Seven Tips On Landscape Photography

Learn the tricks to improve your landscape pictures from our experts. We give you seven tips to help you take pictures with a breath of fresh air.

Light Quality

Enchanting landscape photos tend to be hugely perceived according to the volume and quality of light they were shot in. When you observe, the majority of photographers favour shooting early morning or later afternoons where the light from the sun is low. The low lights add subtle moody hues to the frame and also offer lots of colours to play with. The photographers term these as “Magic Hours”.

Composition (Rule of Thirds)

Using the ‘rule of thirds’ is the easy way to understand composition for landscape photography. The principle suggests you divide your frame using imaginary lines to divide into sections. These sections are on the vertical and horizontal axis. Now place your element of interest at the intersecting points. This rule is one of the key tricks used by critically acclaimed photographers.

Focal Points

It is not just portraits; landscapes to need a focal point. A landscape photograph without a focal point usually looks dull and empty. A striking building, silhouette, tree, structure, boulder or rock formations, could all work as focal points. Use the rule of thirds to place the focal point in your frame.

The Sky

One of the key elements of a landscape picture, sky, as it makes for the most dominant foreground. The cloud formations or the lines in the sky can add drama to the pictures. In a boring frame, you could also consider enhancing the sky post-production or by using polarizing filters. These filters help add colours and contracts to the frame. You could make the skyline shine by placing the horizon lower.

Leading the eye

Leading lines by definition lead the eye of those viewing towards the focal points of the shot. Most of the leading lines are used in the foreground. However, you could use these lines as you please to enhance the picture too. There have been many famous shots consisting only of leading lines that create a pattern. Take your pick but stick to the concept of leading lines.
These lines add depth to the image and also scale the quality of the shot.

Capturing movement

Landscape photography is rarely still photography. The usual mindset believes it to be passive, calm and serene. By capturing the movement of nature, you would be able to create a point of interest with drama and mood. For this, your shutter speed is longer (at times, a few seconds). Now because of this, you would also have to go for a smaller aperture as well as use a filter.

Tripods

Tripods are used to capture images without moving the camera. It is difficult for you to hold a camera all day without moving. When you move, the camera moves too. This is one of the key reasons for images being blurred. It is impossible to hold a camera with wide lenses. Tripods can also be used to increase the height from where the image is being shot.