Well, if you are reading this post, you are probably interested in taking better landscape photographs. So, let me share the eight tricks that I wish I had learned earlier on my photography path. But, before moving ahead, let’s establish what constitutes a good landscape photograph.  A good landscape photograph should have the power to teleport the viewer to the moment when the photographer pressed the shutter. The viewer should be able to feel the morning mist or the warm sunrays. But, we all know that portraying that perfect sunset is harder than it seems. I have lost count of how many times I have come back home with a collection of images that wouldn’t do justice to the magic seen by my eyes. After many years of trial and error, I have finally developed a few steps to create better landscape photographs.

No, these steps are not part of a secret ritual used by landscape photographers. But, I can assure you that many landscape photographers use something similar to this mantra. In the end, I hope you use these steps as the foundation for your own mantra. As a good former Ph.D. student, I spent hours researching what other people have already written about this topic. I found a few pages with some handy tips, but I couldn’t see anyone talking about these topics on their page. So, I hope this quick reading helps you on your journey to becoming a better landscape photographer.

1. Patience and Landscape Photography:

Patience and landscape photography should be synonymous. Honestly, I have lost count of how many times I packed all my gear to go back home just to see the sky bursting in colors. Now, I’m scrambling madly to get all my camera gear out of my backpack, and usually, the colors are long gone when I’m finally ready to capture that perfect light. I can’t think of anything more frustrating than this scenario, and that’s the reason why I have adopted the posture of being the first to arrive and last to leave. It’s amazing how much the light can change in a matter of minutes. So, my advice is to keep calm and keep shooting.

Remember that a few minutes can make a huge difference in landscape photography.

I took these two images within a window of two minutes. I saw the sky completely overcast as soon as I arrived at this location and immediately accepted that I would use the evening to scout places for future expeditions. But to my surprise, the strong winds quickly cleared the low hanging clouds, and the colors started to pop in the sky. I guess the saying “The Universe Rewards Patience” held true this evening.

2. Layers makes everything better:

As a French Pastry Chef would say, layers make everything better. Do you know that feeling of biting through a mille-feuille? The feeling of biting through those buttery layers and uncovering new flavors as you progress through that culinary experience? Yes, this same concept applies to photography.

Layers make everything better.

In photography, we don’t need a thousand layers – in fact, I would strongly recommend against it. Simplicity goes a long way in photography, and more important than what you are adding to your frame, it’s what you left out of it. As you can see in the image above, I use layers to create a hierarchical structure in the picture. By using layers, I can guide the viewer’s gaze through the frame, thus creating a narrative that helps create better landscape photographs.

3. 360˚ Rule:

After 30 minutes of scouting for a location, I usually find myself obsessing with one specific composition. I’m sure all photographers can relate to this phenomenon. It feels like the selected frame works as a dark hole. This special type of black hole sucks our attention and time, and after-hours capturing that same image, we find ourselves on our way back home thinking – where did the time go?

While photography can really help to disconnect from our more-than-crazy society, sometimes we miss a better composition that’s standing just a few meters ahead. After years of getting sucked into the black hole, I have finally managed to implement the 360˚ rule. To follow this rule, you just need to steps away from your camera and take a good 360˚ look around yourself. It’s amazing how many times I have found that the best images were literally on my back. An extra tip to make this step work even better, use your cellphone to explore your surroundings. I feel that having the image framed on my cellphone helps me visualize a new potential angle.

Hold your ground, but don’t forget to explore your surroundings.

Sometimes, we find ourselves standing on uneven and slippery grounds. While those uneven surfaces make it harder to explore different compositions, you can always move your tripod head to explore a few different frames. These three photos above show how moving the tripod head can create completely different compositions. The Left Cliff View was the frame that initially captured my attention. After a few minutes of exploring this composition, I started to feel the black hole’s pull and immediately forced myself to use the 360˚ rule. After a simple tripod panning, I was able to capture those three different compositions. This little exercise helped me finding my favorite frame – in which the cliffs are centered on the frame.

4. Camera Angles:

I honestly believe that patience is essential to capture good landscape photographs, and that’s why I made it number one on this list. Now, we all know how hard it is to keep calm when you see that beautiful light fading away rapidly while trying to find the best angle for your shot. So, also remember to give yourself plenty of time to make all the small adjustments you need before settling on your final composition. Sometimes, small changes make a great difference, and attention to details always will show on the final frame.

Attention to details and careful composition helps to create better landscape photographs.  

After I settled on the composition with the centered cliffs, I still had a few final adjustments to try before pressing the shutter before the sky exploded with colors. As you can see in those frames, I played around with different focal lengths and camera tilts. In this particular case, I preferred to use the widest available focal length (16mm) and the camera slightly tilted towards the cliff. I particularly like to tilt the camera down towards my focal point while using wide-angle lenses. This angle creates an immersive sensation that helps to transport the viewer to the location.

5. Balance:

Another sure way to start capturing better landscape photographs is to find a strong anchor to your image. Anchors help the viewers navigate through the image by creating a clear entry point to the picture. But, it’s also important to always remember that the selected anchor should complement the image. Adding a strong focal point to the picture should help improve the overall balance in the image. I like to use those anchors as a divisor to create symmetry and balance in the photograph.

Science has shown that the human brain loves symmetry (click here to check the research); use that to your advantage.

After using the 360˚ Rule and playing with the Camera Angle, I focused my attention on this symmetrical composition. As a retired scientist, I always try to use data to back my decisions. The scientific community has long known that the human brain loves symmetrical compositions, as this type of composition helps to create a nice balance within the frame. In this particular image, we can see that the cliff splits the scene into two similar halves. These two halves provide well-balanced highlights and shadows, thus creating a peaceful and static image.

6. Flow:

Fighting against the universe’s flow is as useful as shoveling sidewalks during a snow storm. Often, the easiest way to move forward in a project is to follow the flow. This concept also holds true in photography. I’m always on the hunt for compositions that present a solid flow. Now, you might be asking -What does flow even mean in the photography context? I like to compare Photography Flow with Musical Rhythm. I like to believe that Photography Flow is created by the successive layering of elements that aims to guide the viewer’s gaze through the whole image. Photography Flow can be created in many different ways, and one day it might be worth writing a post exploring this subject. But, briefly, you can create flow by playing with guiding lines, shadow & highlights, camera positioning, and composition.

Images with strong guidelines usually create a flow that guides the viewer’s eye through the image.

I was hooked as soon as I laid my eyes on this composition. The strong guiding lines added to the dynamic interplay between the shadow and highlights created an enjoyable flow. To reinforce the composition, I tried to increase the cliffs’ visual weight by playing with the camera positioning. I positioned the camera to guide the viewers’ gaze through the shadows in the foreground, strong highlight on the middle ground, and once again shadows in the background. Now, it’s important to recognize this dynamic tension usually forces viewers to work through the image, so it’s extra important to be careful with the elements added into the frame.

7. Get Low:

Admittedly, ultra-wide-angle lenses are the number one pick among landscape photographers. As we step into a beautiful scenario, it’s only logical to get tempted to register all the details that make a location special. The widest the focal length, the more details we can cram in the picture. And that’s the reason why using ultra-wide-angle lenses is so tricky. Adding too much to a picture often results in a busy image lacking a central focus or anchoring element.  A busy image confuses the viewer, resulting in the viewer’s quick loss of interest. I struggled for a long time after getting my first ultra-wide-angle lens. At the time, I knew the theory of using a strong anchor in the foreground, but my images never really “felt” right. After a few months of struggling with the new lens, I decided to read the book Wide-Angle Photography by Chris Marquardt.

The best advice I took from this reading was to Get Low and Get Dirty.  Yes, you heard me right; the best way to use your ultra-wide-angle lens is by getting it as low and close as possible to the focal point. You will inevitably get dirty as you keep crouching to find the best composition. But, the final result is usually worth the effort. By getting low and close to the subject, you force the viewers to notice the focal point, thus providing an entry point into the image.

Get low and Dirty. That might not be the most pleasant experience, but the results are worth it. 

In this image, I used those round rocks as an anchoring element to guide the viewer’s eyes toward the clouds on the horizon. While the textures and interplay between light/shadow in the rocks help capture the viewer’s attention, the guiding lines formed by the rocks’ arrangement point towards the image’s main subject.

8. Check your Photos:

Finally, always always always check your images. I have heard people saying that we should stop checking our images on the LCD, but I honestly can’t entirely agree with this concept. I believe we should use technology to our advantage, so we should take advantage of the fact that our cameras allow us to check for over/underexposed areas and overall focus. Yes, we can always try to “fix it” in post-processing, and I’m indeed a big fan of LR and PS. But trust me, it’s a lot easier to fix overexposed sky on camera than in post-processing. And unfortunately, mistakes such as out-of-focus images cannot be fixed during post-processing.

So, I strongly advise you to take an extra minute to check if you need to do any small adjust in focus and exposure before moving on to your next adventure. I cannot think of anything more frustrating than arriving home believing we captured a killer shot just to find that the image is out of focus.