Photo Tip of the Week: Six Ways to Improve Your Landscape Images
- Plan ahead. Identify possible subjects, zero in on the best time of day and the best season to shoot, and investigate the best vantage points from which to take your photos.
- Be patient. Mother Nature operates on her own schedule, and often, it won’t jive with what you want to do. Get out early, be prepared to wait, and don’t be surprised if you get home late!
- Less is more. Resist the temptation to squeeze every detail of the landscape into one photograph.
- Use weather to your advantage. Don’t stay home when it’s raining or snowing – get out and see how inclement weather can make landscapes even more beautiful.
- Look for leading lines. Fences, streams, and roads make for great tools to lead the viewer’s eye around the frame.
- Don’t forget the foreground. Good landscape photographs have an element of interest in the foreground that grabs viewers’ attention and compliments what’s happening in the background of the scene.
When you’re surrounded by nature, it’s not hard to get lost in the splendor and beauty of the surroundings. Towering mountains, gentle streams, and sun-kissed beaches are the stuff dreams are made of. But capturing their dreamlike qualities with your camera can be a tall task. After all, no matter your skill level or experience in photographing landscapes, there is always something you can do to improve the quality and impact of the shots you take.
We’ve got a supersized Tip of the Week this week that gives you six easy-to-implement strategies for better landscape images. From tips on composition to suggestions for planning, this quick guide will get you started off on the right foot and ready to snap more stunning images.
Do Some Recon
You can vastly improve the images you take before you even leave the house. Doing some research on your intended shoot location will help you identify the best subject matter, the best vantage points, and will likely give you insights into common weather patterns that can impact your ability to shoot.
Find out when the sun will rise and set, find out if fog or mist is a common issue, and investigate how the season will impact the look of the landscape. You may find that the scene you want to photograph, like the one above, is best captured in the evening hours when the setting sun casts long, interesting shadows. Doing recon before you leave can save you a lot of time and heartache!
Bonus Tip: Challenge yourself to find new and interesting locations from which to shoot, or at least less common vantage points. Taking a photo from the same spot as everyone else can get a nice image, like the image above. But finding a more unique vantage point can result in an image that is far more striking, like the image below.
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Be Prepared to Wait
Photographing a landscape isn’t like photographing a person. When taking a portrait, you can do things like ask the person to change position and adjust your lighting with relative ease. But with landscapes, seldom are you able to stop the car, pull over, and be immediately presented with a perfect scene. In fact, getting shots like the one below usually requires a significant amount of time just sitting and waiting for all the elements to be just right.
So, you will need to be prepared to wait. The difference between a good image and an incredible image could be a matter of five minutes. It could also be a matter of five hours. But so long as you’re prepared to be patient, better landscape shots will result.
Less is More
When we first gaze upon a landscape, it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to squeeze absolutely everything into one frame. But doing so can result in an image that viewers find chaotic. If you’ve got a mountain peak, a grove of aspens, a waterfall, an elk, a sunset, and thin layers of fog all in one image, it’s hard for viewers to give their attention to any single element.
Instead, keep your wide-angle lens in the camera bag and use a standard or short telephoto lens. Zoom in on one aspect of the landscape and highlight it in such a way that it grabs – and holds – the viewer’s attention. You don’t necessarily have to go minimalist (although that’s an option), but just strive to present viewers with an uncomplicated scene that exudes a feeling of tranquility.
Don’t Be Afraid of Weather
It’s easy enough to shutter ourselves inside when the weather isn’t that great, but photographing landscapes when the rain is pouring or the snow is flying can get you much more dynamic landscape images.
Shooting during a rainstorm, for example, may provide opportunities for rainbows or scattered clouds that create a gorgeous sky or a textured pattern of light and shadow on the ground. Try chasing a thunderstorm to see if you can photograph the dark, ominous clouds as part of a landscape image. Fresh snow also makes for a clean, crisp landscape with muted colors. The point is that weather can – and should – be embraced as a tool for creating landscape images that have greater visual impact.
Leading Lines
One of the easiest ways to make a more dynamic landscape photo is to include lines that lead viewers’ eyes deeper into the scene. In landscapes, lines can take various forms. Fences, a line of trees, a hiking trail, or a highway will all do the trick. You can even use implied lines, such as valley between mountain peaks, as a way to direct the viewer’s eye.
Mind the Foreground-Background
Landscapes often include the most stunning elements in the background of the shot. Mountains in the distance, for example, are common fodder for landscape images. But there’s more to landscape photography than some far-off landform.
Look for the small details in the landscape that can bring an unexpected twist to your photographs. Think of how you can relate the foreground of the shot to the background, or how foreground elements can drive the viewer’s eye deeper into the image, like the lines of water on the beach do in the image above. The goal here, as discussed above, is not to cram absolutely everything you see into one image. Rather, look for things that add depth and dimension to the foreground and make it more likely that viewers will be captivated by the scene.
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Conclusion
Getting better landscape photos doesn’t necessarily need to involve a new camera body or a collection of new lenses. Getting a good image – whether it’s of a landscape or not – is much more about your artistic eye, the way you compose your shots, and the time and effort you put into planning and executing your shots. While the tips included here might seem obvious or straightforward, they really can have a significant impact on the quality of photos you take.