022 - How to Take Great Landscape Photos

Today on the podcast we are talking all about landscape photography and how YOU can create those dreamy, amazing, stupendous, incredible landscape photos we (or at least I) drool at over on Instagram and in galleries all around the world.

Landscape photography is an interesting monster. As adventurers, we are often in beautiful places with amazing landscapes all around us. But then how do we translate those beautiful places into beautiful images?

Well, that is what we are talking about today!

Taking pictures of landscapes may seem pretty simple when you are surrounded by as much natural beauty as we tend to be. And it can be. Just pull out your camera and take a photo of the landscape. Boom. Instant landscape photography. 

But what if you wanted to create a great piece of art from the landscape in front of you? A true masterpiece of light, movement, and natural beauty? To create a wall-worthy photo takes patience, planning, and persistence. It goes well beyond just pulling out your phone and snapping a photo.

Firstly, you need your fundamental photography skills on point. You need to know your exposure triangle, how everything works together and the basics of composition. That’s your most fundamental starting point right there. If you don’t know this yet, step a few episodes back in this podcast and go listen to our fundamentals of photography series. That will get you up to speed pretty quickly. And don’t worry. We will be right here waiting for you when you get back.

Awesome, so you have your fundamentals down. So what do we do now?

Tip #1 - Plan your Shot

Frequently, we are going to be hiking in mid-day when the light is high and the shadows are heavy. This typically does not make for great landscape photos. The world is too contrasty and bland looking and it just doesn’t translate well in an image. So, instead of just always hiking in the middle of the day, pick a place that you want to create amazing photos and plan for when and where the sun will be. There are many apps that tell you approximate locations of the sun from certain vantage points (like Sun Surveyor) and when things like golden hour, sunset and blue hour are. Use these things to plan your shots in advance.

There are a few ways you can plan in advance, and all of them will depend on the time you have.

Way one is to plan virtually. This is the least time-in-the-field intensive. You can pick spots that look amazing in other people’s photos and plan to be in those locations at a certain point to catch golden hour or sunrise or whatever it is you are looking for in that landscape.

Way two is to hike into an area and pre-scout it. This is my favourite for doing photos of people as I can take time to plan where I will do what shots before having my subjects in front of me. This same principle can be applied to landscape photography (and should always be applied to night time photography). This is very time-intensive as you will be in the field wandering around for a few hours likely looking at all sorts of things. But it can lead to some of the most amazing photographs.

Way three is to plan to do your exploration and mark off spots that you think would look amazing at Golden Hour and then head back through them when the light is right. This can be very difficult as you need to time your shots just right and know exactly how long you have to get back to a location before the light moves away. But it’s a great way to scout a location and shoot images on the same day.

So that’s three ways to plan in advance. And planning in advance can really lead to the best images for landscape photography.

Tip #2 - Shoot at the Magic Hour

We’ve talked about this before, but the Golden Hour can offer some of the most amazing light. The world takes on a soft magical warm glow. This is when you can truly create stunning landscape images. Make sure to get to your location before golden hour begins, as light changes minute by minute and you could miss the best lighting if you are just setting up your gear as it starts to roll over the landscape.

This doesn’t mean you can’t shoot landscapes in the middle of the day, but your best bet for amazing landscape images is going to be during the golden hour.

Tip #3 - Don’t Give Up

If you’ve gone to all the work of planning and getting to a location, don’t give up just because the light doesn’t look perfect or because it looks like you won’t get a certain sunset. Light and landscapes are fickle things and one break in the clouds or one little movement of the earth as it turns can change the way that light hits a peak or lights up the sky.

So often, I have been in locations where it looked like the sunset was going to be a dud only to have the most amazing colours 10 minutes after the sun had officially set. Be patient, and wait for your opportunity. And so often I have seen other photographers pack up and go home, only to have the landscape show me amazing things. So wait it out.

And honestly, since you are there anyway, make the most of what is in front of you and expand your creative eye. Look for some amazing images while you are there.

Tip #4 -  Shoot with a low ISO

To get the best sharpness and the lest noise, shoot with a low ISO. High ISO not only causes a lot more noise in an image, but it also causes your image to have less clarity meaning the photo won’t look quite as sharp. Using a low ISO and a mid to high aperture means you likely will need to shoot on a tripod due to a low shutter speed.

Tip #5 - Decide what type of landscape photo you want.

People often talk about shooting your landscape photos at f8 or f11 and that can be fine if you want most of the image to be in focus. But, it can also mean all landscape photos start to look the same. Instead of just putting your camera to f8 and forgetting about it, use the aperture to your advantage. Are there elements in the photo you want more in focus than others, then drop your aperture. Try doing some landscape photography at f4 and seeing the results. It,s worth thinking about how you want your image to look, and using that aperture.

Tip #6 - Focus Stacking

To get the best results from your landscape photos, try focusing stacking. You will need a camera that you can set the focus yourself by manually moving a focus ring and you will need a program like Photoshop or Affinity Photo to make this happen.

Focus stacking is when you take a multitude of photos with all the same settings and composition but change the focus distance on your lens manually, starting close to your camera and moving out into infinity. You will end up with many photos of the same subject with slightly different focal planes. Now, when you get home, upload your images into a photo editor that can do focus stacking and select your images. The computer will then stitch an image that will appear sharp across the whole frame. It can take some dedication to get this right, but it is well worth the effect.

Tip #7 - Filters

Use filters to enhance your photography. Polarizing filters help enhance colours and reduce glare. They are particularly helpful when shooting scenes that include water, sky, and lots of reflections. They typically come as a circular polarizer that you can adjust depending on the scene in front of you.

Other filters to think about include graduated neutral density filters and neutral density filters.

A graduated neutral density filter is a filter that goes from dark and gradually moves to being clear. Filters like this can help you balance out really bright skies and really dark landscapes allowing you to more easily and properly expose the scene.

Neutral density filters are dark filters that cut the amount of light reaching your sensor. This allows you to do things like increasing your shutter speed to cause water or clouds to smooth out. These are what enable you to get minute long exposures at sunset where the clouds and the water look blurry.

Tip #8 - Change your Angles

Get low to the ground and shoot out across the water, or get up high and show a drone’s eye view of a place. Changing from what people see every day can really help you to create an image that stands out in their minds. It can also set you apart from the thousands of other photos that are shot at some really popular locations.

Tip #9 - Don’t Just Think Wide

Wide-angle lenses are the standard in landscape photography. And they are AMAZING. You will need a good wide-angle lens to truly appreciate landscapes. BUT, don’t just get lost in shooting wide. Telephoto lenses can cause some really amazing effects to a landscape including compression and showing off unique tiny details. So, the next time you head out shooting a landscape, don’t just leave that telephoto at home. Bring it with you and you may be able to create some truly special images that other people haven’t take.

Tip #10 - Get Out There

Some great landscapes will happen just outside your door, others you will need to drive to. And then hike for four hours, and then wait for the light, and then hike back out for four hours. And then drive home. And others will take more dedication than that. Truly amazing landscapes are all around us, but to create a diverse collection you will need to be ready to get out into the world for hours on end. But your listening to a podcast about travel and adventure photography, so I’m thinking you must be pretty stoked to get on out into our big beautiful world.

If you are enjoying the podcast, please subscribe and rate it where you can. You can find more episodes of the podcast wherever you stream, including Spotify, Apple, and Google.

You can also follow along on our journey on Instagram @TravelAdventurePhotoSchool.

You can follow along with Robert’s adventures on Instagram as well @RobertMasseyPhotography.