Mastering Landscape Photography – How to Take Great Pictures
ByIf you’re ike most camera owners and have a digital compact, this is your camera’s time to shine. For most serious photographers, an SLR or DSLR is the obvious camera choice, but when it comes to landscapes, compact cameras rule because they offer a much better depth of field. If you want to take some great landscape photos, all you need to do is set your compact to landscape mode and follow these tips. And before you know it you’ll be hanging your landscape pictures in gallery picture frames on the wall for all your friends and family to admire.
Remember that the quality of light is one of the most important elements of photography.
- For lighting that is soft, even and has a touch of warmth, take your landscape photos during the Golden Hours: the first hour after dawn and the last hour before sunset (unless you’re taking sunset pictures).
- For bright colors and subdued highlights, take pictures under an overcast sky.
- For dramatic shadows, shoot under a cloudy sky.
- Enhance the quality of your image and add drama by photographing a landscape scene with contrast; for example, red and gold autumn leafed trees against a strong blue sky.
- To get an ultra soft effect, almost ethereal effect, shoot on a foggy day.
The next most important element is composition. Here are some composition tips for perfect landscape photos.
- Compose your landscape picture so that the horizon appears straight. When taking a horizon, don’t get creative and try different angles as they need to be straight or your picture won’t look right.
- Fill two thirds of your viewfinder with the landscape you want to be the subject of your photo.
- Look for lines. These could be anything from the obvious road or river to a shadow running along sand dunes. If your image has lines, try to have the major lines lead the eye toward the subject of the image. For example, a road winding its way up the mountains and the mountains are the subject of your photo.
- Compose your photo with a point of interest in the foreground. This focal point could be a road or other line as mentioned above, a tree, person, animal, house, etc. Although the focal point won’t be the main subject, it adds depth and draws the viewer into the picture so they’ll look at the picture longer. A focal point simply makes your landscape picture more enjoyable and interesting to look at.
- Watch out for clutter. In a landscape photo, clutter could be a power line or a branch in the way or garbage on the ground. If you can’t get the shot you want without the clutter, use a decent photo editor like Photoshop to remove it.
And another tip for mastering landscape photography is to properly frame your picture in a picture frame that complements your image. In most cases, landscape pictures look best in frames with clean lines like simple metal frames or a classic wood picture frame.
There’s always more to learn with photography, but just by following the tips above you can start taking great pictures of your favorite landscapes.
