ‘golden’ light that it often presents us with. The other reason that I love these times is the angle of the light and how it can impact a scene – creating interesting patterns, dimensions and textures.
- Think about Horizons: always consider the horizon on two fronts. Is it straight? – while you can always straighten images later in post production it’s easier if you get it right in camera. Where is it compositionally? - a compositionally natural spot for a horizon is on one of the thirds lines in an image (either the top third or the bottom one) rather than completely in the middle. Of course rules are meant to be broken – but I find that unless it’s a very striking image that the rule of thirds usually works here.
- Change your Point of View: Explore the environment and experiment with different viewpoints and you could find something truly unique.
Most Famous Landscape Photographer: Ansel Adams
Links to Contemporary Landscape Photographer's Websites: Adam Burton Elizabeth Carmel Colin Prior Charlie Waite |