Tips on Capturing Better Landscape Photos

No matter if you’re brand new to photography or are a professional, for the majority of us, the first passion is photography of landscapes.

There’s something beautiful about a beautifully crafted image of nature that is able to draw attention to the viewer.

On the other hand, that lens capturing nature doesn’t just provide the photographer with endless opportunities to capture incredible photographs but also acts as a fantastic opportunity to test ourselves as photographers.

At any time, nature’s elements can alter, which could significantly alter the final outcome of a photo.

While stunning landscape photography can be difficult for beginners, this is actually not as difficult as you imagine.

In this photography tutorial for landscapes, we’ve put together the best techniques and tips to teach you how to create breathtaking landscape pictures.

Find a fantastic foreground element that can increase the depth and perspective.

You’ll be amazed by the way adding a foreground component to the landscape image can completely change the look of a scene. When you add a foreground component to your photograph, your photo will immediately convey a greater perception of depth and perspective. Without it, your photo could appear flat to your liking.

It’s also recommended to choose wide-angle lenses. Wide-angle lenses, as a rule, can enhance the perception of depth in a shot. Combining this with a foreground component will truly open the sense of space in the frame.

When using a wide-angle lens, the foreground elements will appear bigger than background objects which will increase the perception of depth.

Finding the ideal foreground element to add to the scene could only take just a few minutes or hours. Before you begin setting the scene, you should search the web until you locate the ideal element to incorporate, whether it’s the clump of flowers, a group of rocks, a reflecting pond, or fallen tree branches. Think outside the box when choosing your photo!

Profit from bad weather

If bad weather hits, many photographers pack their gear and head home. What they don’t realize is they’ve missed incredible opportunities to take great landscape photography!

There are a lot of pictures taken on the day that is sunny. This is great. But think about the images you’ve seen that were of the most extreme of nature, like cars being buried under a heap of snow following a blizzard or lightning bolts that fill the sky in a purple hue and 20+ feet waves in a hurricane an erupting tornado that is miles away or more. The photos of these kids are amazing to view!

As a majority of people fear when the weather turns bad and they decide to stay in the house, this is a perfect opportunity to take some amazing photographs. As a photographer, try not to let weather conditions make you nervous and instead entice you to get some great photographs!

The ability to document bad weather as it’s taking place (or even after it’s passed) is an interesting thing for viewers to view. We are fascinated by these kinds of images since most of us never have the chance to experience them for ourselves.

Be sure to use the appropriate precautions and remain safe while taking pictures of poor weather-related scenes. Always ensure your safety is the first priority.

The best landscape photography is the time to plan

When you look at an image of a stunning landscape, you think to yourself, “Wow, that lighting, as well as the composition, are amazing! The photographer had luck by having the perfect location at the right moment.”

In most cases, this could not be more wrong!

The most beautiful landscape photographs require long hours of planning and planning. It’s almost impossible for photographers to visit a place at random times on any day and expect to get a fantastic outcome.

It’s just not the right way.

If you’re trying to make the most effective photo of the particular scene, it’s recommended to find the spot prior to the time and then take some test shots during the day. This way, you can observe the effects of natural light on the surroundings and determine the time you’re supposed to return.

If you want to return, you could be a bit earlier than 30 minutes earlier to set up your scene and be prepared to snap an amazing shot when the lighting changes perfectly into the perfect spot.

In general, generally speaking, it’s recommended to shoot landscapes in the golden (or magical) times of the day. To find out more about this trick for photography, take the time to read our previous article, The Golden Hour in Photography.

Make your own images by capturing various angles.

A lot of new photographers capture landscapes by setting their tripods on the ground at eye level and then framing the image. Sure, this could yield a beautiful photo; however, a lot of other opportunities to capture stunning images are lost!

If you truly desire your images to be different from other photographers, then you must take the time to frame an ordinary scene in a unique way.

It is possible to do this in a variety of ways. Consider capturing from a different angle. Take a shot from a high elevation or down in relation to the ground. Create the composition with Out of Focus Foreground Framing. Place natural elements in an image in unique ways. Take pictures of the scene at night. Make use of reflections. And so on.

Fix your exposures

If you’re just beginning your journey in landscape photography, you’ll find that taking a single photo usually isn’t enough to capture an image’s maximum potential. The darker parts of the photo appear muggy while the highlights look perfect, or vice versa. And vice versa. The highlights are overblown, while the more dark regions are beautifully rendered.

This issue is quickly solved with the bracketing of exposures. It is an everyday practice to bracket your exposures on every landscape shot.

Bracketing your exposures is simply to create the same image using multiple exposure levels. It is usually between 3-5 images that differ in brightness. This lets you increase the dynamic range in an image.

Here’s how it is done:

Make a single image with the settings that your camera considers to be a good general setting for your scene’s exposure. Next, you can use the button for exposure compensation (if you are shooting in an auto mode) or shutter speed, aperture, as well as ISO setting (if shooting in manual mode) to make a one-stop overexposure. Then, force a 1 stop underexposure.

This creates three distinct exposures.

If you’re looking to get five exposure, you can simply make two additional photographs—one shot with forced overexposure, that is, two stops, and the other with an underexposure of two stops.

After that, using an editing program for photos, such as Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom, or Apple Aperture, you can automatically combine these three photos together to create a photo that has a greater appeal in terms of dynamic range.

The entire scene, including the dark shadows into the high lights, will be properly exposed.

Learn from nature.

It is possible to learn all the tricks and tips in the world on how to create more stunning landscape shots; however, there isn’t a school or class that can teach you how to improve your landscape photography as nature does.

A few hours of practicing on the field with an open-minded eye and a thirst to think outside the box will make you an even better photographer.

Get out there and begin applying the tips and tricks we’ve given you to be able to apply each one to its maximum advantage. Find out the best practices and tricks for various scenes, and you’ll discover your own techniques throughout the process.