Landscape Photography Tips
Are you looking for landscape photography tips? You’ve come to the right place.
Landscape photography is a favorite niche with both professional and amateur photographers, and it’s easy to see why. As a landscape photographer you are able to share the beauty of nature with people around the world, allowing them to experience places that they may otherwise never see.
What Is Landscape Photography?
Landscape photography is a genre of photography that most commonly captures the beauty of nature and the outdoors. Usually, landscape photography include mountains, forests, rivers, meadows, and deserts. However, the definition of landscape photography is quite broad, and includes many sub-genres.
Although very similar, nature photography is often confused with landscape photography. Nature photography focuses and features smaller areas of the outdoors such as birds, flowers, insects, or tree branches. Landscape photography shows the entire scene.
Sub-Genres of Landscape Photography
There are many sub-genres in the landscape photography. The most common are urban, cityscapes, seascapes, and astrophotography.
Urban Landscape
Cityscape
Seascape
Astrophotography
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15 Landscape Photography Tips
- Scout Your Location – It’s all about location. Before you head out it’s always a good idea to research the area you are considering shooting. To find the best angles and positions to shoot from use Google Earth, Flickr, Instagram or 500px for ideas.
- Time of Day – For the most beautiful light, shoot during the golden hour or blue hour. It is the most gorgeous time of day, and will add dimension and beauty to your photographs.
- Create Depth – In landscape photography you want to create a deep depth of field, so your entire scene will be in focus. Use a smaller aperture between f/11 – f/22. for greater depth.
- Bring the Right Camera – The right camera is the one you have with you. Learn to master it. You can use a compact camera, a smart phone, a DSLR or a mirrorless camera for landscape photography. However, if you want to be able to change lenses, you will need a DSLR or mirrorless camera.
- Use the Right Lenses – There are two lenses you’ll want to have. A wide angle lens to capture the details of the entire scene, and a zoom lens to isolate details and objects within the landscape.
- Experiment With Photo Filters – If you want to make a real difference in your landscape photography, add a set of these three filters: An ND Filter will let you shoot at slow shutter speeds in bright conditions. A Graduated Neutral Density Filter has a gradient from the top of the filter towards the middle, and creates a graduated ND effect. It allows you to reduce the amount of light coming from a specific area of the scene. A Circular Polarizing Filter is used for reducing glare & reflections, darkening skies & foliage, and increasing the detail in clouds.
- Invest in a Tripod – A tripod is essential if you plan on using slow shutter speeds, shooting long exposures or in low light, and astrophotography. You need the stability of a tripod, unless of course you don’t mind blurry images.
- Use a Shutter Release – Use a shutter release to prevent blurry images when you are shooting long exposures. It will eliminate the possibility of camera shake.
- Learn How to Use Manual Exposure – It’s important to learn the basics so you can take your camera out of AUTO. Shutter Speed determines the amount of time the shutter is open, and the brightness of your image. It also affects motion. A fast shutter speed lets light in quickly, and freezes action. A slow shutter speed allows light in longer, and can create a blurring motion. Aperture controls how much light actually comes through the camera lens. The lower the f-stop, the more light will come through the lens. The higher the f-stop, the less light will come through the lens. Aperture affects the depth of field in an image. ISO is a measure of the camera’s ability to capture light.
- Camera Settings – Settings will vary depending on the environment you are shooting in. However, a good place to start is with an aperture between f/8 – f/22, an ISO100, and adjust your shutter speed according to available light.
- Shoot in RAW – Shooting in RAW preserves all image information, captures higher quality images, and will give you the most editing options in post-production.
- Composing Your Shot – Composition refers to the way you arrange the various elements or subjects in the scene of your photograph. The rule of thirds is one of the most common rules of composition. Use it to draw the viewers eye to specific focal points. Using leading lines will make your photographs more engaging. They give the illusion of depth and dimension, and add visual impact to your images.
- Best Subjects for Landscape Photography – Flowing water: Rivers, waterfalls, streams; Forests, mountains, roads, deserts, and seacoasts.
- Learn How to Edit Your Photos – Editing your photos can make the difference between an average or stunning image. There are multiple options available for post processing. Most photographers use Luminar, Lightroom and Photoshop , sometimes in combination with each other.
- Learn the Basics – With so many good photography courses available, it’s always a good idea to increase your photography education.
Conclusion
We hope you have found these landscape photography tips useful. Keep practicing new techniques, and don’t be afraid to step out of you comfort zone to try new things. Most of all, just remember to have fun!
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