The Basic Rules To Create Powerful Landscape Images

You could spend your entire lifetime studying how to make great landscape images. There are, however, a few key techniques that will improve your nature shots right away while you learn the subtleties of the craft. Keep these few in the back of your mind while shooting.

Work with "magic light."

Landscape pictures shot before 9:00 a.m. and after 5:00 p.m. look better, especially with digital cameras that have a hard time taming harsh midday sun.

Keep your compositions simple.

Clutter is the bane of powerful landscape imagery. Look for simple, powerful compositions, and skip the rest.

Don't put the horizon line in the middle of the frame.

Landscapes become more powerful when the horizon line is in the lower or upper third of the composition. You can create a very dynamic composition by putting the horizon very low in the frame and letting sky dominate the scene.

Look for converging lines to give the eye a path to follow.

A diagonal line adds energy to the composition and can help lead the eye to a primary point of interest.

Alternate dark and light tones.

This is a technique that Ansel Adams used quite effectively, finding a dark tone for the bottom of the frame, then a light tone, then another dark area (usually a shadow of some sort), then bright again, and possibly dark again at the top of the frame. Alternating tones adds plenty of visual interest.

Use a tripod when possible.

By keeping your camera rock steady, you will squeeze every bit of sharpness out of the lens, rendering even the tiniest elements with clarity. Plus, photographers who use tripods tend to study their scenes more and have more refined compositions.

Be patient.

Sometimes you have to wait for nature to paint you the perfect picture. Allow enough time to stay put for a while and watch the light change.

Use a polarizing filter.

If your camera accepts accessories such as auxiliary lens and filters, consider adding a polarizing filter to your bag of tricks. Polarizers remove unwanted reflections, deepen color saturation, and bring an overall clarity to the scene. The effect is strongest when the sunlight is coming into the scene from over your shoulder.

Protect against lens flare by shielding the front glass element of your camera from the sun.

Lens flare is that demon that degrades the color saturation of your images. Lens hoods were once standard issue for 35mm cameras, but no one seems to use them for digitals. To improve the quality of your shots, make sure the sun is not reflecting off the front of your lens.

Shoot at the highest resolution and sharpness your camera allows.

Landscapes look best when printed big, but to do so you need all the resolution your camera can muster.

Get out and walk.

If you see a good shot from the seat of your car, chances are it's even better a few hundred yards away from the road.

Don't increase your ISO speed setting to cope with low light.

Bumping up your speed will degrade the quality of your image. Use a tripod and your self-timer instead.
By keeping these tips in mind, you can begin mastering the craft of landscape photography with your digital point-and-shoot camera, and take some great shots while doing so.