While learning how to use your camera and further develop your technical skills is an important factor in improving your landscape photography, there are several more aspects involved in this process. Landscape photography is more than just technical skills; it’s about vision, creativity, connection and so much more.
In this article, let’s look at other, yet equally important, factors that you should keep in mind in order to develop your craft and capture beautiful and unique images:
1. Maximize your Depth of Field
While there may be times that you want to get a little more creative and experiment with narrow depth of fields in your Landscape Photography – the normal approach is to 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.
Do keep in mind that smaller apertures mean less light is hitting your image sensor at any point in time so they will mean you need to compensate 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 DOF in a landscape setting (see the picture of the double yellow line below).
2. Use a Tripod
As a result of the longer shutter speed that you may need to select to compensate for a small aperture you will need to find a way of ensuring your camera is completely still during the exposure. In fact even if you’re able to shoot at a fast shutter speed the practice of using a tripod can be beneficial to you. Also consider a cable or wireless shutter release mechanism for extra camera stillness.
3. Add a Little Something to the Composition
No matter how grand or beautiful a landscape is, every shot you take will benefit from having a little added interest in the shot. This might take the form of a leading line to direct the viewer’s eye.
You might add some interest in the foreground to give the shot a little more depth. Layering the composition makes the image seem more three-dimensional.
Paying attention to the details gives the viewer one more thing to delight their eye.
But be sure that when you add in details that they have a purpose. Don’t just add details for the sake of doing so. Instead, find a way to incorporate details so they support your overall vision for the scene.
For example, adding the mountains in the foreground of the photo above makes the image of the moon much more interesting and dynamic than the previous image of the moon by itself, does it not?
The second image is simply more engaging, with a better composition that still highlights the moon, but does so in a way that captures the viewer’s attention in a more salient manner.
The second image is simply more engaging, with a better composition that still highlights the moon, but does so in a way that captures the viewer’s attention in a more salient manner.
4. Learn From Others but Don’t Copy
Studying the work of others is an important part of improving your landscape photography. Look aside from the technical aspects such as the settings but instead study the composition, the light, the idea and the vision.
visit exhibitions, buy photography books and study the masters, then ask yourself: what is it about this image that I like? How has the artist made me like it the way I do? How can I learn to do the same things?
Now, studying the work of others doesn’t mean that you should copy them. Find inspiration in them and learn from what they do – don’t go out and search for the same locations and capture the same images. Nobody likes a copycat and how will you be able to improve your creative craft when you’re not able to use your creativity?
5. Shoot in RAW
If you’re shooting your landscape photos in JPEG, there’s a much better choice…
JPEGs are great if you need the space on your memory card, but memory cards today have tons and tons of space, so that’s no longer a very valid excuse.
JPEGs are also nice for sharing on social media, via text, or through email because they are immediately viewable – anyone can see a JPEG, so if time is of the essence, JPEGs do have that going for them.
However, JPEGs are compressed. That means that your camera decides what data to keep from the sensor and what data to essentially throw out.
With less data comes less capability to manipulate the image in post-processing. What’s more, the data your camera decides to throw out might be important for what you intend to do with the shot.
Instead, you can shoot in RAW mode, which retains all the data captured by the camera’s sensor.
That gives you much more data to work on in post-processing, which is especially helpful when you have a high dynamic range photo, like the sunset image above. That’s because you’re more able to extract detail in shadowed and highlighted areas in a RAW file than you can in a JPEG.
What’s more, a RAW file allows you to make non-destructive edits, so if you edit the file and want to edit it a different way, you can do that.
A RAW file can be worked on in programs like Adobe Camera Raw too, which allows you to make edits before you even get the image into Photoshop or Lightroom.
In other words, RAW format is much better for editing your photos, and if you want to create images with more impact, RAW is the way to go.
Learn more tips from a pro in a photography class. Taming Light Photography has courses you can take online for your convenience. It is also about to have its biggest photography tour happening next year in Tuscany, Italy! Register to one or all of these classes and be a better landscape photographer!
