Information Addicts

In my earlier days of photography when taking Landscape photographs, my pictures never seemed to turn out  how I actually saw them that day. Back then I used to take my film to Kodak to be developed, and can remember being so exited to view my photos, but always disappointed as most of them were flat and uninteresting. I decided to join a photography club and read photography books on Landscapes, and realized where I was going wrong.Do you want to know what makes a good Landscape photo? Then read on and I will show you.

1. Use a good quality tripod, as landscapes are normally sharp from front to back, which will normally mean a slow shutter speed, and a large aperture number (see tip number 2 for more info).  For most people carrying a tripod around can be cumbersome, but if you want fantastic images then this is an essential piece of kit, and well worth the effort.

Image by Nicholas T

2. Use Aperture Priority mode on your cameras dial (it will possibly look like ‘A’ or ‘AV’), and choose around f/5.6 on a compact, and at least f/11 on a DSLR,  also use the lowest ISO value you can (100 or less) for the best image quality.

3. If you know how, make sure your metering mode is set to Evaluation/Matrix or Centre weighted, (if you’re not sure how to do this then take a look at your manual), so that your shots come out at the right exposure.

4. Make sure you get the Horizon in your image level, by using either the lines in the viewfinder or on the LCD screen, (you may have to switch this function on, look at your cameras manual). If you use a tripod use the spirit level if it has one.

5. Rule of Thirds is one of the most important rules to remember, as dead central compositions very rarely work. What is the rule of thirds you may ask? Imagine your photo with a naughts and crosses board on it, this would divide your image into 9 equal boxes, see below. Now all you have to do is put the point of interest, focal point, or horizon on one of the imaginary four points where the lines cross.

6. Use Lead in lines in your photos if you can, these lines will lead the viewer’s eye into the image and onto the focal point or point of interest. Roads, paths, fences, railings, hedgerows, jetty’s etc all work well.

Image by Muha

7. Take your photos from different Viewpoints, never shoot from head height if possible, go down low, try from different heights and experiment by using different angles.

8. Remember to keep your photos simple, more often than not you snap away at the trees and the hills in the background, or anything else that looks interesting only to find out when you view your photo on the LCD screen, that the shot looks messy and boring. Remember that less is more, take your time composing the shot, what you need in your photo is some foreground interest which could be a person, a colourful rock or plant, or even a large rock that looks interesting (remember to use the rule of thirds). This will draw the viewer’s eye into the scene.

9. Always try and take your pictures around the Golden hour, which is about 30 minutes before sunrise and up to 1 hour after sunset, as this it the time when the light is much warmer and gives your image much more detail. Don’t take photos around mid day as the sun light is straight above and images will look very flat.

Taken by elbfoto

Just remeber although there are rules in photography, it doesn’t mean that you cannot break them. Expertiment, experiment, experiment.

I hope this article will help you to take better Landscape photos? If you have any questions please let me know. Do you have any Landscape tips? Then please share them with us.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm and is filed under Photo Tips and Techniques. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.