Landscape Photography

Like many photographers out there, some days I look at my work and feel disappointed. There are a plethora of reasons you can feel down about where you’re at in your work, even if it’s completely irrational. I’ve found that one of the best things to help in such a slump is to look at my old work.  

From mountains to dunes to flats, Death Valley National Park has so much to offer the nature time-lapser. More Than Just Parks took full advantage of this 5,000 square mile wonderland for their latest video. 

If you have ever photographed the auroras you know how important it is to know when they will explode in the sky.

For those of us trying to expand our social media presence, Instagram has been the king for quite some time. So what happens when you put a little money into promoting yourself on Instagram? I tried it and here are the results. 

There are a multitude of methods of good composition, use of light, and editing that can be used to draw a viewer's eye to the subject of your image. One of the most common and effective methods is leading lines, and this great video will give you several demonstrations of their usage. 

There are a multitude of types of light in landscape photography, and depending on how you're trying to feature your subject and the mood you're trying to convey, each can have its place. This great video will show you the beauty of backlighting and give you some helpful tips and tricks for getting the most out of it. 

Here's a fun landscape photography project that, with a bit of dedication, will get you out of your creative rut. You will need a camera, a tripod, and a good memory of where you put those the day before. We're going to capture the exact same scene for six days straight and Norwegian photographer Oddbjørn Austevik is going to show you how in his latest video. 

When it comes to our cameras most of us put a lot of time into researching which camera to purchase. We review websites like Fstoppers, read user reviews on B&H and Amazon. All to make sure the camera we end up with has the feature we want and the best image quality we can afford. What we forget, however, is that image quality in real life usage can be quite subjective.

Through editing photos, many people aim to produce work that remains grounded in truth while still adding a bit of themselves and their personal vision to it. Using ON1 Photo RAW 2018.1 software, a fully featured all-in-one image editor, here’s how to leverage a few of its most powerful tools to tell your story. 

Seascapes has always fascinated me!.I do not have a preferred vision for seascapes; I love both minimalistic and simple versions, as well as those highly dramatic ones full of action and movement. Here, I will share some of my tips on creating the latter. 

The cool thing about landscape photography is that there are generally a variety of appropriate settings for any specific scene or subject; it really comes down to your creative vision and the sort of final image you're looking to create. This great video talks about choosing settings to match what you're trying to portray. 

You’ve probably captured some stunning travel photography from your last couple trips. But months later, your library is still full of unfinished photos. Nothing seems to bring out the potential that’s hiding in plain sight: curves, drastic white balance changes, various crops, random techniques on YouTube. So, they remain in post-production purgatory. 

I live in a small city far from popular landscape photography locations and seemingly devoid of fellow photographers. I oftentimes find myself feeling a bit alone in the creative process. To remedy this, I went online to find peers and look for resources to get constructive feedback on my work.

I don’t get to shoot landscapes as often as I’d like, but when I do, I try to maximize the time I have in a place to the fullest extent. Many times, that’s just waking up for sunrise while my relatives snooze their alarms on a family trip, but eventually, when I started planning my own adventures, I had a hard time figuring out where to start until I discovered an incredible tool. 

I think it's safe to assume that the majority of us out there strive to be better people, that is to say, we want to grow and progress as we move through our lives. This video attempts to make the case that landscape photography can help us on that journey.  

Ever felt bad for photographing an iconic location? I have been part of the landscape photography community for some years now and I have heard many different opinions; some very strong and even demeaning, such as “photographing iconic locations makes you a bad photographer”. 

What’s on your travel bucket list? Iceland? Norway? New Zealand? Ever considered Siberia? Neither did I, but after this two-minute video, that just might change. 

Should you avoid shooting popular photography locations? One landscape photographer tries to answer that question while searching for a unique composition at a classic photo spot. 

If you're new to landscape photography, you may be wondering about filters and their best uses. This great video will give you a look at shooting a real image and using a variety of filters to exactly match the photographer's vision.  

Creative pursuits are inherently two-headed beasts. We are all too familiar with being passionate about photography, so much so that we can sink all of our spare time and a good portion of our money in it. Especially when you travel with photography in mind, landscape photography can start to become a trophy hunt. And I can’t blame you.

Michael Shainblum has been creating jaw dropping and memorable time-lapses for years and he has just released a new video centered on the Italian coast of Cinque Terre. Glimpse of Cinque Terre is a beautiful time-lapse that showcases the area and spans several scenes of day moving into night while capturing the surreal coast. 

Your brain is the most sophisticated and irreplaceable piece of equipment you bring to any shoot. But this fantastically complex machine is also littered with mental glitches called cognitive biases. 

Creating compelling compositions in landscape photography can be a bit of challenge that requires a nuanced touch and an eye for subtle geometry. This great video will give you nine tips to create more effective compositions in your landscape imagery. 

When creating imagery of any night landscape, you are taking your camera and the other equipment you own and pushing them to their limits. With that in mind, should photographers be upset when their favorite imagery is put together in post?  

One of the side effects of the proliferation of cameras and the Internet is that certain locations have been photographed in just about every possible way from every possible angle. Does that mean they're not worth shooting anymore? This great video explores the place of such locations for photographers.  

You might have heard people talk about using leading lines to really improve your composition, but how exactly do you use them, and how do you find them? Let me show you five different examples here so you'll know what to look for next time you're shooting.  

Ron Risman may be recognized as the photographer who incredibly captured the same singular moment as a nearby shutterbug, but his specialty is typically far more time consuming. Risman, a time-lapse photography educator, recently released his latest video, a "Love Letter to the Night Sky," a collection of stunning time-lapse scenes from around the country.

Mention landscape photography and focal lengths, and almost universally, photographers will think of wide angle lenses. And while the wide angle is the bread and butter lens for most landscape photographers, you could be missing out if you don't also carry a telephoto lens, and this great video will explain why. 

There are a lot of good time-lapse videos out there, but here is a personal selection of the finest ones that racked up millions of views and dozens of awards. 

Zweizwei is one of the pioneers of the hyperlapse technique. He is simply among the best in the world. This video was captured with a Canon 5D Mk II and a Canon 60D.

If you've never played around with long exposure photography before, do yourself a favor and give it a try. If it's daylight, don't freak out, it's not necessarily a problem if you go into it prepared. 

Being a landscape photographer means that the most meticulous or sometimes frivolous thing we do is pre-plan. Sometimes, these plans are our way to take the chance of making a mistake or they're so we walk away with what our mind has already created but our camera hasn’t captured. What happens when our planning doesn't work? 

Lightning can be a great way to add some incredible drama to a landscape shot. This helpful video will show you how to do just that.  

Iceland is one of the more popular locations for landscape photographers due to its huge range of absolutely gorgeous landscapes and unique beauty. From its magnificent black sand beaches, roaring waves, to the auroras and majestic mountains, they all help to make stunning images. 

Getting ready for your next landscape photography expedition? If you want to bring back winning shots, you need a variety of great places to shoot. Points of interest are easy to find, but the easy-to-find places are prime targets for hordes of tourists. 

Slot canyons can be found all around the world. These narrow canyons can be made of sandstone, ice, granite, clay, or other naturally occurring materials. Some of these canyons can be rather large in both width and depth, while other canyons can be incredibly narrow and difficult to navigate 

If you ever feel the weight of the world on top of you, you might want to consider letting loose with your camera. I've found that going outside and having fun with my camera is a fantastic way to combat stress and anxiousness. 

When your shutter is open for five minutes or longer while you take long exposure photos, what do you do during that time? Today I’ll share four things I do that have helped me become a better photographer and much more productive.  

Almost regardless of the content in the scene, so much of what makes a great landscape photograph is simply being where you need to be at the right time. Would you rather be a skillful planner or would you accept pure dumb luck if it means you get a great shot? 

In a saturated market of incoming photographers each holiday or tax season, it is easy to get discouraged when you are trying to get paid clients in the door. When we think of photography sessions we generally tend to lean on the idea of photographing only people in portraits.

Some of you may have seen my recent article about the Irish photographer who was mistaken for a gunman while carrying a tripod on a beach to do astrophotography. Here's an update, straight from the source. 

What does it take to win an internationally respected photography competition? A few weeks ago, the Sony World Photo Awards announced their winners, one of whom was Fstoppers community member Mikkel Beiter, who won two awards: Open Travel and Denmark National Award. We caught up with him to find out about his work and his prize-winning photograph. 

We often tend to think of the best light for landscape photography as being during the golden hours, but depending on what you're trying to emphasize, different types of light and times of day can be better for your final image. This great video talks about the various types of light and how to orient yourself to take the best possible image. 

Working with clients on a day-to-day basis, it can be very easy to fall into a creative rut, using the same go-to posing, styling, and scenery for the simple reason we know what will sell during a client viewing appointment. For the business aspect, this is very efficient when selling images. For the artist, many feel the need for something more by pushing the creative limits.

When it comes to landscape, travel, and outdoor photography it has become relatively easy to see an amazingly beautiful photo taken in a specific location, show up, and capture it for yourself. This video demonstrates seven ways a professional landscape photographer goes about using composition to achieve his personal take on the beautiful locations he visits.  

Having spent years photographing the night sky from the Milky Way to exploding meteors to man-made space junk disintegrating in the atmosphere, I thought I had seen it all. Then I drove as far north into Canada as you can possibly go, and everything changed. 

The thing about landscape photography is you can have the perfect scenery, everything framed beautifully, and your settings spot on, but if Mother Nature decides to give you the wrong light, the shot won't be there. This great video talks about what good light is and how to recognize it.  

I've recently returned from Hokkaido, Japan, where I spent a week doing research for my 2019 photo tour. 

The exploration took me to Biei for snow-scapes and Tsurui-mura for wildlife. Flying into Asahikawa from Haneda (Tokyo), it was easy to get to Biei and settle for the next three nights.

Capturing those beautiful seaside scenes can be incredibly fun as well as a completely unique challenge. If you are planning on going after some beach compositions of your own, then this video is made just for you. 

Long exposure photography has a special place in my heart and arguably has been where I spend most of my time when creating landscapes as it allows a greater amount of control over a sometimes chaotic scene.