The kind of camera you have and how much it cost is not the most important criteria in taking great landscape shots. No camera can be creative by itself. Once you learn about the components of composition, your landscape shots taken with a point and press camera can be better than someone whose camera cost them $8,000 if they don’t know about composition. The single most important factor in taking decent landscape photographs is composition, or the way objects are put together. Once you begin to pay attention to this factor, your landscape photos will improve dramatically.
Some people seem to understand intuitively how to take creative landscape photos. Whether you are one of those people or not, practice can only make you better, so take plenty of shots. But first you must decide what the main subject of the shot is going to be. Is it the gnarled old oak tree, the mountain in the background or the waterfall that is creating rainbows in the middle distance? You are the one to decide; after all it’s your photograph.
The subject of the photograph is the part that should be the focus. Say it’s a bay full of sailing boats. It may be framed by a beautiful branch of glorious fall colors, there may be mountains in the background or wonderful cloud shapes in the sky – or all three - but everything should lead the eyes to focus on the bay and sailing boats. Therefore, the settings on your camera should be for that. The bay should be the central focus of the photograph, with the other components given less room and importance. If all have equal room in the photo, they will detract from each other, creating less visual appeal.
Light is another important factor is taking landscape photographs. The best time of day is early in the morning and late in the afternoon and evening. The brighter light in the middle of the day can cause too much contrast in light and shadow, which your camera will find hard to handle. Both digital and film cameras like all things to be equal when it comes to lighting. If you try and focus on the shady areas, then the lighter areas may bleach out, while if you set the camera for the light, areas of shade will be much too dark. A graduated, neutral density filter can help out here.
Angle and elevation are also important in a landscape. When you see a scene that grabs your fancy, try it from various positions before you shoot. Or better still, shoot from a variety of angles, then delete those that are sub-standard. Remember to try vertical shots as well.
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