Landscape Photography Tips

Grab your digital compact and head outdoors. It is time for your camera to shine. Unlike an SLR or DSLR camera preferred by professional photographers, your digital compact offers a much better depth of field for landscape photography. Just set your camera to Landscape mode and follow our tips for taking good landscape pictures that you can proudly display in your home.

One of the most important keys to taking great pictures is the quality of light.

• Remember those Golden Hours - the first hour after dawn and the last hour before sunset - for lighting that is soft and even with a touch of warmth. Of course, if you are taking sunset pictures, this won’t apply.
• An overcast sky will intensify colors and subdue highlights.
• A cloudy sky will add dramatic shadows.
• Contrast in your photo can enhance the quality of your image and add depth and drama to your landscape picture. For example, yellow sunflowers under a bright blue sky or a snow capped mountain peak against a dark threatening sky.
• You will love the soft, mysterious effect of shooting on a foggy day.

The next most important element for taking good picture is composition. Check out these tips and before you know it you will be taking perfect landscape photos.

• Compose your landscape picture so you have a straight horizon. Save the fun, creative angles for another, more appropriate time.
• Fill two-thirds of your frame with the subject of most interest.
• Look for lines to add interest to your picture. A line could be a road, a river or a shadow outlining a feature. If possible, frame your shot so the line leads the eye toward the main focus of your picture, like a narrow trail leading the eye to the mountain that is the focus of your picture.
• Frame the composition with a point of interest in the foreground. Even though that point of interest, such as a tree, rickety old fence or a person, isn’t the main subject of your photo, it will add depth and character to your landscape photograph and make it more enjoyable to view. You can also highlight the composition of your photo by framing it in a eye catching shape like a panoramic frame.
• Look out for clutter. In a landscape photograph, clutter could be anything that mars the view, like an airplane, power line overhead or unsightly trash. If you can’t remove the clutter, there are photo editors, like Photoshop, that can remove it from your picture.

That does it! Add these tips to your growing knowledge of basic photography and you will be on your way to taking, and enjoying, great pictures of inviting landscapes.