Five Steps to Master Landscape Photography Composition

Composition is an essential part of any kind of photography. It is something many photographers struggle with, so why not do something about it?

In my latest video, I share a simple five-step guide on how to master composition in landscape photography. Even though I come from the field of landscape photography, these tips can be used in a wide range of photography fields.

The first and most important step in any thoughts about your composition is to know what your subject is. What are you taking a photo of? It sounds simple, but it is something I often see many photographers struggle with. I most often see two scenarios. Either there is no subject or there are many subjects that end up competing for attention. You can, of course, make powerful and fantastic photos without subjects or a clear focal point, but in the video, I stick to one or several.

The second step is to be aware of your surroundings. If your subject or focal point is an actor on a stage, you must ask yourself what that stage looks like. What secondary subjects, foregrounds, juxtapositions, etc. do you include to support your main subject? Even the most boring and sad tree can be the lead actor in your composition if the stage is right.

Check out the video above to see all five steps, and let me hear your thoughts below.

Mads Peter Iversen's picture

Danish Fine Art Landscape Photographer and YouTuber. He is taking photos all over the world but the main focus is the cold, rough, northern part of Europe. His style is somewhere in between dramatic and colorful fantasy and Scandinavian minimalism. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel for epic landscape photography videos from around the world.

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1 Comment

Thank for a good and informative lesson about composition. I enjoyed it.
I'm no expert on the subject, but may I come with one suggestion. You only shows photos that has a good and well thought through composition. My experience is showing examples of how not to do things also gives good learning. So some examples of bad compositions in between would make the tutorial more interesting.