Landscape photography is a favourite genre amongst many photographers, including me and if composed and executed properly it can give astounding results.
In fact there are so many top photographers who have contributed so much to the genre of landscape photography that it has now grown to have a life of its own.
Anyways leaving aside all this, what is landscape photography.
Landscape photography is simply photography of landscapes.
It could be a snow clad mountain, a meandering river, a beautiful rainbow, a crimson red sunset or a placid lake.
Whatever be the scene, there are certain rules or rather guidelines you must keep in mind when you take those stunning pics.
1.
The Angle of view:This is a major criterion.
If you want real good photos, then you will need to get as much of the landscape in your frame.
This can get troublesome if you are using a point and shoot or a standard zoom lens.
This is because these lenses have a narrow angle of view and hence will not be able to capture the entire landscape in your frame.
In a point and shoot there is not much you can do except use the panorama mode (I will talk in detail about the panorama mode).
If you own a DSLR, then you can use one of the specialized wide angle lenses.
A good wide angle is the canon 10-22 mm lens which I use (Of course you can use it only with Cannon, but there are wide angle lenses available for all mounts.
Just keep in mind you need a zoom in the range of 10-20 mm).
The one disadvantage of this is that these are very expensive.
If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, you can use any one of the wide angle adaptors.
These are cheap, but the image quality is not so good.
So it's a trade off.
2.
Time of shoot: This is very vital.
The best time for landscape is either dawn or dusk.
The natural lighting is just correct and provides the best result.
The problem with bright day light is that it can produce a lot of glare, and can give your photos a washed out appearance.
This can be rectified by using a circular polariser.
However remember that using a CPL will reduce the amount of light entering the sensor by around two stops.
3.
Get a subject in the foreground: As I had mentioned in my earlier article on rule of thirds, get a subject in the fore ground.
This could be a tree, or boat or anything appropriate.
This will give greater depth to your photos and make for a better composition.
4.
Lastly this is a super trick to improve the appearance of you photos.
Look for a road or meandering river and compose your picture in such a way that this road or river seems to either entering or leaving the photo.
This gives a great aesthetic appeal to the photo.
In fact there are so many top photographers who have contributed so much to the genre of landscape photography that it has now grown to have a life of its own.
Anyways leaving aside all this, what is landscape photography.
Landscape photography is simply photography of landscapes.
It could be a snow clad mountain, a meandering river, a beautiful rainbow, a crimson red sunset or a placid lake.
Whatever be the scene, there are certain rules or rather guidelines you must keep in mind when you take those stunning pics.
1.
The Angle of view:This is a major criterion.
If you want real good photos, then you will need to get as much of the landscape in your frame.
This can get troublesome if you are using a point and shoot or a standard zoom lens.
This is because these lenses have a narrow angle of view and hence will not be able to capture the entire landscape in your frame.
In a point and shoot there is not much you can do except use the panorama mode (I will talk in detail about the panorama mode).
If you own a DSLR, then you can use one of the specialized wide angle lenses.
A good wide angle is the canon 10-22 mm lens which I use (Of course you can use it only with Cannon, but there are wide angle lenses available for all mounts.
Just keep in mind you need a zoom in the range of 10-20 mm).
The one disadvantage of this is that these are very expensive.
If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, you can use any one of the wide angle adaptors.
These are cheap, but the image quality is not so good.
So it's a trade off.
2.
Time of shoot: This is very vital.
The best time for landscape is either dawn or dusk.
The natural lighting is just correct and provides the best result.
The problem with bright day light is that it can produce a lot of glare, and can give your photos a washed out appearance.
This can be rectified by using a circular polariser.
However remember that using a CPL will reduce the amount of light entering the sensor by around two stops.
3.
Get a subject in the foreground: As I had mentioned in my earlier article on rule of thirds, get a subject in the fore ground.
This could be a tree, or boat or anything appropriate.
This will give greater depth to your photos and make for a better composition.
4.
Lastly this is a super trick to improve the appearance of you photos.
Look for a road or meandering river and compose your picture in such a way that this road or river seems to either entering or leaving the photo.
This gives a great aesthetic appeal to the photo.
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