How Simplifying Your Compositions Can Improve Your Landscape Photos

Composition is one of the subtlest and trickiest parts of landscape photography, and it can take years to master. This excellent video discusses how to simplify your compositions and how doing so can help improve your landscape images.

Coming to you from Adam Gibbs, this great video examines the concept of simplifying your landscape image compositions. When you are our shooting, it can be very tempting to slap on a wide angle lens and simply try to get in as much of a scene as possible. For many of us (myself included), that is our first instinct when shooting such a scene, and it is certainly an understandable one: after all, landscapes are often majestic, beautiful scenes that are much bigger than ourselves, and a wide angle composition that captures it all in one frame is the natural reaction. But what we see and experience does not always translate to the image, and as such, it is sometimes better to simplify your compositions to create stronger, more compelling photos. Check out the video above for Gibbs' full thoughts. 

And if you really want to dive into landscape photography, check out the "Photographing the World" tutorial series with Elia Locardi.

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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2 Comments

Beautiful. The Zen of composition instruction via real world work examples. What a pleasure to experience Adam Gibbs' perspective and wisdom.

I've always felt confident in my understanding of composition... this video was a masters class spin through the vital elements of the art.

Thank you for the constructive, entertaining content.