I typically tell people I specialize in 3 types of photography: photoshoots, event, and landscapes. I’d like to write entries giving tips on each type, and I figured I’d start with landscapes. Landscape photography is actually what made me interested in photography to begin with, and these are some things I’ve learned along the way! (A couple are specific to DSLRs, but not all of them are.)
Golden Hour
This really applies to any type of photography, but lighting is one of the most important aspects. The golden hour is one of the best times of day for outdoor photography, and there are two of these in a day. They are the first and last hour of sunlight, basically sunrise and sunset. During this time, the lighting is very soft and often have pleasing colors in the sky.
Sunset is the easier of the two to catch:
Shipwreck Beach (Kauai, HI) at sunset
I’ve been asked whether it’s worth waking up early to catch a sunrise shot, and my answer is yes:
Shipwreck Beach (Kauai, HI) at sunrise
Large Depth of Field
When it comes to portraits, it’s often preferable to have a small depth of field, where one thing is in focus and everything else is blurred. For landscapes/cityscapes, it makes more sense when everything is in focus, and thus, a larger depth of field. This involves using a lower aperture, which is a higher f-stop (like having f/8 instead of f/1.8).
View of Waikiki (Honolulu, HI). The small set of buildings in front have the same sharpness as the tall buildings farther away.
Wide Angle Lens
My favorite lens for landscapes and cityscapes is a wide angle. I’m able to fit way more into the photo, and they naturally have a larger depth of field.
Wide angles also have distortion at the edges, which is troublesome for some types of photography. For landscapes/cityscapes, sometimes it’s not noticeable, and sometimes it’s actually beneficial. For example, you can use the distortion to your advantage when it comes to buildings.
Houses of Parliament (London) at night. The natural distortion gives an interesting angle to the building.
The wide angle I use is the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 which has both Canon and Nikon versions, but it’s for cropped sensor DSLRs only (casual-level DSLRs have cropped sensors). I haven’t bought a new wide angle for my full frame yet, so I don’t have a recommend for those right now.
A 10-20mm is actually considered an ultra wide angle, which can be tough to use at first. Once you get the hang of it, you can get some pretty eye-catching photos!
Long Center (Austin, TX). Wide angles can exaggerate distances, which makes the cow’s head look closer and bigger than it really is.
Composition
Composition is key to making an interesting photo and conveying your intent. If you’re interested in composition, I recommend The Photographer’s Eye. It’s an easy read that goes over different ways to compose photos and how that changes the look and feel.
Pay attention to how your horizon lines up and where you can place elements in your view. When it comes to landscapes, a tilted horizon often leads to an unstable and accidental look, and it’s usually better to have it straight.
Big Island, HI. A low horizon would have put more focus on the sky. A high horizon, like pictured, puts more focus on the water and uses the beach as a stability anchor at the bottom.
Thanks to digital photography, we’re able to take way more photos compared to film. Take advantage of this. Take several photos of the same thing with different composition and angles. You might be surprised with what you come up with, and over time, you’ll figure out what works best. Remember that some places are popular and many people have already taken the same photo. What can you do to change it up in a pleasing way?
View from St. James Park (London). I used this angle to frame the buildings inside the London Eye. While horizontal photos are the most natural for landscapes and cityscapes, sometimes vertical compositions work well.
Polarizing Filter
Filters are a type of glass you can put in front of your lens. Circular ones are able to screw right at the end of your lens, and if you buy one, you need to make sure it’s the same size as your lens.
Polarizing filters are great for landscapes because they can darken skies and help manage reflections. This makes them useful for bright skies or photos with water in them.
Unfortunately, they aren’t recommended for wide angles. If there is a lot of sky in the photo, you’ll get an uneven darkening of the sky. (I actually have one for my wide angle, but I have to use it carefully.) The photo below was taken with a 35mm lens on a cropped sensor (so it’s not a wide angle) and a polarizing filter.
View from Central Park (NYC, NY). The filter helps bring out the blue in the water and sky.
Long exposures
I’m not going to write too much about this because… I already have! See this entry about long exposures and how to do them.
Pennybacker bridge at night (Austin, TX). This was taken with a 15 second exposure.
And that’s it for now! I hope that this was somewhat helpful and informative 🙂 Since I mainly focus on photoshoots now, I’ll probably have a series of entries for those as well.
OMG! I LOVE this post, thanks! I actually just completed a Digital Photography course at my college. Before the class I wouldn’t have understood most of what you were talking about, lol. Your photos are amazing. The book you recommended was also one our Professor recommended but didn’t require. I still have bought it but I will soon. Long exposures are fun and something I still have to work on. I’m off to read that post now. 🙂
If it’s okay, I might have to print your post out for guideline and reference 🙂 Can’t wait for future posts!
Thank you for sharing these tips! Landscape photography is probably my favourite type. I’ve been told that I have a good eye for composing photographs so I need to work on when I take photos (lighting) and the tools I use. I’m really considering buying a wide angle lens now.
I thought I had the composition part down until I read up on it, and it opened my eyes to things I could have been doing 🙂 There was more to it than I originally thought, and there were a bunch of techniques I wasn’t aware of. It might still be worth reading up on!
Beautiful photos, and honestly, I think I learned a few things too! I love this post so much, but then again, I really love pictures of anything beautiful or catches my eye.
Landscape photography is amazing because of ~nature~ and all of that stuff :). There’s something about sunset that makes everything look nicer than straight daylight. I agree with land/city scapes being better if everything is focused. There can be multiple “important points” compared to one in a portrait. Speaking of lens, what would an 18-55mm lens be?
And yes!!! Having things being lined up in these “naturey” pictures looks much better. That’s just me, because whenever I see a slanted picture of the ocean, it feels like the ocean is falling off where ever the angle is :I.
This post was informative! It shows how awesome landscape photography is :D. Thanks for sharing~
I’m glad it was informative! On a full frame, 35mm or less is usually considered a wide focal length. The 18-55mm is often packaged with casual DSLRs though, so on a cropped sensor, the 18-22ish part would be wide. The rest wouldn’t be considered a wide focal length. (For example, my cropped sensor DSLR is a 1.6 crop, so 22 * 1.6 = 35.2).
thank for the tips! i haven’t been taking much photos of late, but recently tried to get back onto it. i love taking shots of scenery but also people too.
Man, i love photography. I wish that I had the time to truly get into it again. I took a photography class in high school and while I did learn a few things (which I have pretty much forgotten) I think this post was much more informative! I love long exposure photos! Definitely bookmarking for future use. 🙂
O.M.G. That.Is.Amazing! With your extensive knowledge on nuances of photography, it’s no wonder you can produce beautiful works. My personal request is for you to travel up north of the Arctic Circle and get a few snapshots of the northern lights during the winter. I’d LOVE to see what you can create! 😀
I really want to get myself a DSLR and up my photography game. Especially since I want to go travelling some time soon. This guide is awesome – definitely bookmarked 🙂
Oh so beautiful! Hey do you want to come to Calgary to do my maternity photoshoot?! Hahaha, you are simply brilliant.
If we lived near each other, I would totally do a maternity photoshoot for you! Too bad we’re so far apart 🙂
This is the best photography lesson I’ve had, and I went through three semesters of “photography class”. Nah, the professors just cared about how to twist the subject, rather than technique. Your photos are so beautiful! They make the everyday setting look great (not counting the touristy Big Ben of course)!
These are absolutely amazing and the tips are great! I am just starting off and have no idea what I am doing but I enjoy taking pictures. You really have some beautiful shots there and a great lesson! 🙂