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Landscape photography is one of my favorite types of photography. Being out in nature is something that makes me happy. Landscape photography is as much about being in the right place at the right time as it is about know how to use your equipment to capture a wide open scene. The following landscape photography tips will help you get better results.

Muddy Gap, Johnson County, Wyoming By Tyson

1. Being in the right place at the right time.

Landscape Photography is all about planning.  You need to plan for the sunlight.  Sunlight can be a landscape photographers best friend or worst enemy.  Third, check the weather.

First, you need to know where there are great landscapes. You can find great landscapes a number of ways.

• Ask the locals. If you are not familiar with an area call up the local BLM office or just ask around.  People are always willing to share information about interesting places to go and see.   I have found some of my best shots by talking with BLM, locals, and even people who work in the tourism industry.  People who work in tourism can usually be a great source of information.  That includes hotels, taxis, and local parks departments.
• State and National Parks. These places have often been chosen because of their unparalleled beauty.  If you are looking for beautiful landscapes you can almost always find them at a State or National Park.
• Study other Landscape Photography work. Do not reinvent the wheel.  People have been shooting landscape photography since the invention of the camera.  They have found thousands of great place to go.  If you study their work and the locations you may be able to go to those places and make some great photography.  You do not have to make the same shots just use the locations for inspiration.
• Go for a drive. You do not always have to travel long distances to get great landscapes.  I would almost guarantee you that within 1 hours drive of your current location there are beautiful nature scenes to be had.

Second, you need to plan for the sunlight.  Sunlight can be a landscape photographers best friend or worst enemy.  There are certain times during the day when you get the best natural light.  Those times are about one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset.  If you have been shooting very long you probably have heard about “the power hour”.  I normally plan to be on location about 20 minutes before sunrise and i will stay about 2 hours.  If I am shooting at sunset I will plan on being there about 2 hours before sunset.

Third, I always check the weather before I leave for a shoot just to make sure there are not going to be anything really bad.  I have been out in all kinds of weather to get a shot but it is always nice to know its coming instead of being stuck out there unprepared.

Moonrise Over Arizona By Tyson

2. Knowing how to use your equipment to get the best landscape photography you can is crucial.  Here is what I do.

• Use a tripod. The way I like to shoot landscapes is sharp, crisp, and colorful.  I use a tripod to keep my camera as steady as possible.
• Use Mirror Lockup. If you are using an SLR or a DSLR you can use the mirror lockup feature if your camera has one.  I have found that even the smallest vibration can cause some movement in the picture when shooting landscapes.  Read your owners manual to find out how to lock the mirror up and then make your shot.
• Use a remote shutter release. Again, even the smallest vibration or movement can cause an image to look fuzzy.  By using a remote shutter release you can take the shot without touching the camera and reduce the chance of you moving the camera during the shot.
• Shoot at a low ISO. I try to always use 100 or lower.  I have gone up as far as 400 at times but the grain/ noise can ruin any shot so try to use a low ISO.
• Aperture is important during landscape photography.  Use the highest number aperture/ smallest aperture possible.  When shooting with my Canon DSLR I use aperture 22 to get the sharpest results.  Small apertures give sharper images than big ones.  But remember the smaller the number the bigger the aperture.  So aperture 2.8 is bigger than aperture 22.
• To get my colors saturated I use a long shutter speed.  As the light is low in the sky it allows you to use a small aperture and a long shutter speed.  This will give you saturated colors.  Most importantly, you will need to make sure your exposure is correct but try to use a long shutter speed for saturated color.
• Bracket your exposures. I always bracket my exposures just to make sure that I get the perfect shot.  Bracketing exposures means, if your camera says the correct exposure is f22 with a shutter speed of 1/30 then you will want to shoot one shot at that exposure and one at a faster shutter speed like 1/60 and a slower shutter speed like 1/15.  If you can shoot as speeds in between then that is great too.  I will usually shoot a few different exposure when I am using digital because its cheap and I can.  When shooting film I am a little more conservative because film costs more money.

3. Shoot often and shoot a lot. The more you do it the better you will get so the most important part to making any great photography is shoot, shoot, shoot.

Muir Woods By Tyson

Is there anything I left out?  Do you have any great landscape photography tips, that I missed?   It would be great if you shared your tips with me and the other readers by leaving a comment below.  I am sure we would also like to see your work or your favorite landscape photographer,  so give us a link.

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