Landscape photography is such a diverse subject matter. As with anything this diverse, photographers shooting landscape scenes use many different styles and techniques. Some photographers just snap off pictures using their keen sense of sight.
Today we will be discussing several basic landscape photography tips that will help you to improve when taking landscape scenery.
- Always keep the horizon level when taking photos. Tilted horizons will make your photos look unprofessional.
- Rules of Thirds / Golden Mean. Using these imaginary lines will help guide you to place your elements of your photos in the best alignment possible.
- Aperture size. Try taking photos using a smaller aperture such as f/5.6 to f/8. This will provide a sharper image from the lens and also allow for a greater depth of field which is ideal for taking landscape pictures.
- White Balance. Be sure to check your white balance setting when saving photos to JPEG format. It can be difficult or next to impossible to recover an image if the white balance is not set properly in this format. If saving your photos in RAW format, this can be a little more forgiving, as you can set the white balance after you have snapped the shot using photo editing software.
- Lighting. Time of day and weather conditions will affect the light in your surroundings. If the sun is lower in the sky you will get warmer colors and beneficial shadows giving more dramatic effects. This occurs about a hour after sunrise and a hour before sunset.
- Steady Hand. If your photos need long exposure times it’s best to use a tripod in this situation as opposed to trying to steady the camera by hand.
Remember to have fun while looking for your next landscape photo opportunity and enjoy the beautiful scenery on all of your adventures.