Landscape Techniques

Fill the frame for dramatic effect

Look carefully at the picture you’re framing before you click the button. Experiment by moving the camera up and down, side to side. Tilt the camera to various angles and see what it shows you. Fill the frame with the object that interests you most. If your digital camera has an LCD screen, you can use it to improve your sensitivity to the entire scene.

Change your perspective

There’s no need to shoot everything from a standing position. Sometimes sitting, crouching or getting higher can produce a more interesting shot.

Colour

The presence of colours is probably the best hint of a great photography potential. Red is the most pleasant color for the eye. If you manage to find this color or a hue in nature, even in small spots, set up your tripod and prepare your camera. If you also pay attention to the position of these colored spots in the image, it is very possible that you obtain a good picture.

For increased drama, you can easily convert colour photos to black and white by using your favorite image-editing program. With some camera models you can even do this in the camera before downloading the image to your computer. Once the image is on your computer, you can use your image-editing program to adjust contrast and brightness. Silhouettes look terrific in black and white, as do old buildings. The effect adds drama.

Clouds

The most beautiful ones are the clouds above the horizon, close to the landscape area that you have in view. At twilight or crack of dawn these clouds may have astonishing colors. They may create a dynamic and complementary center of interest that may give intensity to the center of interest in the picture.

Calmness

A calm, windless atmosphere may sometimes be very useful for the landscape photographer. The wind alters flowers, leaves, trees, grass, lakes etc. For these situations It would probably be more cautious to use a tripod.

Weather

Bad weather may be very good for taking pictures. Fog, mist, snow or rain may give fantastic power and impact to some every day landscapes.

Geographical position

Whenever possible, try to place yourself at north or (especially) south from the landscape you want to take pictures of, because you will thus benefit from lateral light. This sort of light emphasizes the relief and textures, the shapes and shadows.

Close-up

The best landscapes are usually those containing a powerful close-up. Trees, bushes, rocks, bunches of grass or moss, dunes of sand, flowers, almost every subject may be used to create a particular depth in the image. Such a detail may give a three-dimensional illusion, which is very important for the impact of the image.

Reflections

Peaceful waters offer perfect occasions for taking mirror images. This effect may be used in order to double the beauty of a landscape.