Recent Landscapes Articles

Do You Need a Tripod for Landscape Photography?

Besides the camera and lens, perhaps no piece of equipment is more standard in landscape photography than the tripod. And while a tripod can help ensure you get the best image quality possible, it does not come without drawbacks. So, do you really need a tripod, or would you be better off without one? This excellent video essay discusses the issue.

Why Landscape and Cityscape Photographers Should Also Carry a Telephoto Lens

When you think of landscape and cityscape photography, you likely think of wide angle lenses designed to maximize the amount of the scene you can fit in the frame. And while these are the first choice of many photographers, this video makes a great case for why you should also carry along a telephoto lens.

Behind the Scenes of a Mind-Bending Time-Lapse From the World's Largest Salt Flat

The natural beauty contained within Enrique Pacheco’s latest time-lapse video “Reflections from Uyuni” is striking and remarkable. During South America’s rainy season, Pacheco journeyed through the Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world, down to the Bolivian desert capturing surreal landscapes of these flooded lands. Fstoppers is happy to share the Spanish cinematographer’s insight as to what the experience was like shooting in such surreal locations.

Are Good Sunsets and Sunrises Overrated in Landscape Photography?

No doubt, a sunrise or sunset showering a scene with dramatic golden light is a popular look for a good reason, but it should not be all that we look for in landscape photography, and you could be missing out on great shots if you ignore gray days. This interesting video examines the topic and discusses why there is more to life than obsessing over sunsets.

Landscape Photography With a $60,000 Camera

There are expensive cameras, and then, there are really expensive cameras. The Phase One XT camera system definitely falls in the latter category, but with it, you get highly specialized features and superlative image quality. This neat video shows why the camera is tailor-made for landscape photography and some of the images you can create with it.

'Seasons of Norway': A Next-Level Time-lapse

If you've ever dabbled in time-lapse photography, you know what an incredible amount of effort goes into making a very short video. From the prep work, to setup, shooting, and editing, you're often looking at a couple of hours for a few seconds worth of video. Well, Morten Rustad invests a bit more time than that: roughly 20,000 kms traveled, 200,000 photos on 20 terabytes of hard drives, and two years of time invested. The result is an incredible seven-minute video that puts Norway's beauty on full display.

7 Common Mistakes in Landscape Photography

Landscape photography is a challenging genre that demands a combination of a wide variety of skills to bring a finished photo to fruition. There are a lot of places where a mistake can derail things, and this excellent video tutorial discusses seven such mistakes and what you can do to fix them or avoid them altogether.

A Time-lapse Cinemagraph Made With 12 Images

This Cinemagraph time-lapse was made using only 12 JPEG images. The software allows photographers to create motion within a static photograph. You need to upload each image to the website, and then you design the movement within each image. Once you get a moving image "flowing" you can render it out and import it into Adobe Premiere Pro to create the final time-lapse.

Is the Sony a7R III Still Worth It in 2020?

When Sony released the full-frame mirrorless a7R III in 2017, it was to generally positive reviews. Three years later, a newer version has been released, but the question is if this camera still holds up?

How to Create Compelling Minimalistic Landscape Photos

A lot of popular landscape photography is very rich and vibrant, with complex and multilayered compositions. And while you can certainly create compelling images in that style, it is not the only one. At the other end of the spectrum is minimalism, which is quite challenging in its own way. This great video tutorial details some helpful tips for improving your minimalistic landscape images.

A Guide to Ultralight Travel Clothing for Landscape Photography

How many bags do you pack for a landscape photography trip? While your camera gear is probably the heaviest part of your luggage, your clothing may be the bulkiest. But as any mountaineer or thru-hiker will tell you, it doesn’t need to be that way!

Do You Find the Unexplored Areas for Your Landscape Photography?

There are somewhere around 7.5 billion people on the planet, and with that many, it might seem as if every possible landscape photography location has been explored. But really, that's just not the case, and you might be missing out on some great opportunities.

NASA Posts Awesome 360° Video from Curiosity Rover on Mars

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), based in Pasadena, CA, recently released a 360-degree video of a vista of Mars' Namib Dune from their rover, Curiosity. On one hand, it's an all-encompassing, but static, noiseless video. Yet, on the other hand, it's the most realistic, hands-on, feels-like-you-were-there video of another planet that we have. If you think about it for a moment while you're watching, it suddenly hits you: we're really there. We have a presence on Martian land.

Some of Photoshop's Most Useful Newer Features for Landscape Photographers

Photoshop remains the gold standard for advanced landscape photo edits, and in recent iterations, we have seen some remarkable steps forward, with some features giving photographers the ability to make drastic edits with just the click of a button. If you are ready to update your toolkit, check out this fantastic video tutorial that explores some of the newest features and shows you how to leverage them in a landscape image edit.

Making Compelling Landscape Photo Compositions With a Wide Angle Lens

When it comes to landscape photography, the wide angle lens is the most common tool of choice. And while they are great for the genre, they come with their own set of challenges that can make it quite tricky to come home with compelling images. This great video tutorial follows an experienced photographer as he discusses both how to create wide angle compositions and how to deal with bad weather.

Exploring Trickier Landscape Photograph Compositions

Part of the fun and challenge of landscape photography is that while you can choose your compositions, you don't get the privilege of modifying your subject. Sometimes, you come across a scene that begs to be photographed, but doesn't readily lend itself to a composition. This video examines such situations and how to shoot them.

A Beginner's Three-Step Guide to Creating a Landscape Photo

Starting in any new genre of photography can be daunting. Each comes with its own challenges, and landscape photography is no different. If you are a beginner landscape photographer and looking to get started with it, check out this helpful video tutorial that will give you a basic three-step process for creating images.

Fstoppers’ Landscapes Photo Contest with Elia Locardi - Enter Now!

To celebrate our newest video tutorial with Elia Locardi, “Photographing the World,” Fstoppers has teamed up with our friends at ViewBug to host a landscape photo contest for your most epic images. The contest will run until January 5 and one of the judges will be Elia himself. Whether you win or not, all participants will receive complimentary access to the first lesson of “Photographing the World” for free! See the contest details below.

Creating An Amazing Motorsports Advertising Photoshoot In Beautiful Landscapes

This shoot combines two things that I really love as a photographer: motorsports and incredible shoot locations. This comprehensive behind the scenes video captured by Ron Risman really gives you a great idea of how photographer Gregor Halenda put the campaign together. The resulting images were crisp and clean, showing off the bikes and locale.

Techniques to Save a Poor Landscape Photo

Of course, we all try to get out photos are close to right as possible in camera, but none of us are perfect, and mistakes will happen. So, if you really miss the mark, what can you do to save an image you really want to use? This excellent video tutorial will show you some helpful tips and techniques for rescuing that shot.

joshua tree under night sky

At some point in time, almost every photographer will get the itch to try their hand at astrophotography. It could be that image of the Milky Way or an aurora that inspires us to bring our cameras out in the middle of a clear night to photograph the stars. Josh Katz created this tutorial for newbie astrophotographers who may not live in an ideal region for capturing the night skies.

Mastering Telephoto Lenses for Landscape Photography

A telephoto lens opens up unique opportunities in landscape photography. Its ability to isolate subjects and create compression makes it an invaluable tool, especially for capturing distant elements with dramatic impact.

How to Use Leading Lines for Landscape Photography Compositions

A strong grasp of composition is one of the cornerstones of successful landscape photography and one of the most powerful ways to create stronger images. This excellent video tutorial will show you how to leverage leading lines to create compelling landscape compositions.

Small Things Make a Big Difference: Why Smallrig’s L-Bracket Is My Favorite

The L-bracket is a pretty simple idea: have a way of mounting your camera vertically or horizontally to the tripod. Between that simple idea and the actual product, however, is a big difference in execution. I recently tried out Smallrig’s L-bracket for the Nikon Z6 and Z7 series, and I was really impressed by how it elevates that fundamental concept to accessory perfection.

3 Important Features Coming in Luminar Neo: Tested

Skylum has been touting their upcoming release of Luminar Neo, an image editor that builds on Luminar AI with some new features that are sure to please fans of the current product and may arouse interest from other photo editors.

The Art of Editing Landscape Photos

The process of photo editing can significantly alter the perception and impact of an image, and it deserves as much attention as the process of taking the photo itself. This exploration of how photographers at different skill levels approach editing sheds light on the nuanced journey from capturing to finalizing an image, emphasizing the importance of editing in the creative process.

Mastering Tonal Adjustments in Lightroom

Turning a flat raw file into a visually appealing image with rich contrasts and vibrant colors is a critical skill for every new photographer to learn. The helpful video tutorial will show you how to get started with tonal adjustments in Lightroom.

How to Take Better Rainy Landscape Photos

When you step outside and are greeted by rainy weather, it can be tempting to turn around and head right back inside. However, if you are willing to brave those mundane conditions, you might be rewarded with worthwhile landscape images. This helpful video tutorial offers five tips to increase your chances of coming home with compelling shots.

How These Lightroom Tools Can Improve Your Landscape Photos

While Photoshop is still the destination of choice for the most involved and detailed edits, Lightroom has evolved into a tremendously versatile and powerful tool that can tackle quite a few images on its own. Three of its most useful tools for landscape photography are texture, clarity, and dehaze, and this excellent video tutorial will show you how they are used and how to leverage them for better images.