Photography tips

When most people think about landscapes, they think of calm, serene, and passive environments. However, landscapes are rarely completely still – and if you can convey this movement, you’ll add drama and mood to your image. You’ll also create a point of interest. But how can you convey movement in a landscape? You can focus on wind in the trees, waves on a beach, water flowing over a waterfall, birds flying overhead, moving clouds, etc. Capturing this movement generally requires a longer shutter speed (sometimes a shutter speed of many seconds!). Of course, a slow shutter speed means more light hitting your sensor, so you’ll either need a narrow aperture or an ND filter. You might also choose to shoot at the start or the end of the day when there is less light.

One of the questions you should always ask yourself as you do landscape photography is: “How am I leading the eye of those viewing this composition?” There are a number of ways to lead the eye (and including a clear foreground subject works well). But one of my favorite ways is to provide viewers with lines that lead them into the image (such as the road in the photo above). Lines give an image depth and scale. Plus, they can offer a point of interest by creating patterns in your shot.

In landscape photography, you should always think about the sky. Most landscapes will either have a dominant foreground or a dominant sky. And unless you include one or the other, your shot will end up looking boring. Start by observing the sky. If it’s bland and lifeless, don’t let it dominate your shot; place the horizon in the upper third of the image (though you’ll want to make sure your foreground is interesting). But if the sky is filled with drama, interesting cloud formations, or colors, then let it shine! Place the horizon in the bottom third of the frame to emphasize the heavens. (Also, consider enhancing skies, either in post-production or with filters. For example, you can use a polarizing filter to add color and contrast.)

Pretty much every shot needs some sort of focal point, and landscape photography is no different. In fact, a landscape photograph without a focal point ends up looking rather empty. And it’ll leave your viewer’s eye wandering through the image with nowhere to rest. Focal points can take many forms in landscape photos. They can range from a building or a structure (such as in the photo above) to an eye-catching tree, a boulder or rock formation, a silhouette, or something else entirely. Also, think not only about what the focal point is, but where you should position it within the frame. The rule of thirds can be useful here.

To maximize your depth of field, you’ll be using a small aperture – and you’ll also likely shoot with a long shutter speed. But unless you’re careful, you’ll end up with an unusably blurry image. That’s where a tripod comes in handy. You can use it to stabilize your camera and keep your photos tack sharp for 1-second, 5-second, and even 30-second long exposures. In fact, even if you can shoot at a fast shutter speed, a tripod can still be beneficial. It’ll force you to slow down and consider your composition more carefully. Also, to prevent camera shake from pressing the shutter button, consider a remote shutter release.

In landscape photography, a deep depth of field is almost always the way to go. In other words: You want as much of your scene in focus as possible. The simplest way to do this is to choose a small aperture setting (i.e., a large f-number, such as f/11 or f/16). Because the smaller your aperture, the greater the depth of field in your shots. Do keep in mind that smaller apertures mean less light is hitting your image sensor. So you’ll need to compensate for the narrow aperture either by increasing your ISO or lengthening your shutter speed (or both). PS: Of course, there are times when you can get some great results with a very shallow depth of field in a landscape setting. It’s just a tricky technique that requires a lot of finesse.