Landscape Photography Tips for Every Photographer

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Tips voor landschapsfotografie voor elke fotograaf

In this blog, landscape photographer Michael Kamp gives tips on how to take the best landscape photos. These tips are mainly focused on photography with a camera, but can also be applied perfectly for landscape photography with a smartphone. All photos in this blog were also taken by Michael.

Landscape photography is a great excuse to get out and enjoy nature. Whether you have years of experience or are just starting out, in this article I will give you some tips that you can use during your own landscape photography.

1. Understand what light does

Light is very important! Without light there is no photography. You can have a beautiful subject, but without good light it will not come into its own. Think for example of a portrait photo in the middle of the day in full sun. If someone has to squint because of bright light, it gives a completely different impression than when the light is soft and natural.

An important lesson I always teach during my workshops is that your eye is automatically drawn to light. When you consciously apply this in your photography, you will look at the world differently. Experiment with different types of light. In the middle of the day you have hard shadows while early in the morning you can have very soft light from the rising sun. The hour just after or before sunrise is also called the golden hour because of the warm and soft light.

2. Pay attention to the composition

A strong composition can make the difference between a standard and an impressive photo. Use the rule of thirds: divide your image into nine equal areas with two horizontal and two vertical lines and place your subject at one of the intersections. This creates a natural and balanced composition. Did you know that you can often turn on such a grid in the camera of your smartphone, SLR camera or system camera?

3. Play with perspective and point of view

By simply changing your position, you can give your photo a completely different dynamic. Try bending your knees or finding a higher position to create a new perspective. This can make a big difference, especially in landscape photography. The power of this is often underestimated, but sometimes 10 cm can make a world of difference. The Wadden Sea is a good example of this. In the summer when it is warm, you quickly get cracks in the mud and mud, from eye level it is a big chaos, but as soon as you look closer to the ground you suddenly see very interesting lines and shapes.

4. Take the weather into account

The weather is very important in landscape photography. As a professional photographer I keep an eye on the weather. As I wrote before, light is important and with every type of weather you have to deal with different light. But also the atmosphere of the photo can be completely different. In the middle of the day a subject can look normal, but with a bit of mist a landscape can change into a fairy tale.

How can you actually predict good conditions for landscape photography? I often start by reading the summary of Buienradar. The hourly graphs and pictures are often not correct, but with the summary you already have a general idea of ​​what can happen. Do they predict fog banks? Then I know that something with water, for example, can be interesting. For a beautiful sunset I look at the satellite view again. Is it clear above the North Sea and England? And is it cloudy above the Netherlands? Then I know that from the middle of the country there is a good chance of beautifully colored clouds.

5. Image editing

Photo editing is something that many photographers use to take their photos to the next level. As a landscape photographer, you can also apply image editing well. In programs such as Photoshop and Lightroom , there are many possibilities to get the most out of your photo. As I wrote before, the viewer is drawn by light in a photo. In image editing, I can apply this further by using filters to make certain parts of the photo lighter or darker. If you do not want to pay for a program, I can recommend Snapseed . This is a free smartphone app with many functions.

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6. Use filters

There are a huge number of filters that you can use when taking photos. They all have their advantages and disadvantages. For example, there are filters for a smartphone, filter sets for cameras and separate screw-on filters that you can use per lens. As a professional photographer, I use a filter set that allows me to direct the viewer to the point I want. For example, think of a sunset at the water, a nice boat in front of it, some pebbles and the composition is beautiful... But if you want to take the photo, either the sky is well-lit or the foreground is well-lit. With such a filter system, you can bring that back into balance by placing a dark piece of glass in front of the dark sky, also called a gray gradient filter . This allows you to capture everything in 1 photo.

If you want to get a bit more creative, you can also use an ND filter. This filter allows you to use a long shutter speed, which is often used to make water completely smooth or to make people disappear on a busy square. This filter is also available for smartphones ! There are many more filters and possibilities, but if you want to get started with it, I can definitely recommend that you delve into it further.

7. Look at the world around you

Learn to really look at the world around you. Look at the shapes, lines, shadows, there is so much to see! As a photographer you have to train your eye to see things, you can apply this in all kinds of photography. If you are more into architectural photography, it is good to look at the world around you. Things that you might walk past every day suddenly become very nice photographic subjects.

8. Practice makes perfect

Enjoy the process! By doing a lot and enjoying taking pictures, you will automatically get better. It doesn't matter what kind of camera or smartphone you have, an expensive device can't take better pictures, only make taking pictures easier.

Finally, I would like to give an assignment that I give to many people when I give a workshop: Take 10 photos in which you see a triangle, circle and square in each photo. By doing this exercise, you will already look more consciously at the world around you and at the same time get to know your camera better.

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