11 Landscape Photography Composition Tips That Will Instantly Improve Your Shots

Do you want to take more interesting landscape photos? Well, I do, and I hope that you do too. It is too easy to go somewhere and take average, boring photos of something you never do anything with. I have taken loads of these myself, so don’t worry. And it is so easy to take the same photo of something we have all seen a thousand times. Let’s not do any of that.

No, there is so much more that we can do, and in this episode, I am going to tell you 11 things you can do to help you take better landscape photos.

In this episode, I tell you this little lot.

• How focal length influences landscape compositions.
• A quick word on good old crop factors (sorry).
• How a tripod can help. Yes really.
• A couple more bits of gear that can help you with your landscape photos.
• And some other things for you to think about.
• Before I give you some things to do – yes, you, dear listener

I also tell you

• What if you use a phone to take photos
• What I do
• How you can ask me a question
• And a little bit about me.

All explained in plain English, without the irrelevant detail, in (much) less than 27 (ish) minutes!

What is not to love? How utterly splendid!

Chapters

• 1:34 Right here are those 11 things that I will be talking about in this episode.
• 2:22 Everything I covered in the last episode applies here.
• 3:00 Focal lengths
• 4:59 So, what landscape photography specific things are there?
• 6:39 Crop factors
• 7:36 Tripods
• 8:46 Self-timer
• 9:57 Loupe viewers
• 11:53 Rule of thirds and other rules
• 13:17 Bad weather
• 14:05 Sunrise and sunset
• 15:36 Filters
• 17:55 Landscape/ portrait orientation
• 19:16 Photograph what you like
• 20:23 OK – that is that – here are some things for you to do.
• 21:03 What if I use a phone to take photos?
• 21:37 What do I do?
• 23:09 Some thoughts from the last episode
• 23:38 Next episode
• 23:50 A quick plug for me and what I do.
• 24:29 Get an email from me.
• 24:46 Ask me a question
• 25:03 Brought to you by

Transcript

Do you want to take more interesting landscape photos? Well, I do, and I hope that you do too. It is too easy to go somewhere and take average, boring photos of something you never do anything with. I have taken loads of these myself, so don’t worry. And it is so easy to take the same photo of something we have all seen a thousand times. Let’s not do any of that.

No, there is so much more that we can do, and in this episode, I am going to tell you 11 things you can do to help you take better landscape photos.

And that was the answery bit.

How utterly splendid.

And yes, this is the same intro as the last episode, which was all about travel photography. Well, why not, eh? But only the intro is the same.

Hi, and a very warm welcome to Episode 205 of the Photography Explained podcast. I'm your host, Rick, and in each episode, I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 27 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. Yes, really.

I'm a professionally qualified photographer based in England with a lifetime of photographic experience, which I share with you in my splendid podcast.

Right here are those 11 things that I will be talking about in this episode. See, this isn’t the last episode slightly reworded – this is all completely new, good stuff. Well, I would say that wouldn’t I?

1.  Everything I covered in the last episode applies here.
2. Focal lengths
3. Crop factors
4. Tripods
5. Self-timer
6. Rule of thirds and other rules
7. Bad weather
8. Sunrise and sunset
9. Filters
10. Landscape/ portrait
11. Photograph what you like

OK, let's get into this.

Everything I covered in the last episode applies here.
Photograph interesting stuff

• Walk, look and think before you take a photo
• Don’t just photograph the obvious
• Find different viewpoints
• Try to get one photo
• Don’t be put off by rubbish weather
• Work out where the best light is
• Try a minimalist approach
• Choose a rule (or rules) of composition and work with it (them).

Ok – move on Rick

Focal lengths

Standard focal length – 50mm on a full frame camera, 75-80mm on a cropped sensor camera, 100mm on a micro four thirds camera.

A standard lens is meant to replicate what and how we humans see the world. If we are being pedantic, it has been said that a 43mm focal length replicates the human view, but what is 7mm between friends? 50mm is the accepted standard focal length. And the point here is that with a wide-angle lens, you get a wider field of view and all that goes with that, and with a telephoto lens, you get a narrower field of view and all that goes with that.

Here are some numbers.

• Wide angle focal length – less than 50mm full frame, less than 75-80mm cropped sensor, less than 100mm micro four thirds
• Telephoto focal length – more than 50mm full frame, more than 75-80mm cropped sensor, more than 100mm micro four thirds.

I am talking effective focal length here, as in what you end up with. Why a lens on a micro four thirds camera doesn’t show the effective focal length is beyond me.

I talked in general about how focal length changes the composition in episode 203, Understanding Focal Length and Its Effect on Composition.

So, what landscape photography specific things are there?

Don’t assume that landscape photos are always taken with wide-angle lenses. Of course, they are used for landscape photography, as they help us to capture, well, a landscape. However, within every landscape photo, there will be smaller parts of a composition that can make it completely different. And you can use a telephoto lens to narrow a sweeping vista to, oh, I don’t know, a single tree, for example.

So, take that wide sweeping vista by all means, but once you have done that, look closer and see what you can find within that scene. I love doing this. There is often so much to discover.

And here is something that you can do at home. Look at some of your landscape photos, zoom in on them, and see what you find within your compositions. This is a super effective thing to do, and it will hopefully get you looking at your landscape compositions differently when you are out taking photos.

I am all about helping photographers take better photos, including taking photos in different ways and viewing things differently.

So, don’t just use wide-angle lenses for your landscape photos, ok?

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. You can also move closer to something to get a different perspective. Or further away. It is called zooming with your feet!

Crop factors

Full frame/ Cropped sensor/ micro four thirds cameras

You need to bear in mind crop factors. I covered them in the previous point, but the point is this.

You need to be aware that 33mm is a wide angle focal length on a full frame camera, but a standard focal length on a cropped sensor camera (ish) and telephoto focal length on a micro four thirds camera.

It’s bonkers.

But you need to be very aware if your camera has a crop factor, which potentially changes everything with every photo that you take.

Tripods

How can a tripod help you come up with better landscape photos? Simple. Using a tripod slows you down and makes taking a photo a much more considered, deliberate act.

Put your camera on a tripod and you will take fewer photos. It is just one of those strange things.

And putting your camera on a tripod also pushes you to take more time and care over your composition, as your camera is in a fixed position. You can make minor adjustments to a composition to really refine things and get the best single photo that you can.

Taking photos with your camera on a tripod is different from taking photos handheld and can definitely help you take better photos.

And there is the obvious benefit of getting supersharp photos and not needing to worry about low light, shutter speeds, high ISOs, noise etc etc.

I take every photo that I can with my camera on a tripod. For these reasons.

Self-timer

With your camera on a tripod, use the self-timer to take a photo. I use the 10-second self-timer on my Canon 6D. This means that after gently touching the shutter release button, my camera has another 10 seconds to become still and stable to ensure I get the sharpest photo that I can.

Sure, you can use a remote release to achieve the same, but I got rid of these in favour of the built-in self-timer. And no, this is not for selfies!

Loupe viewers

Your camera is on a tripod. It is a bright sunny day. You can barely see your LCD screen. Get a loupe viewer and the problem will be solved. I bought mine about 12 years ago for about £20 and it has served me splendidly ever since.

The loupe viewer shades and magnifies the LCD screen, helping you compose and review photos in the field. And yes, you might well be in a field if you are doing landscape photography!

Rule of thirds and other rules

The rule of thirds is a landscape photographer’s friend. What is the rule of thirds? Imagine two horizontal lines, one one-third up from the bottom and one two-thirds up from the bottom. There are also two vertical lines, one-third in from the left, and the other two-thirds in from the left. With my Canon 6D, I can add the 3x3 grid to my LCD screen.

How does this help us?

Simple. Chances are that there is a horizon if you are taking a landscape photo. Put the horizon on one of these lines. Put the horizon on the upper line if there is more interesting stuff below the horizon, and put the horizon on the lower line if there is more interest above the horizon, such as in the sky.

Putting the horizon in the middle does not give pleasing compositions and cuts the composition in half.

This is a very simple but effective way to take better landscape photos. What is not to love?

Bad weather

Bad weather can make landscape photos. A clear blue sky can give you photos that are, well boring to be honest. Good job because we don’t see clear blue skies here in England often!

Dull and grey weather is not great, but can be used creatively. Get lots of detail in a grey sky and you can sometimes get interesting black and white photos.

Use bad weather in your photos, as bad weather can very quickly become dramatic.

Sunrise and sunset

Sunrise and sunset are, of course, great times to take landscape photos. Sunrise is my preference, as I love witnessing the start of a new day and watching that sun pop over the horizon.

But there is the time before sunrise, when you can get all sorts of magical things happening with the light. And after the sun has risen, you have that wonderful directional light. To really appreciate this morning light, take a photo of something at sunrise, and then not long after the sun has risen, and again at noon, with the sun overhead in its highest position.

Spot the difference? The photo taken at noon is probably nowhere near as good as the others.

It is the quality and direction of the light that makes the difference.

So be mindful of this when you are taking photos, whatever time of day it is. You might want to plan a day so that when the sun is more overhead, you photograph other things, such as indoor or street stuff.

Filters

Filters. How utterly old school. Filters attach to the front of a lens and do something to the light that passes through the lens to the camera sensor.

There are lots of filters. I have two. Just two. A neutral density filter and a circular polarising filter.

My neutral density filter, ND for short, is a whopping 10-stop filter. This means that I can use slower shutter speeds with the filter on than without it, as the neutral density filter reduces the amount of light getting through to the camera sensor.

And 10 stops is a massive difference. Let me explain.

I am taking a photo without the ND filter on.

• The correct exposure at ISO100 is 1/125th second at f/8.

With the ND filter on

• The correct exposure at ISO100 is 8 seconds at f/8.

8 seconds. That is absolutely bonkers. You can do long exposures in broad daylight.

Do you know what, Neutral Density Filters Explained will be a future episode. I have added that to my list.

The other filter I have is a circular Polarising filter – this can remove or reduce reflections and increase saturation in a photo. And being circular, you can rotate the filter to get the desired effect. And yes, polarising filters are going to be an episode all of their own too – how utterly splendid.

I used to have loads of other filters, but I have these two now.

Have I ever combined the two? No, I have never thought of doing that. Until now that is! And now of course I want to!

Landscape/ portrait orientation

Try both. Don’t just assume that a landscape photo should be taken in landscape orientation. And with the way that photos are viewed these days, such as on phones, portrait orientation should be more of a consideration than ever.

And another thing that you can do yourself is change the orientation of photos you already have and see what happens – another excellent learning tip. Blimey, I am full of them today!

And if you are using a tripod, and if not, why not dear listener, then get an L bracket and you can very quickly change from one to the other without losing the composition – the tripod head stays where it is. The camera is rotated through 90 degrees and fixed back to the tripod head.

Photograph what you like

If you like taking photos of beaches at sunrise, take photos of beaches at sunrise. If you like taking photos of empty baked bean cans, take photos of empty baked bean cans. Yes, that was the first example that came into my head after beaches. A worry I know. Or maybe it's because I’m hungry?

The point is this – photograph what you want to photograph. If you get to the point where you are being paid to take photos, you lose that choice to a degree, but that is OK if you are being paid right?

And you might not know what you like to photograph, so if you don’t know, then best thing is to take photos of everything and anything and see what you liked and didn’t like.

This takes thought, time and effort.

But you will take better photos if you are taking photos of things you like, and you will enjoy taking photos more.

Makes sense, right?

OK – that is that – here are some things for you to do.

Look at some of your photos and zoom in, see what you can find within a composition. And then do the same when you are out and about, taking photos.

And with those same photos, try putting landscape orientation photos in portrait and vice versa and see what happens, see what you think.

And when you have done some or all of this good stuff, let me know how you got on, dear listener.

What if I use a phone to take photos?

As in the last episode, all of the above. And I want to repeat the fill the frame bit. With a phone, the default lens is a wide-angle lens, meaning that you are starting off with stuff some way away. So, making the conscious decision to fill the frame will improve many photos taken with a phone.

What do I do?

I have already told you that. These 11 things are what I do. And I want to pick up on something from the last episode that applies to landscape photography.

I went to my local woods once. Never been to them before. It was a cold, misty January morning. And do you know what? I got some of my favourite photos there. Yes, one cold, misty, mysterious January morning, not far from where I was living, I got some amazing photos that could have been taken anywhere, which is the point.

I wasn’t expecting anything but got some really interesting stuff. And I had never been to this place before. It was the light and the mist and the trees that made this location special at that time. 

And the same photo can look completely different in the different seasons. Don’t treat a place where you got one great photo as a place never to come back to. Keep on going back to places at different times of the year, at different times and in different conditions to see if you can get a photo better than the one you already have.

Which is what I do.

And that is what I do.

Some thoughts from the last episode

Just to say that taking photos is not just raising your camera and pressing the shutter button. Taking the photo is probably the last 10% of the process for me.

Next episode

Something about photographing buildings: I’m not sure yet. Let’s see what appears in two weeks!

A quick plug for me and what I do.

Well, why not? If I can't plug myself on my podcast, where can I?

You have found this podcast, so why not check out the podcast website photographyexplainedpodcast.com? I have another photography website, rickmcevoyphotography.com, where I write blog posts about my photographs of buildings and other good stuff. On my courses page, you will find my course, How to Become A Real Estate Photographer. You can also find me on YouTube talking about my podcast and my blog - type my name in, and you will soon find me.

Get an email from me.

If you want a weekly email from me, fill in the box on any of my websites, and every Friday, you will read what I am thinking about photography-related.

That's enough of the self-promotion.

Ask me a question

If you have a question you would like me to answer or you just want to say hi, email me at sales@rickmcevoyphotography.co.uk, visit the podcast website, or text me from the podcast feed.

It is always lovely to hear from you, dear listeners.

This episode was brought to you by a cheese and pickle sandwich and a bag of salt and vinegar crisps. Yes, I consumed it before settling in my homemade, acoustically cushioned recording emporium. 

I've been Rick McEvoy. Thanks again for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here) and for giving me 27 minutes of your valuable time. I reckon this episode will be about 23 minutes long after I have edited out the mistakes and other bad stuff.

Thanks for listening

Take care and stay safe.

Cheers from me, Rick